Six simple rules on leadership

By Victor Alatorre

The goal of this blog entry is to document my processing of ideas related to leadership and management challenges. 

Motivational differences
The role and motivation of knowledge workers is different to say a transactional worker that does low level duties. In a transactional worker environment, rules, metrics and clear expectations maintain order and allow for management/HR to step in when performance declines.

There are also generational differences on how people are motivated. What motivates a millennial is different from an average Xer and Boomer. For a young professional the motivators can be connected to compensation, flexibility and ultimately a perception of upward movement. Older employees are motivated by stability, respect, and application of experience.

Managers fail at creating context, clarity and transparency for directives. People are asked to move on a project or effort without a clear explanation or appreciation for the complexity, opinion or capability. If the employee fails to achieve progress, the employee’s performance is rated down. If the employee achieves perceived progress, the manager reward with additional responsibility. The reward for work well done is more work. In some situations, the reward for under performance is segregation, exclusion and indifference toward the employee. Performance failures are management failures, not employee failures. Motivators tend to expire. What you value today may not work as a motivator tomorrow. Rewards become baseline expectations over time.

On the issue of performance metrics
Looking for anomalies of performance can be difficult because most managers do not have time/experience/ability to see issues around them. Most of us (depending on ability/motivation) are busy putting out daily fires. Organizational dynamics are complicated because they include layers and systems. Systems of people/resources and expectations are superimposed over layers of politics and environmental constraints. When looked from above, they look like one mesh, but the reality is that they are part of a multilayered-sometimes not connect net of people/time/resource and skills. On top of that, human interaction plays a role on how motivated you are to be part of a team or part of a solution. If the employee is not internally motivated/committed to move forward due to external pressures, their behavior/halo will be disruptive to peers.

Empowerment and delegation
Organization units  some times do not communicate about expectations and performance targets. Employees should be encouraged to handle customer complains to the end results. Hotels train employees to take customer complains/needs seriously. Disney is notorious for creating a culture of experience. In order to do that, all employees must buy-into the culture of service and responsiveness. If only a few employees do this consistently, the effort will not be noticed. In order for these efforts on customer service to be successful, one must have “slack” (capacity to expand or reduce time/money constraints) Without slack, there is no new knowledge, procedure flexibility, personalized attention to customers, etc. Customization comes with a price, that only higher premium operations can provide. Disney experiences are not cheap because they allow for flexibility.  Information systems need to be used for decision making. IT cannot fix human failures in self preservation. Not reviewing reports/using data for proper decision making is a mistake we should avoid. Using only your instinct to diagnose inserts the error of personal bias.

The complicated path to promotion
Culture plays a role on how intrinsic motivators or achievements become part of the path to upward mobility. KSA requirements are used to protect the organization from personal and personnel bias. Avoiding lawsuit is a strong motivator to follow consistent paths/procedures for promotion/evaluation/termination. Inconsistency on culture and supervisory bias are what makes all these factors unattainable.

KPIs, scorecards, metrics, dashboards, CQI, TQM, Lean, Lean Sigma are tools created to simplify complicated metrics of organization dynamics and performance. Manager DNA cannot be cloned. Organizational culture cannot be cloned. Metrics are the oversimplification of organizational cultural expectations and outcomes. Trying to put a number on unquantifiable performance like ownership and empowerment can be difficult.

On the issue of feedback
Some managers avoid communicating or create a culture of fear. Feedback doesn’t follow the normal channels, it creates its own flow through informal networks of dissatisfied employees. Non-routable feedback lingers and creates tension among organizational silos. The loop of expectations/feedback never closes because managers are not trusted to do the right thing or at least address the issues shared by employees/teams.

Integrators are defined in the book as people that connect people, resources and knowledge. Integrators work through relationships and investments in cooperation. Creating integrators is difficult because it goes against basic human pursue for consolidated power. Power consolidation is when certain managers through their behaviors seek to centralize all decision making and resources vested on them.

One of the roles of management is to monitor/control the availability of resources, hence working against the very basic tool integrators use to accomplish win win solutions; the divesting/decentralization of power/resources. I am not sure I agree with on the statements that defines a potential future integrator….Yes it is someone that it is not satisfied with the status quo. Nevertheless someone who has no ability to influence is probably incapable to foster change without a title. A person capable of moving the organization forward is one that can instigate a sense of urgency and works within the system, not outside of it. Charisma, selfless acts of patience/sharing and self awareness/management are strong tools for a well “trained” (knowledge worker) to move forward as integrator.

