Zach on Leadership

Leadership is, by definition, a people-centric activity. We know we are effective as leaders when people willingly follow our influence. Leadership in a condition of isolation seems like a self-contradiction, don’t you think? Well, most of us, who call ourselves leaders, now find ourselves in this self-contradictory position, thanks to COVID-19. So, how should we approach this challenge? I hesitated to write this article. There are ample articles already written on how best to manage a team remotely amid COVID-19.... Read More Read More The post Leading from Quarantine: Embrace the Opportunity appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I’ve been fighting computer viruses on behalf of the companies I serve for over 20 years. This is the first time I’ve had to deal with the impact of a biological virus. It’s interesting. There are some similarities, and some differences. While this experience has yet to fully unfold, I thought it would be timely to share my thoughts. When it comes to the coronavirus, we’re all in this together. The adversary With computer viruses, I know my adversary. There’s... Read More Read More The post From Computer Virus to the Coronavirus: The New IT Battle appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Some of you are well-aware that the Zach on Leadership blog that you know and love is also available as a podcast. If that’s news to you, feel free to check out the podcast here. Don’t worry, I’m not writing this entire article as one big advertisement for my podcast. Instead, I’m going to tell you the story on how it came to be. The history of podcasting Back in the mid 2000’s I had a first-generation iPod Nano. It... Read More Read More The post The Podcast Story: Making Leadership Lessons Accessible to All appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I have the privilege of being a Lego robotics coach in the FIRST Lego League. There are over 40,000 teams in the First Lego League in 98 countries, and 640 teams in Minnesota alone. Our team is called the Plaidiators. We’re made up of five homeschoolers between the ages of 10 and 13. We just wrapped up our season recently, and I’d like to reflect on the leadership lessons I learned through this experience. This is all for the kids... Read More Read More The post Innovation and Mentoring: Leadership Lessons from Lego Robotics (Part 3 of 3) appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I have the privilege of being a Lego robotics coach in the FIRST Lego League. There are over 40,000 teams in the First Lego League in 98 countries, and 640 teams in Minnesota alone. Our team is called the Plaidiators. We’re made up of five homeschoolers between the ages of 10 and 13. We just wrapped up our season last weekend, and I’d like to reflect on the leadership lessons I learned through this experience. This is all for the... Read More Read More The post Integrity and Automation: Leadership Lessons from Lego Robotics (Part 2 of 3) appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

In my role at work, there are many things that I’m asked to approve. Usually, I don’t think about that as being a core part of my job. I usually like to spend time on collaboration, strategy, building culture, and other fluid aspects. However, there is a large chunk of what I do that is simply binary: do I approve, or do I deny? I recently stopped and took inventory of all the things I need to approve. Here are... Read More Read More The post To Approve or Deny, That Is the Question appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I recently took a Change Leadership course along with my fellow CHS leaders. As a company, we’ve been investing in this leadership capability because it’s a fundamental skill for us to successfully navigate the future. Intuitively, most of us accept that the world is changing, the pace of change is accelerating, and as leaders, we hold a central role in enabling that change. It’s one thing to hold this intellectual assent. It’s quite another to learn and practice the skill... Read More Read More The post Leading Change: Don’t Just Focus on the Solution appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

“Speed. I am speed.” – Lightning McQueen I love speed. I like adrenaline-inducing sports of all kinds, but I especially love driving fast cars. I own a moderately fast car and find that a nice boost of acceleration and tight handling makes an ordinary commute, extraordinary. My wife, Wendy, knows this about me, and has on few occasions, given me the opportunity to drive an exotic car for my birthday. A few years ago, I drove a Lamborghini Gallardo on... Read More Read More The post How to Drive Your Team like a Rented Lamborghini appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I pick up hitchhikers. Not all of them, but several over the years. Many tell me that I probably shouldn’t. They may be right, but I have yet to give someone a ride that I wish I hadn’t. This blog article is going to be more personal than professional. However, I have a very relevant leadership lesson to share that I’m certain you can apply to your work. Before I get into that, I’m going to tell you a few... Read More Read More The post Leadership Lessons from Picking up Hitchhikers appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Every leader, by definition, is an agent of change. If you are just maintaining or running your group, you are a manager. Leadership implies change. Changing people isn’t easy, especially if you want to do it without coercion or authoritative power. How do you go about initiating change? In this article we will learn about change leadership from Obi-Wan Kenobi and see observe how he influenced Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, A New Hope. Please take a few minutes and... Read More Read More The post Lead Change Like Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

