Zach on Leadership

You always remember your first real promotion. It’s a big moment. It’s bigger than just landing your first real job. To do that, you need a good resume and interview. To get promoted, you have to prove yourself. I remember mine. I started my career as a contractor working on the Y2K crisis. After doing that for about a year, I decided I wanted to be real employee at a real company. Some people lov...

Last week, I had the opportunity to teach SQL (Structured Query Language) to 14 middle and high school students in our homeschool co-op. I use my company’s Volunteer Time Off program to make this possible. In a previous article, I shared how I helped one of my students repair his broken laptop with a soldering pencil. If you missed that article, check it out here. I am teaching a digital literacy...

Many of you can relate to this picture. I certainly can. I spent many hours of my childhood helping my dad fix the car, repair broken appliances, and assemble furniture. My job was to hold the flashlight, fetch a screwdriver, and otherwise assist in the effort. I use the word, “assist” in the most liberal sense possible. At the time I was oblivious, but now I know the truth. I distinctly remember...

The 2003 film, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, is one of the most beloved Christmas films. My family makes a tradition of watching it every year. As with many of my favorite movies, I cannot help but notice the subtle leadership lessons sprinkled about like candy in spaghetti. Elf is packed with too many leadership lessons for just one Zach on Leadership article, so I’ve th...

The 2003 film, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, is one of the most beloved Christmas films. My family makes a tradition of watching it every year. As with many of my favorite movies, I cannot help but notice the subtle leadership lessons sprinkled about like candy in spaghetti. Elf is packed with too many leadership lessons for just one Zach on Leadership article, so I will...

The 2003 film, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, is one of the most beloved Christmas films. My family makes a tradition of watching it every year. As with many of my favorite movies, I cannot help but notice the subtle leadership lessons sprinkled about like candy in spaghetti. Elf is packed with too many leadership lessons for just one Zach on Leadership article, so I will...

I received a phone call from a former team member this week. He called for tech support on his iPhone. After I addressed that matter, the conversation moved on to how things have been going in his retirement. In that conversation, I remarked, “Retirement is still a long way off for me.” He replied, “How old are you nowadays?” “43.” “Huh. If you are 43 now, how old were you when you hired me?” “30....

This week, I had the opportunity to represent CHS on a Product Transformation Community Panel hosted by Slalom. I was joined on the panel by Brett Brunick of Thrivent and Stacie Peterson of U.S. Bank. I’m not going to recap the discussion but will instead offer some reflections and thoughts I’ve had since the event. The whole premise of an event like this is that many tech leaders are facing simil...

I wrote a short post earlier this week on LinkedIn. The post attracted more reactions than usual, so I thought I’d use this week’s blog article to expound upon it. But first, I’ll share the post in its entirety: Repaired a laptop with a soldering pencil today. Still got it. I teach a digital literacy course through our homeschool co-op. One of my students couldn’t do his homework because his lapto...

In the 2006 film, The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith portrayed Chris Gardner, a struggling single parent, who through sheer will improved his circumstances for himself and his son. Early in the film, he encountered a successful stockbroker. While inspired, Chris assumed that to be a stockbroker, he must need a college education, which he did not have. The stockbroker responded, “You don’t have t...

I read a fascinating article written by Nicolas Chaillan, who is a highly accomplished Chief Software Officer in the Department of Defense. After 22 years of service, he decided it was time to move on. You can read his farewell article here. I do not know Nicolas, but his story was shared by Elwin Loomis, Head of Digital at Bremer Bank, who summarized it in his post. There is so much about his sto...

I didn’t grow up on a farm. I grew up in a city and now live in an even larger city. Yet, because I work at CHS, I work for farmers. They are both my customers and the company owners since we are a cooperative. I work hard at my job because I know that the farmers we serve, work incredibly hard. Since I am a city-dwelling technology leader, you may think I am the least qualified to write about......

