This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview David Ticoll: Chair, Expert Panel, Information & Communications Technology Council and Senior Advisor, Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's ICT Skills.
David shares his views on the nature of the skills landscape and the IT labour market plus industry challenges, trends, and solutions. In a follow-up podcast, we will delve deeper in business, innovation, technology and the competitive ecosystem.
Enjoy,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
David Ticoll on the IT Talent Crisis
Organizations in Canada, the United States, and many other countries face an IT talent crisis. Baby boomers are headed for the retirement exits. Technical skills are becoming ever more specialized. And technical skills are no longer enough; today's employees must combine technical proficiency with business knowledge and judgment, leadership and collaboration skills. We increasingly need Renaissance men and women. Meanwhile, colleges and universities are seeing plummeting enrollments in their technology and engineering programs.
David Ticoll is one of Canada's leading visionaries, speakers and advisers on competitiveness, globalization, technology and business innovation.
David has authored several bestselling business books, including Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power of Business Webs, and The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency will Revolutionize Business.
David chairs the Expert Panel of the Information & Communications Technology Council (ICTC), a national sector council for the ICT industry; this places him at the forefront of state-of the art strategic and policy issues for the ICT sector. He is a senior advisor to the Canadian Coalition for Tomorow's ICT Skills, an alliance of companies, universities, and industry associations which is tackling the generational challenges of talent management and competitiveness in the global economy.
David has authored many reports on the globalization of knowledge work and the rise of collaborative business networks, such as:
- Jobs 2.0: How Canada can win in the 21st century global marketplace for information & communications technologies and services (Information & Communications Technology Council)
- Outsourcing Comes of Age: the Rise of Collaborative Partnering which reports on a global survey of 300 outsourcing customers and service providers, published by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC.
- Dances with Penguins: Harnessing Self-organization for Competitive Advantage
David was CEO of the international thought leadership think tank and consulting firm, Digital 4Sight, which he founded in 1994. The firm's clients included leading firms in information technology, financial services, telecommunications, automotive, consumer packaged goods, resources, government, and other industries.
He was a columnist on business strategy and information technology topics for The Globe & Mail.
David is a Director of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), a position he has held for ten years. He is an advisor to the EMBA program at Athabasca University.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Michael Williams (BSc, PhD, DSc), World-Renowned Computing Pioneer, Past-President (2007) IEEE Computer Society, Professor Emeritus University of Calgary.
Often as IT professionals, we can lose sight of the industry, the profession, its remarkable history, and its founding pioneers. Mike is one of those rare individuals who has shaped our world through his lifetime achievements. Take the time to listen to the podcast, to be inspired, and to smile too--Mike provides some amazing stories and insights into our profession.
Enjoy,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
Michael R. Williams (BSc, PhD, DSc), Past-President (2007) IEEE Computer Society, Professor Emeritus University of Calgary, graduated in 1964 with a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Alberta and in 1968 he obtained a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow. In 1969 he joined the University of Calgary, first in the Department of Mathematics then as a Professor of Computer Science. It was while working at Glasgow that he acquired an interest in the history of computing, something which has developed over the years into his main research and teaching interest.
He has participated in the publishing of 11 books, 92 articles, 58 technical reviews and 72 invited lectures and has been involved in the creation of 10 different radio, television, and museum productions. During his career he has had the opportunity to work for extended periods at several different universities, and at the National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution), and as Head Curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View California.
Besides his work as Editor-in-Chief for the journal The Annals of the History of Computing, he has worked closely with the IEEE History Committee (serving as its chairman in 1994 and 1995), the IEEE History Center, is past President of the IEEE Computer Society, (serving as its President in 2007), serves as a member of many different committees of the IEEE and is a member of editorial boards concerned with publishing material in the area of the history of computing.
He has received several awards, the most interesting of which are:
- C.C. Gotlieb Award - "In recognition of Outstanding Contributions to the Canadian Information Processing Society and to the Profession on CIPS behalf." Presented by the Canadian Prime Minister, May 17, 1990
- University of Calgary, Faculty of Science, Award of Excellence for Consistently Outstanding Contributions in Teaching, April 1993.
- In 2005 the University of Glasgow, Scotland, awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree for his contributions to computer science, particularly the history of computing.
I was drinking my coffee as I made my three kids their lunch this morning in an effort to get them out the door on time so I could walk them to school. In previous posts I’ve mentioned that they are just getting started in their education and far FAR away from entering the workforce. I was watching Canada AM in the background on my Media Centre system in the kitchen and I happened to catch the term “Generation Y” – so I refocused my attention span to watch and listen in.
