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Melbournians are in lockdown 4. My wife is a nurse at one hospital and a risk manager at another, between her professional demands and home-schooling of 15, 13 and 9-year-old, there have been better years. Try explaining to a 9YO how you keep yourself safe in a COVID hospital. My year is better, business stalled in March but is now back. It isn't what it was; remote work (AKA home) for a range of clients who are paying for a part of a week / day, but revenues are back. My Melbourne professional mates are frustrated, and some angry. It is now in conversations, pining for 2019, wanting teams back in the office, posting or liking edgy political articles on LinkedIn. Time for tough love. Wondering why your calls are not returned? Mate, it is not them but possibly YOU! What you know is less relevant to what you could be experimenting with. There is an opportunity in this chaos, but you need to change. Change the bad habits you have developed in lockdown, the increased alcohol consumption, poor diet and limited exercise. Change what you are doing to change your perspective, try something different, it may not work, but you might learn something. Iterate that something, and create your future. #digital #innovate #create #change #leadership

Melbourne, Australia is in locked down stage 4. My wife is a hospital auditor, a Risk Manager at one hospital and an A&E nurse at another. Our children are home schooled, aged 15, 13, 9. We can leave home for an hour of exercise or essential supplies. In our family, I am the only one who likes lockdown. I suspect I am one of the few in the community who do. I feel guilty. I am also eternally optimistic. My business began in 2019. Year one was travelling to clients, now no longer possible and creating efficiencies, I am virtually everywhere. I am adding value to my clients, who have reduced their expenditure by avoiding my travel costs and a full day rate that I am only working a portion of. Thursday was great; I lectured, pitched and sold another phase of work. And connected with international colleagues. Also, I walked the streets of my local neighbourhood, had breakfast and diner with my family and did yoga between meetings. It was a super-efficient and effective day. I hope Friday is just the same. A genuine change is emerging. The students below are developing skills and expectations of how they work and add value to their future employers or clients. We are at the beginning of something! #Swinburne #adjunctprofessor #students #career #learnings

What is leading like a lighthouse? In being the lighthouse, people know where you stand, it is a place your people visit in good weather, it keeps people from the rocks in bad weather, and it is a landmark on the horizon that remains insight when people are far from the shore. Currently, I am working with several organisations who have leaders playing laser tag. They are in a maze, dipping in and out of things, always on edge even in the quiet moments, their people are missing or lost in another part of the maze, and the overall experience for everyone is erratic. They are no longer their lighthouse-selves, and communities are fragmented. Some leaders are moving back to being the lighthouse by working with their team in selecting three to five things to focus on for the quarter. Their team’s participation creates buy-in. These leaders are empowering their people to lead on these priorities; the leaders are involved but not interfering; they are rebuilding communities and now have a greater probability of innovating with less chaos. #leadership #people #teams

Amazon and Jeff Bezos were in an INC Article saying new employees are the most important and that the CEO / Founder is the least. Amazon has an inverted Servant Leadership pyramid, read here A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. It is different from traditional leadership that generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid”. Servant Leadership works in environments where the purpose is to put others first, leading to higher levels of trust amongst colleagues and empathy with clients. Sen Sendjaya, a leadership professor at the Swinburne University of Technology, researches why some leaders are more effective than others; Servant Leadership can be the difference. #leadership #people #servant #author

Many of us about to enter the first week of a new financial year tomorrow in a year that is unprecedented for many in their lifetime. What are the three likely things Steve Jobs would be doing? 1. What he loves, ”the only way to do great work is to do what you love.” 2. Walking all the time; his most creative ideas came when he was on foot! What video calls can become phone calls on foot? 3. Valuing his time. ”Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Read more here #stevejobsquotes #stevejobs #apple

2020 has tested all CIOs, those with a deep tech capability helped their organisation move to remote working, those procurement specialists worked with their partners to re-calibrate arrangements for employee flexibility. Now those business CIOs have possibly the most significant opportunity ever to truly re-imagine their business. The art of asking questions; instead, of the temptation of wanting to show that you know it all is critical. As CIOs, we love solving problems. Timely, insightful questions will help evolve your company’s strategy and consider options. The tactics to achieve the strategy is how technology can bring value. As CIOs, we need to seek to understand things first before being understood. #cios #digital #future #questions