Unhappy employees create tension and tension creates a burden affecting organizational performance. The perception of inclusion/exclusion into decision making or empowerment is different in every case, so coming with a staged diagnostic is complex. Differential approach on rewards and performance play an important role in conflict. At the individual level, employees want to know that they are appreciated and respected for their contribution. Dissonance on rewards creates apathy. Apathy creates dysfunction and decline.

Blanket orders for organizational change never work as intended. The goal of upper management is to create segmented/manageable units of employees working towards a common goal, when motivators are incorrectly positioned, it creates disincentives for cooperation. Cost Center/Revenue Centers tend to work against each other if rules of performance and outcomes are not shared properly. Silo Managers in large organizations tend to loose focus of the big picture and work on meeting their own KPIs. If bonuses/performance rewards are individually measured, the organizational outcomes will be inversely correlated. Dumping product by sales people at the end of a quarter to make quotas knowing it will represent future refunds is a behavior experienced in many organizations measuring the wrong performance indicators.

Rules need not to be minimized but shared among org participants regardless of status. Organizational cultural expectations take time and require a culture of shared management. Rules created to fit personal egos or management styles tend to conflict in the long run with holistic expectations and outcomes. Employees become demotivated by following the expectations of over-zealousness instead of focusing on improving org-wide outcomes. When people say… “that is not my job”. It is a good indicator of a myopic vision.

The rule of 7
Management roles, team leads, coordinator jobs are created due to the rule of 7. Humans can only supervise, lead, or participate effectively in groups not bigger than 7. Anything above that number is complicated/impossible to manage. In an effort to overcome this very real limitation, managers create status report procedures and operational meetings. There are times that Rules/Laws/Procedures are created to limit HR liability and union compliance, but they impact creativity, flexibility and motivation. Awareness on how rules demoralize or create negative behavior are very hard to identify. Diagnostics for the impact of rules in a close culture of feedback become hard to identify and overcome.


Correct Metrics for performance
The issue is not the application of metrics, but using the wrong metrics. Rewarding people for things they did as individuals perpetuates the “me first” mentality of star employees. Reasonable efforts should be made to measure the overall performance linked to various team and individual goals and achievements. I believe rewards should be based on behavior, cooperation, contribution and outcomes. It is not a simple formula at as factors change over time. A programmer cannot be evaluated on lines of codes committed, or bugs identified, or innovation in standardized environments. How you measure the performance of a knowledge worker overtime is complex.

A recommendation is given to get rid of managers that cannot serve as integrators. Other factors come into play that limit organizational ability to flatten. In an environment with no clear lines of authority, the loudest/most influential tend to throw their weight around. Bureaucracies slow down decision making. Informal shadow leaders arise based on factors not directly related to their capacity to do their jobs. Relying on observation and judgement requires experience, selflessness and goodwill. Unfortunately humans tend to inject bias in decision making or prioritization of duties.

On the issue on the definition of power
The ultimate physical action to change a condition based on attributed, vested or inherited capability. The way power is used by the individual depends on their experience and value system. Initially, systems of accountability and rules provide the baseline for behavior and expectations. How individuals get condition to behave once “power” is given depends on the individual itself and can have catastrophic consequences for the organization. Organizational culture plays a role on determining how power is viewed and used. Titles alone cannot determine the amount of power an individual has over their peers. To move to an empowered environment, it requires that managers work against their instinct to command and control. The ultimate outcome is to share power and to empower those around them to do the right thing. For some managers, giving power to co workers means losing power over their domain.  On the pursuit of influence and power, some tend to struggle with delegation as more responsibility is given.

Continuation of Operations Planning (lessons learned)

by Victor Alatorre


The purpose of this entry is to explore the issues affecting housing operations in higher education in the area of emergency response and planning. A continuation of operations plan or COOP effort became very popular after Katrina and other major crisis events took place at Universities where the loss of life became eminent (Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, Iowa State, etc).


The purpose of the COOP plan (or plans) is to set up a road map for how critical departments will respond/recover from various “emergency” events. The COOP outlines information with some precision (employee phone numbers, resources, expertise, essential information systems) but it doesn’t identify precise methodology for specific emergency events. The vagueness like (who is responsible for X in the event of Y under Z conditions) needs to be addressed through communication, information dissemination, accessibility and practice.

The goal for some higher ed campuses has been (and continues to be) planning for the following:

• Whose: responsibility assignments for recover life sustaining services (ie: heating, electricity, security, food, water, etc)
• What is the event, the damage, the risk, the options, the new normal, etc.
• When: under what conditions will resources and personnel be activated, how fast can things go back to normal, length of time for recovery.
• How: what are the procedures to address the various elements of the plan.

