Focusing Deeply, a true game changer in the workplace

Staying focused. Focusing deeply on tasks can be a game changing skill in the business world. 

Our digital office is filled with technologies that are engineered to “…pull you in…” and not let you out! On the one hand they give us unprecedented access to information, on the dark side, they are engineered to captivate, distract and mesmerize. 

 Dr. Adam Gazzaley, the founder of Neuroscape at the University of CA, San Francisco shares groundbreaking insights into distraction and multi-tasking, as well as offering us valuable tools from his research on how you can beat these distractions and deliver more value to your business.

Ted Talk with Dr. Gazzaley

Social Awkwardness

Tongue tied during that last presentation? 

Communication Skills. You have them, chances are that they could use a tune up. 

A lot of IT professionals have trouble communicating, especially, in a public setting. When IT professional get nervous in a public setting, they default to what we know best and sometimes we come off as a know it all. 

Frances Cole Jones, in the Ted Talk video below has some great tips and techniques that might just be the "E" Ticket ride you're looking for.

Frances Cole Jones, TED talk

Interpersonal Relationship Skills

Human interactions, communication, it's really our strongest tool.  

It's either a well honed tool we use every day or a dusty piece of shelf art. 

 Too often Information Security and Compliance Professionals are perceived as being from the Department of "...NO!..".  Time to make a course correction...time to work on your communication skills. 

Caroline Webb, a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review,  World Economic Forum, Fast Company, Quartz, Business Insider, Huffington Post and WIRED has come great insights to share on what works and what doesn't with hard science to back it up. 

Take a look at her video presentations and research here, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Caroline Webb

Failure is NOT an option!....or is it?

Failure...how best to manage the possibility, failures plague the IT / Business interface...you must have an IT Program Management Office to manage the four types of IT work:

(1.)  Business Sponsored Project Work
(2.) IT Sponsored Project Work
(3.) Keep the Lights On [KLO] Work
(4.) Unplanned Work [the killer]

Depending on who you ask, anywhere between 40 and 70% of IT projects end in missed requirements (failure).  

How best to manage the IT / Business interface to ensure project success, as measured by the business?  Smart leaders let the IT PMO manage their IT investments.

Gene Kim of Tripwire fame started the dialog with his ground breaking book, "The Phoenix Project", the next phase of evolution should be a much wider adoption of the Program Management Office to actively manage the IT / Business interface and forever return IT to being a servant of the Business...

Gene Kim's excellent book, the "Phoenix Project"

Attention to Detail

Attention to Detail.  It's the mark of a true Professional.  

Anything you train to do, as a professional is worth doing precisely and efficiently. 

Cloud Information Security as noted here, is an opportunity to excel or diminish your brand, in a truly spectacular fashion.

Pentagon "shares" Top Secret NSA data via "CLOUD"

Skepticism

Skepticism. A little skepticism just might be a good thing.

It amazes me that we’re not more skeptical when it comes to Internet of Things (IOT) devices and SCADA security. Not in a Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) kind of way, just a little old fashioned healthy skepticism please.

Bruce Schneier brings to light many of the “…unintended consequences…” we will eventually face as we roll out more and more IOT connected devices and don’t ask enough skeptical questions.

A Computer as big as the world!

Don't allow your business to become over dependent on your technology...

Be Prepared. Worthless platitude or words to live by?

When I was in the Military, we used to have a saying “…six ways in, twelve ways out…”. While at the Doctors office today, all I heard was “…the internet is down, we can’t help you, go home!...”. Satisfied customers?

Arthur C. Clarke once wrote a short story, “Superiority”, penned in 1951, it should be required reading for every business leader about being too enamored by technology.

Does your team have twelve ways out?

"Superiority" by Arthur C. Clarke