There is some conjecture about the 1997 Microsoft $190 million investment in Apple, enabling Apple ”to continue”. Microsoft created a version of Office for the Mac, as part of the agreement to ”increase Apple’s appeal to the mainstream”. Some say that Microsoft saved the company; however, it is probably more like help. In 2010 Apple overtook Microsoft in market capitalisation, it wasn’t until 2018 when Microsoft passed Apple. Currently, I am working and talking with several organisations, their market has changed, and they also want to change. They are exploring how they could evolve and believe that partnering is the best way to differentiate within their ”new market”. By adding capability instead of building it internally, they can move more quickly. Every partnership has its own dynamics, you must step back and consider future scenarios. What IP are you giving up? Can this be easily replicated? Is your market growing and could it be attractive for your partner to go it alone? How dependent are you on your partner to maintain your business? What if it didn't work out, could you decouple? Partnering, just think about it. #partnerships #business #advisor #thinker #digital #differentiation

Just completed my son’s parent-teacher interview. He is in grade three 👦, and we receive his report via a mobile app 📲, he is the last of our children at the local state primary school 🕍. The school implemented its parent app several years ago, with plenty of teething challenges 😳 , but it is now all working well. The teacher🧔apologised for not meeting physically for our chat this evening. Although our children returned to school three weeks ago, I hope we don't return to those in-person meetings, hovering outside the classroom in the middle of winter ❄️ and all up losing an hour or so. Also, I think of all those parents who travel for work to various locations ✈️ which couldn't do these interviews in the past. I was one of those, and ironically I could now attend, but don't need too! I reminded Mr Cripps to let Mrs Plum the principal know that some of these remote practices are good! Let's keep them👌; BTW remote learning is not one we want to return 🤞.

Elon Musk, say the name and images immediately pop into your head. He is a mastermind at challenging the status quo, reverse engineering and seems to have a unique ability to switch between his portfolio of interests. The other week SpaceX delivered to astronauts to the international space station, and Tesla stock was at an all time high during a pandemic, when discretionary items maybe like an electric car are being avoided. When I am working with my clients, I ask them what is their organisation’s vision? Mission, values and priorities are relayed but rarely anything truly compelling for their vision. Great vision statements endure over time and Tesla’s vision has remained very much the same for 10+ years. “to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world's transition to electric vehicles.” Vision statements are hard, especially during times such as now were some people’s energy and attention is in survival mode. However, they can inspire, offer hope and attract talent. Also, they signpost to your people where they can create a new future. #vision #visionstatement #leadership #learnings

Shadow tech, is the tech that is not managed by the IT department. Organisations hold the IT department to a budget; the budget creates priorities, and de-prioritised items lurk in the shadows. A renowned former global CIO who I worked with said that shadow tech would always exist; however, we needed to ensure that shadow tech wasn't about to become a strategic tech. The majority of my clients are within the construction/engineering industry and have budgets below 1% of revenue; they are lean, focussed and prioritised. IoT is not part of their responsibilities. IoT is managed elsewhere without the discipline and experience of the IT team. IoT is a growing strategic IT in the shadows; what tech is lurking in your shadows? #strataegy #shadowit #technology #tech

Lovely story below, support can be beyond peaceful protesting. What can you do to support a community that is isolated or discriminated against? Then be consistent with your effort throughout your life, this for me is being committed to the cause. During this frenzy at the moment, many of us are liking and posting stuff but what will you be committed to in six months or six years, what is sustainable for you? I made a decision based on something I observed in the late 1990s at a university. I have made a conscious decision to support a community as a result. My observation remains my motivation to carry on with my actions. Twenty plus years later, I am still following through on it. Now what will you choose to do and how can you sustain it? #diversity #livesmatter #blacklivesmatter #hope #action

Many organisations have moved more of their business into digital partnership models; however, at what consequence? Your local Thai restaurant is now using a well-known delivery service; a competitor Thai restaurant is on the same application. If the Thai competitor discounted their menu or your favourite dish, would you be tempted? Would you remain loyal to your existing service and if you had the opportunity to reduce the delivery cost? Would you change to an alternative service? These are little moments of truth, but for big business, their partners could be defining. Big businesses are now looking at digital partnerships to become more contemporary. Some of these arrangements require data sharing, what are the consequences of somebody having your customers data? How exclusive is the agreement? Could your partner become a competitor or entice a competitor to also enter into a partnership creating more intense competition? As technologists, we need to make the tech work and also look to protect the future of the business. #partnerships #digital #customers #future