As a developing leader, I’ve taken many personality and leadership assessments over the years. These assessments are common tools for guiding development efforts, helping team members understand each other, and rounding out the diversity in a group. In the halls of corporate IT at various organizations, I’ve often encountered many who would rather take a pass at this introspective analysis and get back to work, but this sort of thing has always intrigued me. I love psychology and philosophy, and... Read More Read More The post What It’s like to Lead as an INFJ appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Last week, I earned my AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification. AWS has a full array of certifications for various levels of expertise and specialties. This is the entry-level one. Many of you know that I am technology leader with overall responsibilities for cloud technologies at our company, but I am far removed from the hands-on work. It’s safe to say that I am not, nor do I plan to be, an actual cloud practitioner. So, why did I bother with... Read More Read More The post Why This Technology Leader Pursued His Cloud Certification appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I started my career nearly 21 years ago. The first year of my career was dedicated to preparing companies to cross the threshold from 1999 to the year 2000 without any glitches. Now that we are approaching the 20th anniversary of that event, I’d like to pause and reflect on what it was like. Demand 1999 was a great year to get into the technology field. Every company on the planet took inventory of their systems and realized that they... Read More Read More The post Remembering the Millennium Bug: 20 Years Since Y2K appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I had a fantastic opportunity this week to participate in the Lean Executive Leadership Institute through the University of Kentucky College of Engineering. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Lean is an organizational philosophy born out of the Toyota Production System, which was first developed by Taiichi Ohno in the 1950’s. Toyota has earned a reputation for operational excellence and has been transparent about their secret to success for generations. Why Kentucky? Firstly, it’s a whole lot closer than... Read More Read More The post Leadership Lessons from Lean appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I’ve been writing the Zach on Leadership blog for over three years now and have produced 170 articles and now recently, 13 podcast episodes. I really enjoy doing it. Regularly, people approach me and bring up my blog, or drop me a note. They typically tell me that they like it a lot, but then quickly follow up with two questions: “Why do you do it?” and, “Where do you find the time?” For the sake of my entire audience,... Read More Read More The post Why Do I Blog and Where Do I Find the Time? appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I’m the youngest of two. I have a brother who is three years older than I. We were each other’s primary playmates growing up. We constantly played games together. We played a wide variety of games, but I particularly remember excessive amounts of Foosball, Monopoly and Super Mario Kart. What do you think happened when I continually played competitive games with someone who was three years quicker and smarter than me? I lost a lot. A whole lot. We didn’t... Read More Read More The post Leadership Lessons from Losing at Mario Kart appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

A leader on my team recently approached me with an interesting question. He asked me, “how do you solve complex problems?” My initial instinct was to ask about specifics: “Tell me about your problem and we will discuss it.” His response was fantastic. He said, “I don’t want you to solve my problem for me, I want you to teach me how to think through it.” That was cool. As a leader, I am used to solving complex problems. Usually,... Read More Read More The post How to Solve Complex Problems appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

I just got back from the deer woods. Each season has its stories, triumphs, and failures. As I drove home from my trip, I considered the leadership lessons from this sport. I thought I’d share my insights with you in this article. I didn’t grow up deer hunting. I married into it. For 19 years, I’ve gone up north with my in-laws and have fully embraced the tradition. Some people grew up with the tradition, but I didn’t. 19 years... Read More Read More The post Leadership Lessons from Deer Hunting appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

Growing up, I was an avid reader of Garfield comic books. These books weren’t challenging, epic, or educational in any way. They were just silly and fun. I didn’t read every book (there are over 60), but I read the first 30 or so before I reached adulthood. It’s impossible to read Garfield without learning these two principles: Lasagna is good and Mondays are bad. Mondays Why Garfield hates Mondays is a bit of a mystery since he doesn’t have... Read More Read More The post Garfield Was Wrong about Mondays appeared first on Zach on Leadership.

There is one character in the universe of superheroes that inspires technology leaders more than any other. His technical prowess is unparalleled, and he commands more confidence than any technology geek could ever hope to muster. I am, of course, referring to the one and only Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man. Tony Stark, the individual contributor In the original Iron Man films (1-3), Tony Stark established his technical abilities, drive for innovation, tenacity, and arrogance. Sure, he had... Read More Read More The post The Leadership Legacy of Tony Stark appeared first on Zach on Leadership.