Side Note - I wasn’t really thinking about Generation-Y, HR Recruiting or how to attract and retain talent into your organization. That was the topic of a talk show Q&A webcast I hosted for the Ignite Your Career series last Tuesday (Resource page is online – download the audio portion of the show from there) but it still must have been somewhere in my subconscious – but I digress…
I was expecting to hear some of the pessimistic views on Gen-Y: spoiled, self absorbed, lazy, raised by over indulgent protective parents and possibly “ship jumpers” that will take what they can get and then move on to the next position/employer. I don’t particularly subscribe to those views – I work with Gen-Y individuals and talk to them at colleges and universities. I see them as a group of driven individuals that border on overachievers. I don’t know if you can categorize groups of individuals with these traits – I’ll leave that open for debate.
Eric Meerkamper was being interviewed about the findings of a recent survey his company DECODE published called “From Learning to Work 2008”. 27000 students were surveyed as part of this research and surprisingly enough – my pre-conceived notions of Gen-Y were challenged. “The brands that were chosen are considered to be authentic and innovate; part of some new and important values emerging in the workplace. All of these organizations are places that resonate as being stable and secure,” says Meerkamper.
The part that caught my ear the most was that Gen-Ys that responded to the survey actually are seeking STABILITY, authenticity and security in their employers. This can be tough, since there really isn’t a job for life anymore. After doing a bit of digging around, I found this quick article posted on Workopolis that included a link for the top 50 employers…
- Government of Canada
- Health Canada
- Google
- Provincial Government
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Air Canada
- CBC
- Westjet
- Research In Motion (RIM)
My surprise was government being ranked so high – I don’t really view them as being innovative. :)
What do you think? What is your organization doing to prepare for the upcoming wave of new employees? Are you planning on controlling and prohibiting the connected nature of the uber connected individuals that make up Gen-Y while they are at work? Are you updating your policies or simply “translating” them so that they are relevant and in a language that everyone can understand? Pop your thoughts into the comments stream!
If these type of questions are becoming top of mind for you – maybe you should check out the next episode of Ignite Your Career where they will be discussed.
IT Pro Team Blog |
IT Managers Blog |
Twitter |
Facebook |
LinkedIn My Shared Bookmarks
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Vaclav Vincalek, IT Authority, Founder and President of Pacific Coast Information Systems (PCIS) Ltd. Take the time to look at Vaclav's very strong background and then the topic index. Vaclav shares his views on security, best practices, recommended resources, and business trends.
With Vaclav's extensive history in the industry, we also dialogued after the podcast about his insights on IT as a Profession which I'm sharing with you here...
------
The UN-founded International Federation for Information Processing or IFIP has their Professional Practice Partnership (IP3) program which received full ratification at the world general assembly in August 2007 with their first implementation meeting in Montreal hosted by CIPS in October of 2007. This marks an historical inflection point and speaks to IT as a recognized profession with global standards, profession-based code of ethics, and widely adopted professional certification--all happening in 2009. Can you comment on this global initiative?
"Global standards and a professional code of ethics would benefit the IT industry. Until this point, the position of “IT professional” has not been clearly defined with firm standards and codes of conduct. Without exaggerating, the definition of an IT professional in some organizations has meant the person at the office who knows more than everyone else about computers – even if the extent of their knowledge was limited to opening up a box with a computer in it and getting the Internet hookup working.
The technology industry proved itself capable of instituting standards for technology. Clearly, the capacity exists for the industry to develop a professional association and codes of conduct like other established professions have already developed, like in accounting, architecture or law.
The IFIP is a long-awaited move for a maturing industry as technology plays an increasing role in our lives. It will ensure that IT professionals have the training and credentials to do their jobs and benchmarks to measure their skills, experience and value to their organizations. It will also allow industries to benefit from more free movement of trained IT professionals. Additionally, it can help IT professionals carry out their objectives, not of using more technology for technology's sake, but focusing on better understanding their customers to develop solutions for their organizations' real business needs."
------
Enjoy the podcast,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
Vaclav Vincalek is the founder and president of Pacific Coast Information Systems (PCIS) Ltd., a Vancouver-based company that provides strategic consulting, application development, technology solutions and managed services to companies and government organizations throughout North America. He has over 25 years of experience in the information technology industry.
In 1995, Mr. Vincalek started PCIS, turning it into one of British Columbia's leading providers of IT solutions for business. His strategic vision, proven management style, keen understanding of business technology and ability to predict and manage technology trends helped him to successfully grow PCIS. He oversees and mentors a talented team of technology and business specialists.
Mr. Vincalek launched Boonbox in 2007 as a division of PCIS, currently offering unique web security, password management and secure data backup solutions. The division was established in response to growing demand from businesses trying to remain competitive while faced with an increasingly complex IT landscape and greater demand on scarce IT resources.
