Skip to main content

Welcome back!

I'm actually welcoming myself back to my own blog.  (Yes, I guess I'm making that "a thing.")  It's been over 3 years since my last post, and I've experienced much since then, global pandemic notwithstanding.

During this time, my wife (an Executive Director at her place of employment) and I have spent countless hours analyzing, dissecting, and generally discussing such diverse topics as...

  • Leadership,
  • Mentoring,
  • How to overcome Imposter Syndrome,
  • How to navigate difficult situations,
  • How to manage difficult employees,

...and others.

But it wasn't until I was driving back from the airport early yesterday morning after dropping her off for her latest business trip that I realized these topics may interest someone who chances across this blog while traipsing through the dandelion fields of the Internet.

So "buckle up buttercup" - during the next several blog posts I expect to wax philosophical on these and other topics that will hopefully be of interest to you.

Popular posts from this blog

Finding Clarity in the Chaos of a Job Search

Job searches are humbling. They test your confidence, your patience, and your ability to stay motivated when things don’t move as quickly as you’d like. But they also teach you things about yourself that you might not have learned any other way. For me, the past few months have been a crash course in rediscovering what really matters: not just in a résumé, but in relationships, self-perception, and how we use technology to help tell our stories. Here are three lessons that stood out. Reach Out to Your Network (Long Before You Need It) Your network is a living thing. It requires upkeep, time, and attention, just like a flower garden. You can’t ignore it for years and expect it to bloom the moment you need it. Start planting early. Stay in touch with people whose paths you’ve crossed - colleagues, mentors, partners, even those you only worked with briefly. Drop a note once in a while. Comment on their posts. Share something that made you think of them. These small gestures are the sunl...
Read more

Time to Level Up!

With the recent news out of Salesforce and Oracle, it’s easy to understand why folks affected by layoffs might feel discouraged. Not only are they leaving companies they may have called home for years, but they’re also facing the daunting prospect of job hunting while headlines scream about “AI taking over human jobs.” Not long ago, another company I follow - let’s call it Acme  - went through a similar round of layoffs. Two employees in particular (we’ll call them Jim and John) showed how mindset can make all the difference. Jim had been at Acme for over 20 years. He was reliable, steady, and well-liked, but not exactly the standout type. When he was laid off, he decided to take some time off before even thinking about his next move. After all, he had a severance package. Didn’t he deserve a break after two decades of hard work? John’s story was different. Though he hadn’t been at Acme as long, he’d built a strong reputation and had both technical and leadership skills. Instead of...
Read more

So What is this IPaaS Stuff, Anyway?

 In my last post , I discussed how no-code/low-code platforms fulfill rapid development of business applications - addressing the needs of the Citizen Developer (a Gartner term  first used around 2009).  I also commented on how this specific objective limits their ability to provide true integration capabilities, which require the flexibility to adapt to the myriad variations of infrastructure.  This is a concern because companies often have acquired legacy systems via M&A activity while simultaneously investing in new technology solutions, resulting in a mishmash of systems with multiple ways of accessing them. In this post, I'd like to examine how the needs of the latter group are met by describing some key capabilities that are "must-haves" for any company looking to execute on a digital transformation strategy.  In order to do this, let's define who the target user base is for such a technology platform. Disclaimer:   I work for MuleSoft (a division...
Read more