Monthly Archives: August 2016

Positive energy creates positive results

I’m a big believer that positive attitudes create positive energy and those around you feel it. Likewise, negative attitudes create negative energy and people feel that as well.

glass half fullI’ve always tried to look at the “glass half full” as opposed to “half empty”. It’s the same situation, the difference is just how you look at it.

When our son had his car accident in 1993 and we almost lost him, it was the most terrible experience a parent can go through, , , but Dorine and I kept looking and thinking about the potential, , , and not about the terrible challenges Eddie was facing.

Today, Eddie is 39 and still has physical challenges plus a significant short term memory loss problem. He can’t remember something that happened 30 minutes ago. But the upside is that his long term memory is intact and strong.

Eddie never has a bad day, , , something that is amazing to us considering his physical challenges and pain he deals with. But it’s true, he is the most positive person I know, , , maybe it has something to do with short term memory loss.

The point is that Dorine and I stayed positive and kept encouraging Eddie during the darkest of times. I could tell you dozens of stories that still give me chills of joy and some that caused grave concern at the time.

We believe our positive attitudes helped Eddie recover to the level he has and why he is such an inspiration to so many. Everyone who meets Eddie seems to be drawn to him because of his positive attitude, , , he truly has a special aura of positive energy.

Positive attitudes really do work. We have seen it over and over again in our personal and professional lives.

As an IT manager, it’s important for you to stay positive and to encourage others. Your attitude sets the tone in your organization. If you are not positive and positive energy doesn’t come from you, it’s very hard, if not impossible, for your team to be positive. It starts with you, , , never forget this.

Treat every day as a new day and a fresh start. Go into work with positive thoughts and look forward to the challenges that will come up today. Remember, if there weren’t challenges and problems, they probably wouldn’t need you and your position in the company.

Positive energy is a contagious thing, , , create positive energy and watch others respond to it.

Best of success

Is your IT organization in the fire prevention business?

fireman1Our technology people are great at fighting fires, , , or “fixing things”. They aren’t always so good at learning what causes the problems and identifying how to prevent the problem.

Preventing problems from occurring is far better than being good at solving problems and fixing things (fighting fires) after they occur. Much bigger than you probably think.

Eliminating problems from happening helps everyone:

  • Reduces your client’s loss of productivity
  • Improves your IT staff’s productivity
  • Eliminates aggravation and stress for everyone

There are many more benefits but these three are worth a lot.

One of the best stories you can tell your client is that your organization saw a set of problems, analyzed them to determine what was causing the issue, and then put in preventive measures that either reduced or eliminated them.

This is a simple story but a powerful one in that you are proactively looking at the “business of IT support”, not just working on technology and being reactive.

If you can show specific statistics or numbers, , , even more powerful!!!!

measure chart

Teach your staff to take the extra step and determine what is causing the problems they deal with day to day and try to determine how to prevent them. Preventing problems will do a lot for your IT organization in building trust and strong client relationships, , , something we need in order to achieve IT success.

Train your staff how to fight fires but teach them that we need to be in the “fire prevention business”. Preventing fires shows  proactive approach – POWERFUL!

Is your IT organization preventing fires or simply reacting to put them out when they occur?

IT Manager Institute #74 and #75 in Dubai and Accra


Accra class-1

IT Manager Institute #75 – Accra, GHANA – June 2016



IT Manager Institute #74 – Dubai, UAE – May 2016
