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- The view from the management side
- I have been asked on occasion "what is the worst thing about being a CIO or Director?" My answer is that there is no one "worst thing" and for the most part, at least for me, there are more good days than bad days. But there has been...
- Tags: Ladder, Organization, Professional Development, Tools & Techniques, Leadership, Career, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-05-11
- Instant communication encourages less autonomous workers
- I had an interesting discussion with some colleagues yesterday regarding the effects of instant communication on management, leadership and employee capabilities. It was so lively that I thought I would share it with you the best I can and let you join in. Here is the...
- Tags: Communication, Autonomy, Worker, Manager, Instant Communication, PDAs, Handhelds, Hardware, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-04-20
- The choice -- To be right or be effective?
- I was in a staff meeting a couple of weeks ago when the answer given by one of our senior staff members to a question was "Well I have a choice, I can be right or I can be effective - I am choosing to be effective." ...
- Tags: Choice, Banking, Financial Services, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-04-06
- Does work have to be fun?
- I was bemoaning the fact the other day that the current extreme tightening of funds was essentially sucking the fun out of my current position when I was given this piece of advice - "The way to survive in our business is just to hunker down and ride it out...
- Tags: Bus Driver, Professional Development, Leadership, Team Management, Strategy, Career, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-03-23
- Traditional IT metrics fail in tough budget times
- I was in a meeting with a large group of CIOs the other day and the buzz in the room centered around budgets cuts. The words bunker mentality, hunker down and no new projects swirled about, seemingly on everyone's tongue – and I can't blame them. Things are...
- Tags: Metrics, Information Technology, RIM BlackBerry, Strategy, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-03-16
- A seasoned manager's advice for preparing yourself for a leadership role
- I often get e-mails from readers which I happily reply to asking how they can prepare to move up to a leadership position. The questions I get often are related to formal preparations including degrees to obtain, classes to take, etc. I have written about these skills on a number...
- Tags: Opportunity, Perception, Manager, Leadership, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-03-14
- Take stock before you take action as a new manager
- There is a popular notion in politics that a new leader in office has 90 days do demonstrate that he or she can create change. This same notion is becoming more prevalent in management literature as well - and I believe that this is dangerous. My thinking is...
- Tags: Supervisor, Stock, Survey, Staff, Workforce Management, Leadership, Human Resources, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-03-09
- 10 ways to manage yourself through a challenge
- What do you do when you're faced with a task and find that you're not progressing as you should -- or that you're even failing to accomplish it? Fight the temptation to beat yourself up over it and manage your way through the situation. Ramon Padilla offers 10 practical steps...
- Tags: Ramon Padilla, Blogging, Strategy, Internet, Management
- Download resources 2008-03-25
- Cutting costs in IT the creative way
- It's has been a long time since the heady days of the year 2000 when funding for IT projects seemed to magically appear from nowhere. In fact, after the bust that followed long after, most CIOs and IT managers and directors I know will tell you that their budgets...
- Tags: Revenue, Data Center, Collaboration, Partnership, Information Technology, Goal, Data Centers, Business Structures, Storage, Strategy, Hardware, Data Management, Finance, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-03-02
- 10 things you should do to prepare for the audit bogeyman
- An audit can be a harrowing exercise, particularly if your organization is flying by the seat of its pants. The more time you can invest in defining policies and procedures and documenting adherence to them, separating duties, updating your equipment inventory, and performing all those other mundane tasks that tend...
- Tags: Audit, Ramon Padilla, Financial Accounting, Finance
- Download resources 2008-03-12
- What kind of leader are you?
- I had surgery mid week last week and have spent the better part of the last seven days in bed recovering. Last night I had one of those "experiences" you might be familiar with courtesy of my pain medication. I am speaking of one of those experiences where...
- Tags: Leader, Coworker, Leadership, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-02-24
- User friendly work style – good for your career?
- I was flipping through the tech ads in the Sunday paper this morning when I came across Windows Home Server. It was advertised as having the following features: Your family's digital memories and media organized in one central hub Home...
- Tags: Employee, Career, Microsoft Windows Home Server, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, UNIX, Open Source, Software, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-02-17
- Improve critical skills through gaming
- I have written numerous times in my blogs about critical skills that managers need to be successful and to enhance their careers see Soft skills in a hard world. In these blogs I often talk about obtaining these skills through traditional methods such as studying and practicing. While...
- Tags: Skill, Vocabulary, Games, Personal Technology, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-02-09
- What to do when you have to lay off staff
- I have been seeing that word quite a bit in the papers these days and frankly it bothers me. Having been the victim of a reduction in force, I know all too well the pain of sudden unemployment and all that can go with it. However this column...
- Tags: Job, Layoff, Workforce Management, Human Resources, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-02-02
- Freedom of choice?
- Who determines the upgrade strategy in your organization when it comes to software? If your answer is anything but the vendor or the market, I suggest that you rethink your answer. Although I would like to say that we have complete choice in how and when we upgrade,...
- Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Training, Decision, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Microsoft Windows XP, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-01-26
- End user training – Whose job is it?
- A $5000 dollar electronic "smart" board is accidently ruined when an adjunct instructor unknowingly damages it beyond repair when he writes on it with a dry erase marker. Whose fault is it? Investigation into the incident reveals that the instructor was assigned to the room to teach a...
- Tags: Job, Information Technology, Board, Training, Pole, Computing Measure, Corporate Governance, Workforce Management, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Human Resources, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-01-21
- Interview coaching - don't tell the employer he has wants
- My brother in-law has been interviewing for a new position within his organization lately and he called me up last week for help with a particular question - "How would you improve the operations in our area?" This is one of those "Danger Will Robinson!" questions, so I thought...
- Tags: Direction, Question, Leadership, Strategy, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-01-13
- Brand new year - Same old pet peeves
- Well it's New Year Resolution time and for a fleeting minute I thought about making one. It was going to be entitled, "I'm not going to let these things get to me this year." But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn't...
- Tags: Brand, Life Example, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2008-01-06
- Job satisfaction is a balancing act.
- A friend and colleague of mine just announced his resignation as CIO of his organization and has accepted a sweet position as CIO of another similar organization same industry where not only does he report directly to the CEO but has triple the IT budget. I am extremely happy...
- Tags: Job, Retirement, Employee, Scale, Job Satisfaction, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2007-12-16
- IT: Caught between a rock and a hard place.
- I was reading a book the other night that had a couple of pages devoted to change. After reflecting on the information, I started thinking more about the dual demands that are placed on IT by organizations. The first demand is to be a utility. By this...
- Tags: Information Technology, Outsourcing, Strategy, Management, Ramon Padilla
- Blog posts 2007-12-09