Before founding PCIS, Mr. Vincalek was a Systems Analyst with Process Automation Controls Ltd. in Burnaby, BC, from 1991-1995. He has also worked with the Jones Soda Co. to invent a patented personalized bottle labeling process, developed the overall technical framework and oversaw the coordination of the development teams involved. He also developed BCTV's back-end web system in 1998.
Mr. Vincalek has spent four years in post-graduate university research and has a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering at Czech Technical University. During that time Mr. Vincalek also worked with Nokia in Tampere, Finland and later in Prague, Czech Republic.
Mr. Vincalek speaks at seminars about web security and integrating technology solutions to improve business productivity. He is a member of the Knowledge Management Community of Practice, British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) and Academy for Technology Company CEOs (ACETECH). He has been recognized by the IBM Systems Group for the work he completed on the HUB International Limited Intranet Development Project.
Mr. Vincalek produces the Pacific Coast Informer, authors a blog about technology trends and is frequently interviewed and quoted by media in programs and articles dealing with the technology industry, such as BCTV News, CBC radio, the National Post, Vancouver Sun, ComputerWorld Canada and BC Business Magazine. He can be reached at info@pcis.com
Happy Monday Morning to ya!
I really liked this post I got in the mail from Stuart R. Crawford about keeping your customers from being Cranky. In all honestly – it applies to your staff, your peers and even your personal relationships. The underlying foundation of it all is good communication by everybody with clearly defined intentions and outcomes.
Have you had communications breakdowns that have lead to some tough situations that you’ve had to clean up or do damage control afterwards? Do you have any other suggestions you can add to help us all out?
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
My Shared Bookmarks
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | | Stuart R. Crawford (Calgary, Alberta) |
5 Tips that will allow your customers to wake up on the right side of the bed
When you finish a long day at the office and jump in your car, do you expect it to turn on when you turn the key? Of course we do. We live in an always on world where many people including the customers that we serve have become totally accustomed to things just working, including their Information Technology solutions. So what would happen if you elected not to perform your schedule maintenance on your car, it will eventually fail and more often than not, at the worst time possible.
Your reliable car fails you, guess what happens next? You probably would curse and the stress levels would increase. You become cranky and your prefect day now could be ruined.
Where does this “it should always work” mindset come from? Is it the executives who are sitting on the subway platform expressing how easy it is to setup their email on their phone in five minutes or the competitor with no prior knowledge of the network saying “yeah, a wireless router, no more than 20 minutes” without having all the facts of the network. The world is portraying an always on, always connected and always working picture.
General crankiness with technology appears to be on the rise. Is it because of the stress in the marketplace, are people in general just overworked? Are they getting what they were promised? Were they promised something and didn’t get what was asked for? Did their IT provider live up to their expectations? Where targets, outcomes and needs clearly communicated in both directions? Did the IT Professional understand what the client needed and the client understands what was being delivered? IT Professionals combined with their clients are dropping balls everywhere and some are paying the price.
Understanding, managing and then delivering on the expectations of our clients is a day to day job. Those professionals who understand the desired outcome, clearly communicate, follow through, follow-up and then confirm that all is well are more successful in today’s world than those companies who do not. Jeff Anderson from Red Deer’s Bulletproof Networks states “there is virtually no situation involving an unhappy client who could not have been prevented by carefully managing their expectations from the outset.” Jeff also adds “the ability to anticipate and effectively manage client expectations is the skill we work hardest at building in our staff.”
What can the average IT Professional do today to prevent customer crankiness? Technology, compared to many other industries in today’s world is just something that should work. It should never fail and you also are a super hero. Preventing crankiness starts with understanding, training and constant development of your own skills. Clients are always going to have evolving business needs, especially today where companies change direction on a dime. What are your doing to plan, anticipate and react to these changing needs.
Dealing with customer crankiness is all about managing the expectations. Now when you have someone asking you to setup their wireless email and expecting in five minutes, a reality check needs to kick in with the actual scenario. It all begins and ends with communications and truly understanding and managing, the wants and needs of your clients and then delivering or making recommendations on those requests or even finding a suitable alternate.
One alarming fact, the art of communication is a truly dying trend everywhere in today’s world, not just in the technology world. Customers are not communicating effectively with suppliers, suppliers are not communicating with customers and no one is 100% sure what needs to be done, leading to chaos and confusion. And sometimes that nasty assume word rears its ugly head, we assume we know what are clients want, we assume that they are looking into things, we assume that they are taking responsibility and they assume the same about us and when things breakdown – the finger pointing came commences. Everyone misses what is expected.
