Call for Mentors for The Mentoring Experiment

We’re about to start our second experiment over at The Mentoring Experiment and we need mentors. Last time we picked a handful of people as mentors so that we could control that portion of the experiment. This time we’re just asking people that are interested to apply to be a mentor. You might notice we’re […]

Im in Houston Today (and this weekend too)

I’ll be spending the day with the 2011 Idera ACE’s (aka the old aces) and the 2012 Idera ACES (the new ones!) as we share lessons learned, work on being better at presenting and networking, and in general talk about ways to have a positive impact. Then tonight I’ll be at the SQLSaturday #107 speaker […]

Book Review: American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company

American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company ($18 at Amazon) was a good read, with some good background on the history of Ford making good decisions and bad ones, ultimately leading to Ford truly being in a fight to survive. Bill Ford (of the Ford family of course) understood that […]

Three Mistakes Managers Make

I suppose there is an almost limitless number of mistakes that managers can do and do make, it’s the nature of any work by and about people. My list today is from the perspective of someone that often gets to watch teams work – the outside observer. 1. Thinking their team is their focus. Lots […]

SQLSaturday #151 Announced–Orlando!

Just got the email, Orlando will be having its sixth annual SQLSaturday this year on September 29th, 2012, at Seminole State College. There is no doubt that it’s my favorite event of the year, and it’s now officially on my calendar. Call for speakers is now open, and it my friend Jack Corbett has already […]

SQLRally at Starbucks Networking Event

Craig Purnell and I are hosting an informal networking event at SQLRally this year on Friday May 11th from 7-8:30 am. I’ve done this for the past couple years at the Summit with good results, networking over coffee seems natural and approachable. If you’re attending SQLRally this year I hope you’ll join us! Please RSVP […]

A Strange Day at McDonalds

A few weeks ago I was running errands on a Saturday, with an almost final stop at Home Depot to pick up some stuff for the garden. I had my daughters with me and they were ready for a break so we stopped at McDonalds for the dollar sundae for them and iced tea for […]

Need a Blogging Nudge? Try Plinky

If you want to blog you need ideas, something to write about, and sometimes that leads to the blank stare as you realize you have no ideas in mind right then. Enter Plinky. It gives you a topic to write about every day (if you need one that often!). I’m not saying you should just […]

Steady State vs Tempo

It’s helpful at work to understand things at work change from time to time and to consider the impact on you and the people you work with as the changes occur. While it may seem obvious, it’s easy to get fooled into thinking that the current state of things is the new normal, or to not […]

Stress Thoughts-Part 7

I’m going to finish up my thoughts on stress by talking about the philosophy I’ve evolved, some of the tricks I use, and places where I sometimes stumble. I don’t expect to ever be stress free entirely (and probably wouldn’t want to be), but I know that the better I am at managing stress the […]