Succession planning specifically, and leadership development overall, is generally lacking in companies and IT because they don’t understand the value of a leadership farm system.

Why you aren’t seeing what you need to be seeing is different from not seeing

What worked in the past doesn’t always work well for you now. It’s not always the sacred cow that needs to be toppled; sometimes it’s your favorite pet.

Importance is measured by absence and ability.

Life has transitions. You have had them. You may be in one. We often waste them. Here is how you take advantage of those rare moments (gifts) when you are between leaving and starting.

Workforce issues continue to trouble IT progress. A new way of thinking about your team opens new horizons to how you work and who you work with.

Two keys will communicate your competence and reinforce your credibility. But it all starts with one major difference maker.

Leaders do a lot of evaluation, often implementing scientific assessments or digging into resumes, referrals, and reviews. There might be an easier way to know that the hire is right or the promotion is good.

AI will bring revolutionary change. But not until we exercise our power as leaders to affect a greater change.

There are two reasons you are not invited to significant meetings and it isn't because you don't know what you are talking about.

You may have arrived, but fail to keep investing in yourself, and you will be left behind.

Effective technology leaders are driven by a certain obsession. Fail to be consumed by it, and the work you put out will be a box to check but hardly art you can’t wait to display.

Leaders are being misled in how to communicate, whether to one or many. Following this advice will leave you confused and frustrated. Taking back your power will leave you and your listeners better off for what you said and how you said it.

Revenue generation and financial savings are not the guides to how you prioritize work. Six areas are, but they all depend on answering the same one question.

In my annual end of the year article, I thought you should know what I have learned about you

It’s not enough to get back in the saddle after you fall. You must embrace a shift within you. You must address a crowd around you. You must change a story about you.

Culture is critical in the battle for talent attraction and retention. But culture is too often misunderstood, and therefore, underplayed. Four elements define a winning culture.

Leadership trends come and go. Riding them can be a great adventure. But leadership isn’t in the riding, it’s in the landing. Leaders know where to get off and take a stand.

CEOs often look to be succeeded by someone like them. But the great CEOs have led their company to a place that requires different skills for a better future. And that will be found in the technologist.

We think that influential leaders are the ones who have the best to say. It turns out, it’s the ones who have the best to ask. And asking the right questions is a skill not often or easily mastered, especially by those who think they already have it down.

Career stall and role-rut are within your ability to move forward from. Tech-leaders who keep growing are intentional to develop personal, relational, positional and vocational areas that make them better professionals, better leaders, better executives and better experts.

Leaders are thinkers. But good ideas go to waste. For your idea to thrive, you need to avoid four pitfalls and traverse four avenues of idea fruition.

2022 is your breakout year if you learn to master two practices of healthy leaders.

CIOs and leaders commit four errors when speaking that fuel the frustration that they are not being heard and feed the belief that people are not interested in what they have to say.

The best leaders know what their strategic needs are. They know specifically what the CEO can do for them. No CIO should be caught unaware. Knowing your needs in four areas will ensure that you are always prepared with a great response.

The single most defining attribute of a CIO is as a futurist. It’s a risky position to have. But five practical points of focus will help you lead into what is next.

Most sources of outside input end up as waste. The CIO is more valuable than that; your velocity and capacity of growth depend on the source of influence. A well-led peer advisory group will give you the results you need in the time you need it.

We need more women in technology leadership roles because of the strength that comes from how they have been shaped and what they have overcome.

Leaders get frustrated when they aren’t getting anywhere. That’s why leadership is more than influence; it involves knowing how to rally, craft and drive. Of the three, drive seems to be the least emphasized in modern perspectives of leadership. It’s time to recover that.

Autonomy is essential for the C-Suite and leaders of your organization. But autonomy has been misunderstood, and as a result, led to horrific consequences. Two simple answers will eradicate the monster of autonomy gone wrong.

The CIO has an opportunity to make deep impressions in the life of their company and the lives of their people. They just need to keep three things in view: the need for more, the pace of momentum and the leverage of opportunity.

The future of work isn’t in the changes we see coming. It is in the CIO who is leading. You must expand your capacity to lead in three critical areas: customer, culture and competition.

CIOs quit for legitimate reasons. They should also never quit in three specific seasons. Knowing when to quit and when to not is the art of leadership.

The CIO must transform from recent hero to effective leader. To so do, shape six crucial environments: collaboration, customer experience, remote work, change management, security sensitivity and executive posture.

Every leader needs an advocate who serves as a champion, guide and resource for each leader’s identity, success and experience of supportive community.

Office relationships don’t need conflict resolution. It won’t work. Some say ‘cart before the horse’ but I say you need the right environment before you do the right things. Three dynamics create the environment needed for healthy office relationships, and these three alone will improve any relationship: affirmation, acceptance and advocacy.

I’m all for networking. I have met incredible people doing so. I was also lonely. No matter how much networking I was doing, I still felt as if I was working in isolation. You can be surrounded by people, but unless you have others in your life who advocate for you, you feel very much alone.

Protests are the voice of the unheard, Your employees find a number of ways to voice complaint without ever having to organize a march. Effective executives listen centered on the employee’s agenda. They do so utilizing a four-fold process of asking questions toward input, processing, ownership and action.

Leaders understand that the most critical component of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic is the leader. Tough circumstances call for tough conditions but tough conditions do not diminish tougher character and commitment.

The CIO is both the most crucial and most volatile expert to companies today. Navigating change and crafting transformation require the CIO expertise. Yet, there are still questions being resolved as to place and function.

Peer learning, leading practices and supportive community is irreplaceable in today’s currency of gaining advantage and staying ahead. Without the insight of others, waste of time, energy, ability and money accumulates. No leader today will survive under the burden of expectations weighed down by less than best execution.

Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Anyone can make decisions. C-Suite Executives must make effective decisions. Effective decisions implement goals and plans, influence direction and people, and identify key issues and insights. To make these decisions, C-Suite Executives need to stay informed on trends and market realities within their business and filter decisions through customer-centric focus.

It is a unique and defining quality of executive and C-suite officers. Though you have leaders throughout your company, only a few can bring all the parts into a whole. Your calling in this regard is unmistakable. Your influence in this becomes unforgettable. Your employees want three things from you.

What you do matters. What technology does matters. The recent evolution of positive relationship between IT and business leverages greater possibilities than ever before. That makes alignment between IT and LOB more critical than ever before.