Here are 5 basic tips to prevent customer crankiness in your organization:
Dialogue – Effective Communications is a rapidly dying art. Emails are sent that are extremely vague, quality questions seem to have disappeared and everyone is just too busy talking, texting, checking email and not listening to what is going on around them. The first critical step to ensuring that your customer’s needs are met (after turning off your cell phone) is to stop talking and to start asking quality questions. Do you remember in school when the teacher would say “there is no such thing as a dumb question”? The same is true in business. I would rather ask a question than assume anything. IT Professionals today need to ask questions, open our ears and close our mouths. Engage in quality communications with your clients and the key secret, over communicate. There is nothing wrong with over communicating with your clients, team and peers. Personally, I would rather be known as an over communicator than someone who never gets back to anyone or shares what is happening. The secret here Communicate, Communicate, and Communicate!
Affirmation – Did you understand everything the customer wants and needs from you? Did you verify everything just to be completely sure? Once again, I would rather look foolish confirming the customer’s needs than looking cool and getting things incorrect. Email works well here, after a dialogue with a client summarize the points in an email or other correspondence with your client and ask them “did I get everything right”, don’t worry they will tell if you did or didn’t. It all comes down to communication once again. The biggest failure in business today is that lack of effective communications. Once the customer confirms that all is well, I recommend you file away the information for future reference. I have learned that email works really well because people have a tendency to forget things.
Follow through on your commitments – When you promise to do something, do it! Nothing more to add on this one, you may want to include a section in your affirmation email listing everyone’s action items and deliverables and the timelines that have been committed to. If a supplier, vendor, or even client fails to meet a deliverable, remind them. They are human just like you. Don’t brush targets and deliverables under the carpet and hope one day they will be needed.
Follow up – Another dying art is the ability to follow up, it happens everywhere from the garage mechanic to the IT Professional, lack of follow up is all around us. We adopt the “they will call me if it doesn’t work” mindset, when the client has to call you to come back or fix something over again and it happens to repeat itself over and over, customers start to get cranky in a hurry. However, when you take the initiative to follow up with your clients they are more likely to be open and thankful for your call.
Closure – this is the final critical component to ensuring that customer crankiness is prevented, clients are impressed when everything is confirmed thoroughly with them. A simple meeting, email, phone call or voice mail closing off a call or request can go miles in ensuring your customer relationship is rock solid and you are exceeding their expectations. If something hasn’t been picked up in your follow-ups the closure stage is the catch all. This is where you confirm that all is well and they are happy with the solution, service call or even a quote.
Simple communications and managing the expectations of your clients will lead to a satisfied relationship with your client; a happy workforce and a profitable business that keeps your staff engaged and the ship afloat. Managing the needs of your clients is a daily operation that should not be taken upon lightly, you need to have your best people focused purely on the account relationship and keep the day to day technical, sales and other business operations close by to be called upon when needed.
Gone are the days of just meeting the expectations of your clients, in today’s world IT Professionals must exceed them every day. Exceeding expectations is a daily task, are you up to it?
Stuart Crawford is the Vice President of Business Development for IT Matters Inc. A Calgary based Professional Services firm focused on delivering Managed IT Services in Southern Alberta. IT Matters is a Gold Microsoft Partner and Small Business Specialist. Visit their website at http://www.itmatters.ca. You can contact Stuart at scrawford@itmatters.ca or through his blog at http://blog.itsuccessmentor.com.
On May 24, 2008, a number of IT professionals came together to explore environmentally conscious and economically sound technology solutions at the Energize IT event in Toronto. Our podcast series host, Ruth Morton, was on hand to discuss subjects ranging from ‘The first steps towards developing a Green IT Environment’ to ‘Helping to reduce data centre usage and energy costs’ with today’s Green IT experts.
Watch a video from the ‘Energize IT’ Event:
Additional Links
Learn more about Green IT at the Microsoft Environment site
Learn more about our guests’ expertise:
This podcast is available in both MP3 and WMA formats. Full video interviews as well as more information about the IT Manager Podcast series can be found on the IT Manager Podcast web page.
I got this in the mail as a submission for the IT Manager blog from a contact of mine in Calgary - Stuart Crawford. He raises some interesting points about staffing and using internal vs. external resources. I am a little on the fence on this one as I see value in having both types of resources, based on business needs. Stuart makes full disclosure at the end of the post as his company provides IT Outsourcing services.
I think I might invite Stuart to be a panelist on an upcoming WebCast in the Ignite Your Career series. He could bring some valuable insight into partnering with MS Partners.
What about your thoughts on this topic? Have you considered IT Outsourcing for your organization? Have you explored your options? Which route did you take?
