October 3, 2017 RIP, Tom Petty… This week I’m at the United Way’s Finance, Talent, and Technology Management Forum in Dallas. It’s my first time here — the UW has recently added “Technology” to the roster of this conference, and it’s been a wonderfully refreshing opportunity to learn and discuss all the big-picture tech issues,…
My favorite joke about working in Nonprofit Leadership. From the Vaudeville era: The circus comes to town, and everyone turns up for the grand parade down Main Street. There’s the Strong Man, the Bearded Lady, and Lions and Tigers in cages, pulled by beautiful horses. Then, at the end, come the Elephants marching in single…
September 26, 2017 In his talks, Tom Peters used to ask his audiences “What is the oldest continually operating organization you can think of?” The answers were (a) the Catholic Church, and (b) Medieval Universities, like the University of Oxford. Which begs the Question: Why do no businesses have that kind of longevity? One could…
When I was a Business Administration student (and Organizational Behavior in particular), we were taught about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Some of which might actually be appropriate…I’ll not bore you with the whole thing, but the essence is that people have to have their basic needs (food) met before they can move up to safety…
July 31, 2017 There are things, like drinking to excess, that one does and, while you’re in the throes of worshipping at the shrine of the Porcelain God, your brain goes: “Right! NOW I REMEMBER why I haven’t done this in a decade…” I had the same experience over the weekend trying to move my…
I love my Dyson vacuum. It’s a DC14 Animal, and I regularly take it apart and put it in the dishwasher by itself to clean every cyclonic chamber and HEPA filter. I always say: “I like things that just WORK.” With proper maintenance and care, this thing does. It’s 11 years old now and still…
OR: “What’s a Community-minded techie to do?” Yesterday I had the opportunity to go meet with a roomful of new IT folk (developers mostly) at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma about the many ways they can contribute to the life of the community through tech service. BCBSOK has been a great partner to us…
May 12, 2017 Here in the world of United Way, we’ve always stressed how we’re all locally run and managed. We pay a “license fee” if you will to share the United Way brand, with all the responsibilities and conditions that come with it. We’ve all maintained our own local files forever – moving from…
March 7, 2017 A word to prospective employees: If you fancy a career in technology, you’re probably going to start off in tech support, maybe the Help Desk. You may find yourself better able to do the job if you’re a tinkerer, or have some sort of hobby that involves doing things with your hands.…
February 7, 2017 Not long ago I was reading about Domino’s Pizza and their efforts with their phone apps on what they call “frictionless ordering,” or the Zero Click App. You can read about it here. The assumption is if you order pizza from Domino’s, you’re probably going to order what you did before. So…