A Business Technology Place (Since 2008)
Some years ago, I attended an in-house training course on customer service principles named Customer Experience Owner (CEO). It was required training for new employees to teach client relationship techniques during conflict, negotiation, and service delivery. The company produced customized commercial print pieces and customer service was essential for maintaining Read More …
(Note: this is not an advertisement for product. I’m just a regular dude relating a product I use to the business environment.) A few years ago, while my family and I were on summer vacation at the beach we noticed a few other families using a different kind of beach Read More …
Here’s a shout out to everyone who has helped someone start in a new career, industry, or education. It’s a great thing when people with authority, influence, or knowledge use their position to help someone with their first steps on a new journey. They are like an Angel Investor that Read More …
Why are job descriptions so long? Is it just me or are most job descriptions overly wordy and complicated? When a job description exceeds one page, I start asking what’s important in the role. When a job description exceeds two pages, I’m lost. Long job descriptions are well intentioned. The Read More …
The year was 2001. I was in a room presenting a 1.0 version of an internal browser-based utility that enabled our billing department to generate a current customer price card without running a program and print job from the mainframe. It was a leap forward with technology use, but more Read More …
I lost a friend this month who taught me about life and how to live with others. My friend was not someone that we would label a role-model. He lived a life that was far from perfect life. He made mistakes on his journey that cost him relationships, health, and Read More …
One important lesson I’ve learned in life is I don’t have to be an entrepreneur to act like one at my job. Entrepreneurs have characteristics to help them envision, organize, and create successful business ventures. While there is no single list of character traits to reference, Kelsey Miller of Harvard Read More …
2020 is a year we’ll never forget. I read expressions of disapproval from many people wishing 2020 would disappear from memory. Why not? Lost jobs, pandemic deaths, political negativity, canceled events, and destructive acts of nature are just a few of the headlines this year. The lives of me, you, Read More …
I’ve been a recreational runner for the last twenty-five years. It all started with an invitation from a neighbor to run the Peachtree Road Race, a 10K, in Atlanta. In October 2010 I started logging my mileage and in the past decade I’ve now logged over 10,000 miles! I run Read More …
When I was in college, I worked for six academic quarters in a cooperative education work program. The experience was valuable because my employers gave me meaningful work assignments in a broad range of technology areas. That translated into credible work experience and helped me secure a job a month Read More …
In my leadership credo, I state that I believe leadership is helping others succeed. But belief statements are just thought-candy if not turned into actions. I want my credo to hold weight. I want it to be more than words on a page. James captures the relationship between beliefs and Read More …
I don’t know what word you would use to describe 2020, but I’m calling it disruptive. The economy, health infrastructure, culture, and daily routines are a few areas in our world that have been tilted this year. My biggest struggle of 2020 so far has been navigating an unbounded furlough Read More …
Part 3 of 3 – Treasury Drug 2020 has been a disruptive year for everyone. Like millions of others, I’m wrestling with furlough and career choices. While we rarely list high school jobs on our resumes, I’ve been thinking about the three jobs I had during my teenage years. They Read More …
Part 2 of 3 – McDonald’s 2020 has been a disruptive year for everyone. Like millions of others, I’m wrestling with furlough and career choices. While we rarely list high school jobs on our resumes, I’ve been thinking about the three jobs I had during my teenage years. They all Read More …
Part 1 of 3 – Winn-Dixie 2020 has been a disruptive year for everyone. Like millions of others, I’m wrestling with furlough and career choices. While we rarely list high school jobs on our resumes, I’ve been thinking about the three jobs I had during my teenage years. They all Read More …
Just like that. The world as we knew it changed almost overnight with pretty much every facet of life impacted by policy changes and closures due to COVID-19. Businesses are scrambling to make sure employees are enabled to work remotely. Schools are enacting plans to educate students through video and Read More …
Twelve years ago I was introduced to a leadership credo as part of a management change after my employer was acquired. My new manager presented her leadership credo as a document during her formal introduction to the team. While different from past group changes, I was appreciative of her approach Read More …
Last Fall, before one of my workouts, I queued a podcast episode from Freakonomics titled How to make Meetings Less Terrible. I was a bit skeptical about this one because I’ve read dozens of articles about meetings and what else is there to say? But the Freakonomics staff is good Read More …
I have a friend Lynne who loves project management. Like all project managers, she has a system for how she tracks and manages projects. It shows a portfolio of projects with names, descriptions, status indicators, dates, etc. I like to think of it as an organized view of chaos. We Read More …
I love productivity hacks. Last year, at about this time, I retired one of my paper notebooks used for tracking notes and to-dos. I never liked putting old notebooks in drawers or on shelves (clutter). I dislike even more discarding old notebooks (waste). So I researched a few options for Read More …