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
My Shared Bookmarks
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| | Stuart R. Crawford (Calgary, Alberta) |
Outsourcing your IT brings additional business value
Businesses today wrestle and grapple with the thought of hiring their own technology support staff to support their daily need for IT support without fully understanding the risks and the costs associated with having their own team of technology professionals.
Business owners, C level execs and Managers are attracted to the idea of having a team or a consultant readily available within shouting distance down the hall, basically having an IT resource committed to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, many of today’s business owners across the country are not aware of the total risks their business is exposed to by electing to bring their technology support in-house.
More often than not it is purely a cost based decision, on the surface it may appear to be more cost effective to hire a consultant or employee who is committed as a full time employee. CFOs and Accounting Managers often look only at the cost of having their IT outsourced and or attracted to hiring someone for a few thousand dollars a month as part of their staff will save their company in the long run. This is not the case in reality and by having a full time employee will actually end up costing business today more in the long run.
So what are the advantages of having an IT Partner who focuses on delivering a complete managed technology solution? There are a number of immediate benefits over having a full time employee. These benefits include:
- The average technology professional with five years experience may be worth $60,000 a year. This is great when you looking at the bills from your IT provider and see that you have probably spent paid the same in their consulting bills for only a fraction of the time. When a business elects to go internal, a $60,000 salary now buys the business one person and not a team of professionals offering depth in expertise and knowledge.
- IT Partners will provide around the clock monitoring and coverage throughout the entire term of the contract. When a company hires their own IT staff, now the challenges around vacation scheduling, training and time off from illness impacts the company. An outsourced IT Partner provided full time coverage, vacations, illness and other absences now are not an impact on your technology support.
- There are hidden additional costs when a business elects to hire internally. The costs associated with training can rise rapidly, when you have a trusted IT partner, training is no longer the company’s challenge. The IT partner ensures that the skills of their team are up to date. Combine this with costs associated with procurement of equipment that include SmartPhones, laptops and other supplies can quickly add up and then there is the added payroll expenses associated with healthcare, payroll and others logistical items.
- IT partners can offer a wealth of knowledge and great resources when needed, offering networks of partners who can help geographical and even across town. When a company turns to hiring their own staff, this experience often is not available to them and they are stuck with just a single person or a very small team with limited expertise. Now when these skills are required outside of the skills level of their staff, this is now an additional expense that normally the right IT partner can extend to a company as part of their program.
- IT technicians always like to be challenged even the ones that you hire. What happens at the average company when the challenges stop occurring? Boredom is disastrous. There are two possible outcomes that occur with in-house staff who deal with challenges with boredom.
- They choose to leave to seek out challenges – When a company loses a member of their own internal staff, the intellectual property and knowledge goes with them. This leaves a huge void in the understanding of your systems and network layout. With a trusted IT partner, this knowledge is retained and companies continue to function as if nothing occurred.
- They decide to adopt “make work” projects – When this occurs it can be disastrous as well. Many make work projects are the result of boredom and complacency because of lack of challenges. When make work projects appear, what isn’t getting done is the attention to the daily needs of your systems and network. Make works projects are distractions and your IT partner doesn’t worry about finding stuff to do on your network. The daily attention to your systems is still the main focus of their services.
Michael Fafinski, President of Syand Corporation in Minneapolis states about the value of having a full service IT partner can bring to a company, “having a full feature IT partner eliminates the “tunnel vision” found with internal employees. Too often, employers are limited only by the expertise of their internal employees and lose opportunities to improve their business.”
Many firms that elect to go with their own in-house IT person, more often than not resent this decision down the road. What seemed like a great idea quickly turns into a huge business mistake that ends up costing them.
Randy Biggs from VACS in St. Catharines, Ontario shares “Hiring a trusted IT partners allows a company to have access to many additional certified resources without having to keep paying for their staff to get certified. I find that with hired staff, you get one of two types. One that always wants the latest and greatest that many companies cannot afford to keep up with and the second, someone who becomes complacent and only does what needs done. In either case, they aren't looking out for the best interest of the company.”
When a company elects to retain an outsourced firm over hiring internal, they are getting service from a company who is focused on ensuring the IT needs are being addressed in the most efficient manner possible. Many trusted IT partners are focused on the bigger picture, ensuring everything is looked after in a company’s environment including:
- Vendor Relations
- IT Budgeting
- Network Monitoring and Proactive IT services
- Knowledge Base Management
- Disaster Recovery Planning
Partnering with a trusted IT Partner brings value to any business no matter what the size, what makes more sense to you? Limiting the knowledge, options and having to deal with people challenges such as complacency and boredom or expanding available options by having a wonderful relationship with a trusted IT partner who understands what business needs to grow, increase profits and the importance of the right technology solution.
