Ubeo Blog

Listen up leaders, especially you middle managers.

Success is not a zero sum game. When someone else succeeds, it doesn’t mean you are failing. When someone else succeeds, it means just that; they succeeded. Congratulate them. Cheer for them. Support them.

When you are in a leadership position, you have just a few priorities that should consume most of your time.

In product and service businesses that are highly commoditized, it should be easy to spot a good deal. Reality is always more complicated than theory.

If you are making a straight product purchase, I would agree this process is easier. If feature sets and quality are relatively comparable, then price leads the discussion.

But what do you when other factors should be considered beyond price? What about product support or expertise? These factors come into play when dealing with situations containing many variables. CRM integration, choosing to change ERP systems or signing on with a new IT service company are all examples of decisions where price should not be the only factor.

As a leader auditing your company's plan to deal with security threats, it can be helpful to have a framework. One of the risks when auditing security protocols and systems is that we tend to focus on tactics rather than the impacts of security on the organization as a whole.

"CIA" is a simple framework that can be helpful to keep a high level view of your company's security protocols.

I argue that most of what we accomplish in life isn't actually things that we aim to do. You always hear phrases like "Try your best" or "Put your mind to it and you can accomplish anything." Sometimes I struggle with these ideas because I think our regular routines are greater indicator of our success than any type of conscious effort.

Many of us work in cross-functional teams. When you are involved in a project that requires contributions from many different departments, it can be difficult to keep a project moving when different teams have competing priorities. What do you do when you are relying on someone to move a project forward, but it is not at the top of their list?

If you read case studies on mergers and acquisitions, most will tell you they are not successful and don’t add significant value to the business. I will argue one reason for that is a lack of face time.

Disclaimer: The article below is not an invitation to vent or unload your frustrations at your leadership team. The article below is a conversation about having the courage to provide difficult but necessary feedback to your leaders if there are opportunities for your organization to improve. Don’t take the conversation below as a license to simply say whatever comes to mind whenever you feel like it. Feedback is healthy when it is constructive and benefits everyone involved.

In your professional and personal life, there are things you can influence and there are things outside of your direct control. Many people experience a lot of frustration in life because they believe they can control more things than they truly are able to control.

Beware when a salesperson tells you, “We can do that too.”

In the business technology industry like many others, “we can do that too” is a very easy statement to make, but rarely is it ever true. General statements and vague generalities are big red flags.

What does your business technology acquisition strategy look like? When you purchase equipment from most providers, you sign on to a traditional leasing model. Most agreements range in length from 36 to 72 months with very limited flexibility.