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So you are an IT guy probably because you didn’t want to be an accountant, right? Let those guys do the numbers! Wrong. One of the biggest lessons I learned at my previous employer is that if you want to advance, you have to demonstrate a working knowledge of finance. Essentially, you have to be able to talk to the folks who control the money and do it in THEIR language, and it may mean that you have to put more of your personal bonus pay at risk to get what you want. It’s the equivalent of diverting profits (personal bonus) from business operations back into the business to invest in a bigger long-term return (promotions, future bonuses, accelerators for ...

Being an employee of a company, big or small, means that you will have to convince someone to help you with your job who is not in your direct chain of command. These tend to be called cross-functional teams or task forces, or simply a favor. Who do you ask to help you out? In my last position, I learned the value of alignment. In fact, this became my word of the year for 2014 as I finished my dissertation and started working on a global strategy for my current employer. In a long paper, the front needs to align with the middle and the end. In the corporate world, the leadership team’s goals need to align with the CEO’s. ...

I can remember the old days when my dad kept a Daily Planner on his desk with his appointments penciled in for the day. He is incredibly efficient and one of the best at following up that I know (to this day). With teams spread across multiple floors, sites, states, or continents, the paper method does not work anymore without an army of assistants to keep it all straight. So instead, we use the calendar functions in our electronic devices to keep our day’s straight. Just like with any network-enabled system, there is some etiquette required to make it useful. If you accept a meeting, BE THERE ON TIME. If you can’t be there, let the organizer know as far ...

Email is one of the banes of corporate existence. Before email, we had voicemail (and still do). Before that, it was the memo basket, complete with intra-office envelopes with the little string thing to keep it closed. Email is obviously much more efficient, but it is one of the worst communication mediums when you are trying to understand more than the words on the screen (such as intent). Let’s discuss how to process email. Everyone complains that they get too much email. It’s not that they get more than anyone else, they are simply poor at managing their email. They are on too many lists, they are too disorganized to find emails when they need them, and they probably have ...

This is not the messy desk, messy life lecture. There are thousands of books available to help with personal organization, and unfortunately only one or two will probably work for you. Don’t be discouraged. Instead, think about it this way: you need a system that will help you keep all the balls you manage in the air while coworkers and live throw more at you. However you choose to do it, find a system and make it work. I use Personal Kanban (enabled by LeanKit) in conjunction with Evernote and EndNote (free alternatives include Zotero and EasyBib) as resources to keep my life straight. Admittedly, I’m human and I still drop a ball here and there. Honesty, humility, and resolve ...

Let’s see… You just graduated with your BBA or BS in some business concentration, and now your are ready to go pro. Hopefully you are already hired at your first company and are in the thick of learning about the business and how to succeed. Or perhaps, instead, you are an IT or IS professional that is looking to move your career forward. How do you acquire the skills needed to advance? I hate to break it to you, but your degree did not fully arm you with everything you need to face your new reality. Think of it like this. In high school (or pre-college), you learn that you have to have some level of popularity to survive and ...