Stuart Crawford is the Vice President of Business Development for IT Matters Inc. A Calgary based Professional Services firm focused on delivering Managed IT Services in Southern Alberta. IT Matters is a Gold Microsoft Partner and Small Business Specialist. Visit their website at http://www.itmatters.ca. You can contact Stuart at scrawford@itmatters.ca or through his blog at http://www.stuartcrawford.com.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Lance Secretan, World Renowned Multi-Award-Winning Executive, Strategist, Best-selling Author/Writer, Keynote Speaker, Coach, Thought-Leader, Professor.
Lance embodies an extraordinary history of contributions on a global scale impacting on every level. I caught his keynote earlier this year which received unanimous praise.
Enjoy,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
Dr. Lance Secretan is one of the world's foremost thinkers about leadership and a renowned pioneer in innovative methods of inspiring people and organizations. The former CEO of a Fortune 100 company and an acclaimed business school professor, Lance Secretan works with a gifted worldwide faculty changing the lives of people and transforming companies and revolutionizing the way they think about leadership.
Thirty of Fortune's Most Admired Companies, and 11 of Fortune's Best Companies to Work For in America are his clients. He is the international best-selling author of fourteen books on leadership, an award-winning columnist, teacher, philosopher, corporate coach and mentor, and one of North America's most sought-after keynote speakers, retreat leaders, and business advisors. Voted one of the nation's top ten speakers, and one of the "top 21 speakers for the 21st century" (Successful Meetings), he addresses audiences around the world. Lance was the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the 1997 Special Olympics World Winter Games and former Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program.
In recognition of a lifetime of caring about people and the planet, Lance was awarded the prestigious International Caring Award (often referred to as the US equivalent of the Nobel Prize), whose other recipients include Mother Teresa and Jane Goodall. The International Management Council has also recognized his contribution to leadership with the McFeely Leadership Award. Lance has several degrees including a Masters in International Relations from the University of Southern California (magna cum laude) and a Ph. D. from the London School of Economics. An expert skier, he divides his time between homes in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and Ontario, Canada overlooking a 700-acre wilderness reserve where he lives with his wife Tricia.
Most Requested Topics:
- ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership
- Inspire: What Great Leaders Do
- Values-centered Leadership®
- The New Story of Leadership: What the Best Leaders in the World are Working on Next
- Reclaiming Higher Ground: Creating Organizations that Inspire the Soul
Books by Lance Secretan Include:
- ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership
- Inspire! What Great Leaders Do
- Spirit@Work® Cards: Bringing Spirit and Values to Work
- Reclaiming Higher Ground: Creating Organizations that Inspire the Soul
- Living the Moment: A Sacred Journey
- The Way of the Tiger Gentle Wisdom for Turbulent Times
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview computing pioneer, Calvin C. (Kelly) Gotlieb, C.M., M.A., Ph.D. (University of Toronto), D. Math. (Hon., University of Waterloo), D. Eng. (Hon., Technical University of Nova Scotia), Fellow CIPS (FCIPS), Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the British Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
In my next chat with Kelly, we will discuss Kelly's work with the UN-Founded International Federation For Information Processing (IFIP) and the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS). Kelly was instrumental in the founding of IFIP and CIPS.
Enjoy,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
Kelly Gotlieb is currently Professor Emeritus in Computer Science and in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto (UT). He is a computing pioneer, whose innovations and accomplishments helped lay the foundation of an entire worldwide industry, educational stream, and profession. His contributions are so profound and their impact so diverse and in so many areas that the lasting value cannot be comprehended. Have a look at this blog to find out more: http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/archive/2006/09/29/459971.aspx
I love September! It is the month of so many beginnings and possible adventures. My two boys went back to school and I, like many of you who are parents, saw them off and loved to see the excitement, and slight trepidation, in their faces as they followed their teacher into the school and off for another year of adventures, learning, new friends, and the wonder of what is possible. I remember what it was like to be in their shoes, oh so many years ago, but realize that September also brings many new beginnings and adventures to what I and the rest of the team do.
September is when we kick off our activities for the next year. Our business year at Microsoft, in my mind, starts in September and ends in June, with the summer largely devoted to relaxation, planning, and family. Come September we are ready and raring to go and execute on the many exciting things we want to do to help you manage change, be more successful in your career, and connect with each other and us here at Microsoft. We have a number of activities (both in-person and online) planned, but the one that I am really excited about is the AlignIT Tour kicking off October 1 at our office in Mississauga.
