BDPA Leadership Tip: Ignore the Excuse and Attack the Problem

It's important not to get hung up arguing about or debating the validity of excuses. Every BDPAer makes excuses at one time or another. It's better to ignore the excuse, and focus on the job at hand.

For instance, a BDPA volunteer tells you that he "would have finished the job but people kept interrupting me."

Wrong Answer: "Why did you let them interrupt you? And, by the way, who was interrupting you?"

Right Answer: "Fine. What is the status of the job now, and when will you be finished?"

The right answer keeps the discussion focused on the job, not the excuse. As a general rule, attack the problem and ignore the excuse.

Connect With Monique: The 11 Secrets of Highly Influential IT Leaders

by Monique Berry, president
National BDPA

I was given this book, "The 11 Secrets of Highly Influential IT Leaders" by a friend. I must admit, I didn't put it at the top of my reading list. Something in the mystery genre is more my speed. Having read many IT and general management books I thought it would be good for those nights when getting to sleep can be difficult BUT I have to say this was not your typical management book and once started I needed to finish it.

It is a very easy to read book, about the right length and packed full (well 11 actually) of some extremely useful information.

The author has done an excellent job in researching what makes a successful IT leader and put the answers into an easy to understand style that makes you want to start putting them into action straight away.

Each reader will relate to different parts of the book, based on his/her individual experiences and will find different parts to be either commonplaces or insightful. No surprise, since we each bring very different experiences and beliefs to the book. But I'm sure that anyone who faces off with end users and business stakeholders will take away something of value.

I recommend this book to CIOs, IT Directors, IT Managers, Program and Project managers and those that want to aspire to those positions. I believe you will truly learn something from this book that will help you to become more successful.

Leadership Tip: Get the Most Out of Meetings

I have attended hundreds of meetings in my BDPA career. Board meetings. Committee meetings. You name it and I've either attended or chaired it. Add on another few hundred of meetings during my career in Corporate America.

Meetings have a bad reputation as being ineffective and a waste of time. They don't have to be, if you follow some simple guidelines:

1. Don't call a meeting to ask your team's opinion if the decision has already been made. If their recommendation is different from what is going to happen, they will feel more resentment and anger than if they had never been asked in the first place. If you want to announce a decision, send a memo. Meetings should be dialogues. If they turn into monologues, eyes will quickly glaze over.
2. Head off interruptions. Be sure the room will be free for the duration of the meeting. If there is a phone in the meeting room, it should be turned off or messages should be forwarded.
3. Do the brainstorming first. Don't waste meeting time. Brainstorm through e-mail or using social networking technology before the meeting to develop approaches to the issue at hand.
4. Establish a clear time frame for meetings -- and keep them short! -- Meetings show diminishing returns after the first 30 minutes, and little good can be expected to come after the first hour of the meeting. Establish a clear time frame for the meeting. To encourage quick decisions, meet in a room without chairs.

What are some tips you've used in the past to get the most out of meetings?

Group Looks to 'Match' Tech Executives With Nonprofits

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

Could the Silicon Valley management style help charitable organizations?

An organization called Palindrome Advisors thinks so, and it launched a program Wednesday that aims to match executives in technology and other industries with nonprofits that need their help.

“In technology terms, think of Palindrome as a “match.com” for industry leaders and the boards of nonprofits,” the group’s founder, Zaw Thet.

Palindrome has 100 executives signed up already — including Twitter’s president of global revenue, Adam Bain; Apple’s director of iPhone apps, Dag Kittlaus; and Ellen Siminoff, a founding executive and former senior vice president at Yahoo. The list of advisers is mostly from the tech world, but there are some outliers, including those in government, the energy business and even nightclubs.

The idea of using business management techniques — particularly those in the technology industry — to make charities more efficient is nothing new. Its most famous incarnation is likely found in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which puts a priority on using science and technology to tackle the world’s problems. And other entrepreneurs have made a point of committing large sums of money to charity, most recently when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, AOL co-founder Steve Case and others signed a pledge to give away most of their fortune.


But Palindrome’s group isn’t for the billionaires of the world; it’s for people who have executive and start-up experience and want to give back by donating expertise.

“There was no easy path for nonprofits to find experienced leaders to help them at a board management level,” Mr. Thet said in a statement.

He explained that nonprofits need help marketing, developing growth plans and managing customer relationships, among other things. “A board role is not just about fundraising.”