MOR Insight

Last Saturday, Erik Lundberg, ITLP alum from the University of Washington, found at interesting piece – "Google's Quest to Build a Better Boss" – in the New York Times and sent it to me.  Erik noted that "By analyzing data from within its own ranks, Google proves what management practitioners already preach.  But then implements it in a way that resonates with technical/engineering types."

Today's reading focuses on building a practice to increase your daily personal effectiveness.  The IT Leaders Program emphasizes being intentional and planful with the use of your time.  Specifically, we've suggested identifying and formally setting aside regular times to plan your week/day.  For example, you might schedule time Sunday evening or on Monday morning to review the coming week to make sure you have reserved time to address your priorities.

In today's reading "Thank You for Doing Your Job", Whitney Johnson argues the value of saying thank you for routine work that contributes to the organization's well being.

Today, there is too little praise or appreciation voiced in our work environments.  In fact, I remember an organization that almost prided itself in being a "praise-free" zone.  Yet genuine gratitude goes a long way to engage people and bind them together, to say nothing about strengthening an building relationships.

To some extent, and more so for some than others, we are all problem solvers.  Most of the time we use ad hoc, informal, personal processes to solve problems.  And, these often work at the “good enough” level.  However, sometimes we miss good solutions, and even fail to identify the problem correctly in the first place.

Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, has a new book, “Alone Together.”  In the book, Turkle raises an interesting point about how we get and maintain each other’s attention in our always-on-connectivity culture.  

Wayne Turmel, writer, speaker, president of Greatwebmeetings.com, begins today’s reading, “Virtual Meetings Are Like Broccoli” <http://bit.ly/icPr7O>, by saying “Running good meetings for remote teams is like eating our vegetab

Have you ever been in a meeting to make a decision and before the context can be outlined, a few meeting participants have taken over and are going deeper and deeper into a solution based on a suggestion of one of the individuals?  Today’s reading, ”Go Broad Before You Go Deep,“ from Roger Schwarz’s Fundamental Change Newsletter and found below, considers just that issue.

In the sports world, a “clutch” player performs best when the pressure is on.  [See “Learning to be a ‘Clutch’ Leader” by Sean Silverstone, editor of HBS’s Working Knowledge newsletter.]  In the thinking of Paul Sullivan, New York Times business columnist and author of “Clutch:  Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t,”  the best example of a “clutch” person is the military leader – someone trained to make combat decisions with life or death consequences.  [See, “How Cadets Learn to be ‘Clutch’,”.]

Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft and previously a key figure at Software Arts and at Lotus, and founder of Groove, is leaving Microsoft after a short transition period.  Shortly after he made his announcement, Ozzie wrote “Dawn of a New Day,” as an email to Microsoft’s Executive Staff and his direct reports.  He also posted it at <http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/>.  I believe that this piece is a “must-read” for everyone who is, or who aspires to be, a university IT leader.  Ozzie has a good track record at

This Tuesday’s Reading “Lessons in IT Leadership:  Doing Less with Less and Failing for Success” is from Mark Katsouros, Director of Telecommunications and Network Services at the University of Iowa.*