Unavailing Logic

As someone who has been responsible for hiring staff for much of my career, I've learned quite a bit about what makes a great hire. When I hired my first employee way back when, I didn't do what most people normally do. I was working for a medium sized company and was one of three employees in the IT department. I was doing a lot of hands on work and needed to bring in someone to do end user support as I focused more on network, server, strategy, and financial matters. Most of the people I interviewed had the required skills. However, what I was seeing in most of the candidates is that they had been doing the same job for years. It made me think, "Why have they been in the same job for so long? Don't they want to advance in their career?" As I continued to interview candidates, I interviewed a young man with very little experience. But he had something no one else had. I remember him telling me, "I can do anything. I may have to learn it, but I can do anyth...

I used to play golf. I liked it when I was younger and I had time to play, but as work and family began to take more of my time I left it behind. There were other things I wanted to do with my free time. While I enjoyed playing golf, I absolutely hated watching it. I think the proverbial "watching paint dry" would be more entertaining. So why am I writing an article about Tiger Woods winning the Masters? Because it's not about golf. It's about people. For those of you who know me, you know that I love people. I love helping people be their best. I love success. But what does that have to do with golf? Nothing...it just so happens that Tiger Woods is a golfer, but also a human being. If you're just focused on Tiger's winning of the Masters, you're missing the real story here. Let's look back. Tiger hit his stride back in 1997, and for more than a decade, he was the one to beat on the PGA tour. But Tiger made some poor decisions an...

Who's you're favorite boss? If you can't answer that question pretty quickly, it might be because you've never had a really good boss. I really don't like the term "boss". To me, it connotates someone who tells someone else what to do. I hear that term and automatically flash back to the old cartoon The Flintstones . I can hear Mr. Slate yelling at Fred..."FLINTSTONE!!!". And along those same lines, good old Mr. Spacely from The Jetsons. Those characters are "bosses" for sure. And who can forget the  ubiquitous Bill Lumbergh from the movie Office Space and his TPS reports.  The best bosses aren't the ones you work for, it's the ones who work for you. Being a huge proponent of servant leadership, I always work to serve my team. To not be "the boss" but to be one of the team with a different role. To represent my team to the organization and put them in the best situation to succeed. That's the tough part, b...

There is an old saying that goes something like this.... "It's not bragging, if you can back it up" There is some truth to this, but the word "bragging" brings up thoughts of arrogance and no one likes to work with a cocky, arrogant, difficult person. No...that's not the type of bragging I'm talking about. If you're read my previous blog posts, you know I'm all about teamwork, collaboration, servitude, customer service, and the human aspect of leadership. We live in a very curious time. Social media allows us to put up a very convincing facade. We can brag about our fancy degrees, certifications, and accomplishments. Post up pictures of ourselves in highly interesting situations. We can make our lives seem so perfect that others envy us, which is exactly what some people want. Since this blog is titled "Unavailing Logic", lets apply some. Would anyone put something in a resume or on social media that wasn't bragging about thei...

I've worked as an IT professional since 1987. I was 15 years old when I received my first paycheck for technology work. My goal was always to continue running the family business my father had started. My brother worked in the company as well. It was what was expected, but not what I wanted. Technology was my passion. I'd had a computer in my bedroom since 1982. I learned to build peripherals from schematics as a 12yo. After I graduated college, I went into the family business to do what was expected of me. Through a very unfortunate turn of events, my father passed away in 1995 and the company fell on hardship. My brother was running things, and he had a conversation with me that I never thought I'd hear. "We can't afford to pay you bud". I'll never forget those words. The career I'd prepared for since I started to walk and talk, the family business, my Dad's company...was letting me go. How does this happen? Where would I work? What would I...

Excellence is the Esprit de Corps you feel in your company knowing that you are a part of an organization that is well run and takes pride in the products or services they provide to customers. Excellence is an attitude and a way of life. Words like "can't", "good enough", and "that's the way we've always done it" are banished from the corporate vocabulary. Excellence starts with quality leaders who are focused on strategic vision for the company. The vision is shared across the organization and employees are empowered to help realize the vision. It is not enough for leadership to say, "Do this". They must explain why, then give the employee a set of business objectives to achieve. Telling someone what to do is not leadership. Asking for their help in achieving clearly defined business objectives then supporting them by removing obstacles to their success. That is leadership. What happens when leadership fails to lead? We see poo...

No, this is not a post about money or retirement. It's a post about your life. Are you fully invested in your work? As I write this, it's Friday afternoon. I can't count the number of times I've overheard people rejoice about it being Friday. Why? One would assume it's because they don't enjoy their work or their co-workers. I can understand, I've been in that situation before. It's a horrible existence to show up, punch the clock, and do your time. That sounds more like prison than a career. I had lunch with someone today that asked me, "What is your ideal job"? I had to put some thought into it. I didn't  just think about the money, but about what the mission of the company is and how they treat their employees. I've worked in several places, and the best places to work were the places that fully utilized their staff's skills regardless of their job title. It was a true team environment where everyone helped each other and mov...