The role of the CIO, the Chief Information Officer, has been debated about as long as the term in itself exists. Rarely before has there been such a misleading description, because in many companies the person assuming the position of CIO was rarely seen as the chief ‘Information’ Officer. People mostly perceived him as “Top Dog of the Nerd Herd and Boss of all things Bits and Bytes”. A friend sent me this article and asked me...

I don’t know about you, but there are times when life gets pretty busy for me. Lots of things to do and it seems like I just go from one thing to another. It’s at these times when I find the idea I picked up from Stephen Covey of huge importance. It’s the idea of a compass. He calls it a weekly compass, but I call it my priorities compass. I don’t do it weekly, but regularly, and it’s pretty simple. Here’s how it works. Simply write out...

You may be the boss, but are you a leader? Bosses order, leaders persuade. People obey bosses. People follow leaders. Being bossed brings drudgery. Being led brings fulfillment. I read this article by my friend Craig VanSlyke at the start of the new year and have been reflecting on it since. He really does a nice job of outlining the differences between a boss and leader. The one area where I would slightly disagree, only slightly, is that...

I’ve had this site since the mid-90s and it has seen several iterations. Recently it was hacked and it has provided me with an opportunity to reconsider. Over this is time, I’ve also had almost a dozen other sites that I have started with much more focus. Each was devoted to a topic and I had big hopes. I had/have a strong interest in the topics, so it should have been easy. But because I focus intently on what I do daily (I...

Why is meaning so important? Because when people find meaning in the work, they also feel a sense of ownership Great article in HBR. IMHO, this is huge at this time in public higher-education.  As universities struggle with budgets, employees lack raises, and resources grow scare, a clear direction and remembering (as the sign behind my desk say) “Why are we here?” can make all the difference in the world. Now,...