All of my blog articles start out the same way. I open a brand-new Word document on my computer. The bright white page fills my screen. The brightness makes me squint. In the upper-left-hand corner, the cursor blinks persistently. The emptiness of the page is overwhelming. The cursor just keeps blinking. It blinks as if it were mocking me. I stare at my computer. The computer stares back at me. I...

I love automation. I love it for the efficiency it brings. I love it for the freedom it brings to humanity. I’ve observed over the years, that not everyone shares my passion for this subject, so I thought I’d write a brief defense of automation and offer a few cautions. I tried to think back to my first real encounter with the power of automation. It goes back to my childhood. Once upon a time, I...

I used to work in a data center. My office was on-premises and the servers were on-premises. My physical proximity to the subject of my work and my co-workers was supremely important. Little by little, over time, this changed. Changes in technology allowed me to physically decouple from the data center. Remote console technologies allowed me to do the majority of my work from my desk. I rarely nee...

I do one thing every day. That one thing makes all the difference. This article is about that one thing. By now, I’ve got you thinking, “I wonder what it is. Does he wake up at 5 AM? Does he run 5 miles? Does he take a cold shower? Does he meditate? Does he drink a gross green smoothie?” Good guesses. None of those things. It’s popular to talk about life hacks and habits that high-performing leade...

I support medical freedom. I believe it is a basic human right for each person to determine their own medical choices. No government, employer, or educational institution should discriminate against anyone because of their choice. This past Saturday, I joined thousands at the Minnesota State Capitol who feel the same way. Why am I bringing this up? People are losing their jobs. Students are being...

What is your company’s culture? If you are honest with yourself, it’s probably a mixed bag. Some aspects are great. Those are probably the reasons that caused you to join the company in the first place and are the reasons why you stay. Some of the other cultural aspects aren’t so great. That’s normal. The question is, what can you do about it? Or even more importantly, what will you do about it? F...

Sometimes, engineers have ideas that can truly revolutionize everything, but management is too dumb to understand it. Once upon a time, I was that engineer. For a while now, I’ve been in management and at times, I am dangerously close to being too dumb for my engineers. I try hard not to let that happen. Early in my career, I worked as a systems engineer. Back then, everyone installed operating sy...

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to over 50 interns that just completed their summer internships at CHS. I thought long and hard about what relevant message I could bring to this group and landed on the subject of early-career leadership. Over the years, I’ve become known for my leadership lessons. When I speak with students and early career professionals, they often tell me that they asp...

This week, I had the opportunity to speak to over 50 interns that just completed their summer internships at CHS. I thought long and hard about what relevant message I could bring to this group and landed on the subject of early-career leadership. Over the years, I’ve become known for my leadership lessons. When I speak with students and early career professionals, they often tell me that they asp...

“I’m sorry I’m such a problem child,” my direct report says to me. In reply, I say, “It’s okay. I have many problem children.” What exactly is a “problem child?” In actual parenting, it would be the kid that gives his or her parents more than their fair share of trouble. In business, it’s an employee that brings up a lot of problematic issues to his or her boss. The idea is that an ideal employee...

Over my career, I’ve watched information security grow from a part-time job within IT into a fully-fledged department with a complex set of accountabilities and disciplines. I’ve never been the primary information security leader at my company, but I’ve always been a close partner. You probably hear from your information security team from time to time. Depending on your role, you may hear about p...

These days, the War for Talent is real and it is as intense as it’s ever been. If you aren’t familiar with the term, a simple google search will render over 300 million results. In short, leaders are nothing without their teams. The effort that leaders put toward recruiting, hiring, retaining, and developing talented team members is on a war-like scale. I’m not going to write an article about how...

For many years on this blog, I’ve advocated for people taking time off from work. It’s critical to maintain a healthy life and optimal creativity and innovation. You can’t do your best work when you are worn out. If you aren’t familiar with my previous writings on this topic, you should check them out here, here, and here. Even though I do my best to teach on this subject and lead by example, I’ve...