Not too long ago, I was asked to sit on a diversity and inclusion panel at a conference to offer my thoughts on these topics in front of a few hundred people. My colleagues on the panel represented a vibrant rainbow of the human spectrum: Black, Latino, Woman, Disabled, Veteran, Gay, Asian, and more. Why was I, a white male executive, on a diversity and inclusion panel? Read on, friends. The group of us had prepared in the days prior to be asked questions by a moderator, and we had planned to speak in turn according to a loosely-defined script. We were each miked-up, headed out onto stage in f ..read more

This is where you and I will take a left turn on our journey together. You might recognize many — if not all — of the first seven foundational values that I have discussed to date. Many of them have been written about by other people individually or in combination with other values over the years (but not, to my knowledge, in this particular package). There is one foundational value, however, that you have not seen before, and that is this, our eighth and final value, which is willingness. Many businesspeople I’ve met over the years are fond of scouring the New York Times and Amazon nonfiction ..read more

What two commitments were made the morning that Stuart and Al got into their little argument? Most people are able to see that Al made a commitment (albeit reluctantly) to Stuart to put some numbers together. This is the type of tangible commitment that we are used to talking about, and the type we criticize when it doesn’t occur. That’s the easy part of this little exercise. But in my experience, comparatively fewer people are able to see that Stuart also made an important commitment that morning: the commitment to review what Al did. Why do you suppose this is so often overlooked? While Al d ..read more

Would you agree that it seems hard for people to keep their commitments? (Based upon the fact that Alex Sheen’s “Because I Said I Would” is a worthy organization with a passionate message that truly resonates around the globe, I certainly hope you agree that this is a very real issue for us all.) Why do you suppose that is the case? Humans make commitments with good intent. We seem to have a hard time, though, grasping what it’s going to take to follow through on that commitment. Unexpected things happen. Conditions change. We discover things we didn’t consider. The list goes on. And we all kn ..read more

What does your childhood home look like now on Google Street View? What is the most interesting piece of IMDB trivia for your favorite movie? On what website can you find the inventor’s original intent for the Ruffles potato chip? What piece of sports trivia would you share that would stump your friends? (For instance, why is a marathon 26.2 miles?) Are you 100% sure that you’re right about it? When was the first electric car made? When was the first internal combustion engine car made? Is your favorite teacher still alive? How the heck is white pretzel salt actually made? How can you have an ..read more

What is the primary emotion you feel when you watch Martin Gugino fall to the ground and bleed? If your answer is not related to the idea of “compassion,” I accept that, and I am willing to admit that the approaches discussed among these pages might not be your thing. I am fairly certain that “compassionate” is not at the top of the list of adjectives that are used to describe technologists. Nurses? Sure. But not us. Why is that? Could it have to do with the fact that we have come to be associated with soulless machines rather than people? That we are purveyors of things that are designed to s ..read more

How would you feel if someone asked you to slow down? (Would you welcome it? Would it give you anxiety?) What lasting things have you achieved by rushing? (Would you list those things as your proudest accomplishments?) In my mid career, I had the distinct pleasure of working for, and alongside, one of the most driven people I have ever known in my life — a man named Raman Padmanabhan. Raman moved from Mumbai to the United States in 1997; received his Master’s degree in 1999; worked as a software development contractor through 2005, and by 2012 became a divisional CIO for Xerox Corporation. He ..read more

As a leader, there is no doubt you’ve been saturated with writing and lessons in empathy. Since empathy was at the center of my life studies, there was a time when I was going to write a book about it. As some folks might say: “But Amazon.” Given all that, what could I offer you in regard to empathy that you might not have already read? You and I likely agree that, in order for you to do a world-class job at eliciting requirements in any discipline, your ability to hone your empathy skills is of utmost importance. But one thing that I will share with you that many other writers might not is: n ..read more

What do your teammates call the audience for the software you create or deploy for your organization? Employees End users Humans Associates Users Customers If I were a betting man — or a cheap psychic — I might bet that your answer is 2 or 5. Despite my wary ways, however, I wouldn’t hesitate to bet that you didn’t answer with 3. I confess that over my decades in this business, answer 5 has been a common label for me to use as well. But with each passing year, if that word slips out of my mouth, I feel ever so slightly more sick. Why? I’m going to be lazy here and quote myself from an interv ..read more

For the very first blog post here, I want to address my motivation. A good friend of mine recently shared: “I have always feared executives. They always have an agenda and they have the power to hurt me. I have trusted very few executives in my career.” Can you relate to that? If you are an executive or a manager of any kind, there is authority baked into your role, and that very authority all-too-easily gets in the way of our human relationships. People are conditioned to follow people in positions of labeled authority, whether it is in their best interest or not. While it is one thing to be ..read more