Comments on Leading from Within

Daniel F. Bassill — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:27:44 GMT

I’m a Commissioner on the Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, and lead a Chicago non profit called Tutor/Mentor Connection (http://www.tutormentorconnection.org ). The non profit world offers a tremendous opportunity for IA people to expand their talent in volunteer leadership roles that help strengthen the sector and improve the benefit non profits and community organizations offer to people in need. In the Discussion Forums at the T/MC site I’ve a section called Business School Connection. I encourage you to take a look and see how you might use your talent to support the ideas offered in that forum. In the same way, I encourage you to use your networking at this forum to share what you learn, and to point to the non profits you are supporting through your work. Because of the non profit sectors need for leaders, many of you will be given much more freedom to innovate ways to use your talent in your volunteer work before you’ll be able to use it on the job. Yet the skills and networks you build may be the reason you get greater influence in your work world.

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:52 GMT

The workplace of tomorrow will need people who are leaders in their respective fields, not necessarily in Information Technology. The hierarchy in the workplace will then need to be redesigned. Machines will help mankind in his work the same way as dogs have been helping mankind in many tasks for so many years. Machines are good for repetitive tasks and they will perform better than humans in areas that require precisions. Why redesign the hierarchy? For one, the hierarchy is based on experience and the more someone is up on the ladder, the more pay/salary he/she receives. Experience is knowledge and today, IAs must constantly refresh their grey matter at a speed that his/her salary cannot refresh. For one thing, I am pretty sure that for some IAs or any other technologists, they know more than their superiors.

christina — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:52 GMT

This is a terrific article. I’m always supprised at few folks are willing to lead.

I’d add to David’s list something a former CEO of mine and great leader used to say regularly…

“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission”

David Heller — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:52 GMT

I’m so glad you are taking on this topic: I’d like to add some other tidbits:

1. you will need to work longer hours if you want to lead. Yup, no way out of that one.

2. don’t be afraid to be confident at the expense of looking arrogant. Some will think you are being arrogant, but others will get it.

3. You have to learn the motivations of those whom you need to convince. While we all understand usability and user experience, how can we get engineers and marketers to get it? Speak to their needs. Engineers want to work more efficiently and marketers want to sell more product. You need to prove your case to beoth sides.

4. Allies: Find those who are sympathetic and make your case to them first. Practice makes perfect.

5. Enemies: Don’t be afraid to listen more to your hardline enemies. Don’t try to convince them of everything but by listening you will get insights into how to better address their needs.

6. Don’t cry wolf: Understand the current methods and don’t be a detractor of them. Work with it while you are attempting to change it.

I’m sure there is more here, but I think just acknowledging this issue here is a really important first step.

I have proposed for both the IA summit and DUX conference a Reality Case Study that my entire team are working on, about our experiences with our latest product. I think there is a lot to learn from this. Its not a perfect world we live in, even in those organizations that claim to be fully on board.