IT is more than just technology. IT is about the people that use and support the technology, the processes in place to ensure the technology is the right fit and doing the right things within an organization, and also about ensuring the right technology is in place to drive the business goals forward and help to move the organization efficiently and seamlessly. This is what the Microsoft Align IT Tour is all about.
With workshops and case studies showcasing IT Optimization, top Microsoft consultants and experts will demonstrate how you can start moving towards a more optimized IT environment, and also share lessons learned through their engagements with organizations across the country. Focusing on Virtualization, you’ll learn how you can manage change more efficiently, help reduce costs and make the most of your existing infrastructure—all in one morning. Running October 1 to November 13, the tour is stopping in cities across Canada. Seating is limited, so register now.
I will be handling the Western Canadian portion of the tour and my colleague Rick Claus will take Ottawa and all points East. We will also be joined by the our teammates from the developer side of the house - John Bristowe (Western Canada) and Christian Beauclair (Eastern Canada) - to ensure the conversation covers all facets of IT leadership from the Help Desk to the Development Lab, to Systems Management and all points in-between.
Can't wait to connect with you!!!
Damir
Rodney Buike had this blog post up on our IT Pro blog and I thought I would ask him to cross post it over here, instead of me just linking over to it. SVVP (Server Virtualization Validation Program) was announced way back in February, but only recently came to fruition. A number of vendors have signed up to participate in the validation program, including VMWare - who just recently succeeded in passing the validation part.
This program is part of our commitment to you to support the needs of your business. You won't get the request to re-install the operating system or applications onto physical hardware in order to continue troubleshooting issues during support calls, provided it is running on a solution that has passed SVVP. It also sets the bar in the industry for application vendors that they now have a standard they can evaluate their software on, and provide support to their customers as well. Pretty exciting times.
Have a read of his post below for more details and specific links.
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Virtualization technologies are being adopted at a rapid pace. One concern that I often hear about relates to support of the operating systems and applications running in the virtual environment. Microsoft has supported Microsoft operating systems in Microsoft virtualization platforms from the start and the list of supported applications are continually growing. Knowledge Base Article 897615 details Microsoft's support policy around running Microsoft operating systems and applications in non-Microsoft virtualization platforms and here is where things have changed!
Additionally, for vendors with whom Microsoft has established a support relationship that covers virtualization solutions, or for vendors who have Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) validated solutions, Microsoft will support server operating systems subject to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy for its customers who have support agreements when the operating system runs virtualized on non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. This support will include coordinating with the vendor to jointly investigate support issues.
Novell has been a part of SVVP for a while now and the other day VMWare, arguably the current leader in virtualization, announced that they have joined the SVVP program.
The (SVVP)program enables vendors to validate various configurations so that customers of Windows Server can receive technical support in virtualized environments. Customers with validated solutions will benefit from the support provided by Microsoft as a part of the regular Windows Server technical support framework.
So with Novell and VMWare now being part of the SVVP program you can rest easy knowing that Microsoft will support Microsoft operating systems and applications no matter what virtual platform they are running on. Along with these two vendors, there are a number of other virtualization vendors who have entered the program and are being validated including Cisco, Cytrix, Sun, Unisys, and Virtual Iron.
Along with this there is also expanded support for Microsoft applications running in a virtual environment. A total of 31 new applications have been certified to run on Virtual Serve, Hyper-V and SVVP certified virtual platforms including Exchange Server 2007 SP1, SQL Server 2008, Dynamics, SharePoint and System Centre tools. You can see the complete list in Knowledge Base Article 957006
Personally I think this is great news. Now no matter what your virtual platform, Microsoft will be there to support you.
The Back to School season started yesterday with two big events in my family. My son had his annual case of back to school jitters... He's going into 2nd grade, new class, new teacher and reconnecting with his network of friends after being apart for most of the summer. The second event was introducing my twin girls to their Jr. Kindergarden teacher and classroom in preparation for their "integration" into the public school system. All around the schoolyard there were tonnes of kids, even more parents - everyone was dealing with a range of emotions and adapting to the start of the school year. When the day was over and the evening was winding down, I enjoyed hearing my kids stories about what was new, what was scary and what they liked the most / least as I was putting them down for bed last night. It reminded me that no matter what our age is or what we're facing, we are continuously building and using skills that we started to acquire from an early age.
- We are challenged to continuously adapt to our changing environment in order to succeed.
- We rely on our network of support and community to help us along the way.
- We need to be in a position where we continue to learn from others and grow our skills.
It doesn't matter if it is the start of the school year or your day to day job at work. These skills, your community and your willingness to learn will equip you to better succeed as you go forward. This is something that the team I work with at Microsoft is committed to supporting you along your journey. Over the next couple of days I want to share with you some of the activities we're planning this year for both you as an IT Manager and activities for your staff which will help you succeed in your careers and grow your skills. They range from in person technical events, online webcasts, social media activities to connect with others and peer networking activities to expand your support network.
