Back in July, I took my family on a camping trip in Hawaii. We flew to Honolulu and rented a pair of campervans for our family of six. We had been on the ground for less than an hour when our phones collectively went off with an emergency notice regarding an incoming tsunami caused by a 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Russia. A local was giving us an orientation on one of the two campervans at the... Read More Read More

We did it. We dropped my oldest son, Caleb, off at college last weekend. This was a first for our family. Many friends and colleagues have gone before us. It’s a significant experience and something I wanted to write about. I had to think long and hard about what unique thought I could offer you, and of course, what leadership lesson could apply to many, regardless of their stage of life. One unique aspect of this experience, is that my... Read More Read More

I just got back from a family vacation in Hawaii. We had never been there before, and it was a lovely time. As a part of our trip, we spent two days on the “Big Island” and I really wanted to see flowing lava, if at all possible. The day we arrived, we went on an organized tour of Volcanos National Park. When we were there, we saw Kilauea smoking and steaming profusely. Nearby park rangers told us that it... Read More Read More

I noticed this quite a while ago, and once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it. Many movies, dare I say most, are written with a hero and a mentor. We love to focus on the hero characters, but ever-present are the mentor characters. These are the ones who show up partway into the first act to help the hero get through their early challenges in the quest. Some mentor roles are short and static, others are dynamic and involved... Read More Read More

Did you hear the news? After 38 years of waiting, Spaceballs 2 was announced yesterday. Check out the hilarious announcement from Mel Brooks himself: I cannot wait! In 1987, Mel Brooks released Spaceballs as a parody of Star Wars and other science fiction of that era. As much as I consider myself a Star Wars geek, I’ve probably watched Spaceballs more than the movies it parodies. It’s so quotable, and somehow, it never gets old. I was recently considering a common IT problem, and for some reason, Spaceballs scenes kept coming... Read More Read More

Last week, I spoke about technology change leadership at Open Source North. It was a lot of fun. In case you missed it, I drew heavily from these past Zach on Leadership articles: Today’s article isn’t about the content of that presentation. It’s about the experience itself. I had an epiphany: I wasn’t nervous at all. I genuinely enjoyed the speaking opportunity. I was relaxed. It was fun. If I go back 15 years in time, the past version of... Read More Read More

I’m naturally fascinated by new technology. No one needs to tell me to keep up on tech trends. I do so naturally. I’ve done plenty of dabbling with Generative AI. I’ve written about it a few times on this blog already. If you missed it, you can check it out here, here, and here. Today’s article is all about Generative AI technology adoption. Some never use it. Some play with it from time to time. Some use it daily. I’m... Read More Read More

I remember the first time I set foot in a real data center. It was roughly 26 years ago. That’s where the magic happened. That’s where the serious IT engineering work was done. At the time, I was a desktop support technician. After a few years, I advanced my career to the point where I was qualified to work in the data center. I was elated. I loved every aspect of it. The ice-cold air conditioning, the blinking LED lights, the... Read More Read More

Do you ever get the feeling that you should’ve been promoted to the next level by now? If you are early in your career, you might think you are the only one. Ask anyone. Every single person will say that they’ve been there for a season of their career. Most have been there multiple times. While the situation is common, it isn’t easy to handle. Being overdue for a promotion can lead to frustration and disengagement. There are a lot... Read More Read More

This week, the President of the United States stepped into a modern EV and remarked with exuberance, “Everything is computer!” I will set aside the political context for this, because that’s not the purpose of this blog. I will take a moment to reflect on this humorous comment because it provides me the opportunity to reflect on our relationship with technology in this modern era. The term “computer” I still use the term, “computer,” but I also recognize that it’s... Read More Read More

Can you be a people-first, servant leader and still have the guts to make the tough calls when you have to? Yes, but it’s really hard. Those of you who have been following me for a long time know that I’m all about servant leadership. You know the type. These leaders make work fun. They help people grow in their careers. They build a great culture. They take the blame and give the credit. They make people feel safe. They... Read More Read More

I was asked a pretty insightful question this week. I was doing Q&A with Minnesota Technology Association’s ACE Leadership cohort. We were discussing a wide range of leadership topics when one of the participants asked this interesting question: How do you know what’s really going on in your team? Do you use dashboards or status reports? What’s your method? I sat back in my chair for a moment to gather my thoughts. It occurred to me that this is a... Read More Read More

It had been 5 years since I last coached a competitive Lego robotics team. 5 long years. What could possibly have changed? From 2017-2020. I coached a Lego robotics team through three seasons, two of which climaxed with appearances at the state championships. Those were some great years, and they inspired many blog articles. If you’d like to check them out, click here, here, and here. But then covid hit, and that changed everything. Also, shortly after that, all of... Read More Read More

I love to teach leadership lessons inspired by pop culture references. Last week I drew leadership lessons from Napoleon Dynamite. That lesson was targeted at people my age and younger. Some of my older readers may not have gotten much out of it. I’d like to balance that out with an article that will likely resonate with people my age and older. In 1976, Boston released their debut self-titled album, with the hit, “Peace of Mind.” Fast forward 20 years,... Read More Read More

Napoleon Dynamite was released 20 years ago and was wildly successful, especially considering its tiny budget. The first time I saw it, I thought it was pretty dumb. But I must admit, it’s grown on me over the years. I recently watched it with my family and thought it was hilarious. I declared right in the moment, that I would be Napoleon Dynamite for Halloween. And, of course, you all know I like to draw leadership lessons from pop culture, and I... Read More Read More

Roughly 12-14 years ago, a war raged in every corporate IT department. The people wanted iPhones at work. Corporate IT clung to their BlackBerry’s. This is most certainly old news. Why bring it up now? I think time gives us perspective. There are lessons to be gleaned now that were hard to see then. We love to talk about the hot new tech trends. Do we ever look back and evaluate our previous positions? What did we get right? What... Read More Read More

There’s a meme circulating on the internet called the bell curve meme, or the midwit meme. It points out funny things that newbies do, compared to the prevailing wisdom of the masses, compared to the insight of the experts. The joke is that the experts often mirror the newbies. I haven’t seen the meme applied to technology leadership, but I thought I’d give it a try. “Don’t bring me problems. Bring me solutions,” says the leader, feeling smart, strong, and... Read More Read More

Eight years ago when I started Zach on Leadership, some of my first blog articles were about helping people advance in their careers. I love techies. I’m one of them. I spent years of my career as a technician and engineer. Then I advanced and started climbing the corporate ladder. I truly believe that techies make the best technology leaders, but few of them are equipped to succeed in leadership. That’s where I come in. I detailed the pathway that... Read More Read More

One of the most fundamental questions a tech executive must answer is, should we buy or build our software solutions? On the surface, this seems like a pretty straightforward question, but it can get complicated in a hurry. The basic line of reasoning works like this: Is there a commercial solution that meets my needs? If so, I should probably buy it, because why would I reinvent the wheel? That would be dumb. On the other hand, if I have... Read More Read More

Mark Zuckerberg famously started Facebook with the motto, “Move Fast and Break Things.” Eventually, they abandoned that motto after they broke a few too many things. I relate to this struggle more than most. Some lean more toward operational stability. Some lean more toward disruptive innovation. I’m squarely in the uncomfortable middle. Operations I’ve been accountable for operations my whole career. Twice now, I’ve been explicitly hired into a company because they really needed some operational rigor. Things were breaking... Read More Read More