One event I want to kick off with today is a one stop shop for a webcast series we ran last year that was very successful. We're bringing back "Ignite Your Career" and expanding it to include a wider audience then before. This time around it will be a monthly series following multiple streams of interest, including one for IT Managers, Architects and Software Development Shops. You can find the landing page here for more information about the series, upcoming topics and also a complete schedule. Click on the "Manage" tab for complete details on the IT Manager track and information on how to register.
I'm particularly excited about the IT Manager component which I am hosting this time around. I'm following the "radio talk show" format from last year of Q&A with industry experts and peer IT managers talking about topics that are very much top of mind with IT Managers today. Join me and my guests on September 9th September 23rd when we will be talking about "Attracting and Retaining Talent to your Organization". It is sure to be a lively conversation. Future episodes coming out once a month will include "Adapting to the Upcoming Generation of Digital Native Employees", "Tips on selecting partners to ensure successful projects" and "Project Management for the IT Manager - when to bring in help".
As I mentioned - we have a lot of activities planned for the upcoming year. Each one is designed to support you and your team along your path to success. Stay tuned for more information on what's coming down the pipe.
**Edit Note** - changed date of first webcast from September 9th to September 23rd...
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
The latest release of Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 has many IT managers discovering new virtualization capabilities, Web resources, and security and management enhancements. This month, Kevin McCully (WebFeat) and Loïc Calvez (Lafarge North America) join our hosts Ruth Morton and Rick Claus to discuss the IT benefits of Windows Server 2008, keys to a successful deployment, and migration best practices.
Additional Resources:
This podcast is available in both MP3 and WMA formats. Full video interviews as well as more information about the IT Manager Podcast series can be found on the IT Manager Podcast web page.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview - Dave Remmer, Architect Advisor Developer/Platform Group Microsoft, Top Architecture Authority.
Dave was the principal organizer for the Strategic Architecture Forum held in Vancouver and a featured speaker due to his acknowledged expertise. Ruth provided an earlier blog for the forum where there are links to the major presentations from Dave.
Dave continues to share his valued insights in this podcast. Take the time to look at the topic index and then listen to Dave's thoughts on what IT/Business professionals, managers, and leaders need to know.
Enjoy,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
Dave Remmer, Architect Advisor Developer/Platform Group Microsoft, Top Architecture Authority
This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Dave Remmer.
An industry veteran, Dave Remmer has architected solutions in the financial, multi-media, security, manufacturing, services and health care industries. He specializes in leveraging SOA, security, and standards development to realize ongoing business value within organizations. Dave focuses on current issues in architecting enterprise solutions and how to leverage the Microsoft platform to support project's architectural success. He has achieved certifications in the Java architecture and development environment as well as the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer designation.
Dave is an Architect Advisor with the Developer and Platform Group in Microsoft Canada and works with some of the largest organizations in Canada.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Markus Jakobsson, Top International Security Authority, Principal Scientist at PARC and Founder of RavenWhite, Past Principal Research Scientist at RSA Security.
The research done at PARC and RSA Security are legendary. It's a rare opportunity when the world's top research scientists are interviewed for a blog. Watch for Markus in upcoming future podcasts as well.
Enjoy,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
View Interview Time Index and Topics Listen to the Interview (MP3) About Markus Jakobsson
Dr. Markus Jakobsson is a Principal Scientist at Palo Alto Research Center. He is a founder of the security startup RavenWhite, which addresses security problems associated with authentication, malware and click-fraud. He is also one of the founders of SecurityCartoon, an educational approach targeting typical Internet users.
Previously, he has held positions as Associate Professor at Indiana University, Adjunct Associate Professor at New York University, Principal Research Scientist at RSA Security, and was a member of the Technical Staff at Bell Labs. He is a visiting research fellow of the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), serves on the technical advisory board of Cellfony, and is a consultant to the financial sector.
Dr. Jakobsson teaches on phishing and counter-measures, click-fraud, the human factor in security, cryptography, network security and protocol design. He is an editor of "Phishing and Countermeasures" (Wiley, 2006) and co-author of "Crimeware: Understanding New Attacks and Defenses" (Symantec Press, 2008). He received his PhD in computer science from University of California at San Diego in 1997. He can be reached at markus.jakobsson@parc.com.
Markus Jakobsson
http://www.markus-jakobsson.com
Forgot your password? Go to
http://I-forgot-my-password.com
APWG - Anti-Phishing Working Group
http://www.antiphishing.org/