The variety of events depend on environmental issues affecting your location, the event itself, the magnitude and amplitude of the event, the availability of human resources, the impact on human life, organization plasticity, the scarcity of resources for recovery, the length of time necessary for recovery or return to normalcy. etc.

Wisdom

• The COOP process requires intense planning, collaboration and testing. Creating a COOP plan requires a bold and prolonged commitment by upper administrators. Sometimes COOP plans have been created to address issues of federal and state compliance, nevertheless the plan needs to be pragmatic and executable. Creating COOP plans can require as long as a year to two years of planning, rewriting and testing. Conditions and personnel change, so constant nurturing is required.
• Moving Part Testing (table tops): Make sure the various parts of the plan are tested together. The process of gathering information for COOP often creates silos and assumptions. Do not assume that completed templates fit together like gears in a watch. Table top exercises allow for the testing of COOP while identifying assumptions about preparedness and responsibility.
• Identification of Chain of Command: It is understood, that the highest ranking institution (or individual) are in charge of executive decisions. The role of the COOP developer is to provide information to those with the highest credentials and domain. Depending on the crisis, the federal government through FEMA may coordinate the response. For smaller events, the local authorities in collaboration with school administrators (ie: Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Deans, Directors) will determine roles and resource allocations. Upper administrators have an executive role, so they need to be ready with options to execute plans.
• Keep it simple stupid: COOPs, business continuation plans tend to be lengthy, wordy and hard to follow, so it is important that the content be precise, concise and easily digestible for various levels of employees. You cannot make the assumption that the experts and process keepers will be available to recover your operation. COOP should kept in paper form and in multiple locations.
• Identification of essential services. It is important that COOP planners determine the priority for essential services. Essential services are those that in their absence would make recovery impossible. Think of heat in the middle of the winter or water in the middle of the summer.
• Identification of risk levels for high probability events that have happened around your campus and measure your ability to respond to the situation under current or diminished resource levels Housing departments have many moving parts and limited resources, so it is important that housing officers create a risk assessment based on prior experiences. Applying lessons learned from regional sister institutions is also a viable strategy.
• Measure your levels and threshold of preparedness: the development of a risk/scenario matrix for events and situations will determine what your highest priorities should be and where your resources should go. (here is an example to get you an idea of what the model could look like)

Methodology: 
Determine a probability score (high, medium, low), create a tolerance level for specific situation (ie: fires, hurricanes, accidents, pandemic, active shooter, power outages, flooding), a tolerance level determines your ability to sustain/recover your services given a tolerance level priority. Losing power for a day in the summer is not the same (in tolerance) as losing power for a day in the middle of the winter.
 
Your tolerance diminishes as conditions change. Think of the tragic events at the superdome event during Katrina. The longer it takes to recover, the more dramatic things will become.
 

• Determine human impact, property impact, business impact. Give it a score using a simple ranking ie: critical, vital and sensitive.
  Determine the role (weak, medium, strong) of your department on addressing the event. Your role in a major regional catastrophe will be different than a building level event. Once you set up various scenarios, you can use the composite score to identify your highest risk and your highest probability situations.
   
• The basics factors will always get you: As COOPs are written, there is a great deal of planning that goes on at complex levels of emergency planning. Nevertheless, focus on the basic elements of life/business/safety preservation that will have the most impact on your plan. As an example: you cannot create technology heavy communication or student tracking solution when the event impacting your campuses wipes your data center, cellular communication, electricity, water, communication gateways, etc. So create a plan from the ground up and move to more detail as your COOP plan (scenarios) grow. Stick to basic solutions for complex problems. A database driven housing management system is no match for a paper based list (or lists) during a power impairing catastrophe. Your plan should address the absence or scarcity of major elements of civilization like: food, water, electricity, sewer services, cellular, road infrastructure, law enforcement, etc.
   
• Plan for Redundancy of Roles: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs should be considered when making assumptions about employees and their role on COOP. Personnel will rise and fall based on their ability to handle their own hierarchy of needs. COOP planning addresses roles and functions with primary and secondary respondents. Your top performers under normal conditions may be your least reliable under stress.
  Information technology should be a priority: engage IT administrators (within and outside) when dealing with scenarios and assumptions. Do not assume that enterprise technology services are interchangeable, or easily recoverable/replaceable. As technical people are not interchangeable in skills, you have to maintain awareness of the assumptions non-technical people make about technology capabilities. As technology is consumerized, enterprise level services are often assumed as easily replaceable or interchangeable with “walmart” versions of such service or hardware. The use of cloud computing is becoming more prevalent for back up and off site communication mechanisms.
   
• Identify assumptions: It is impossible to plan for every scenario, so assumptions have to be spelled out for those involved on the recovery and reconstitution planning. The delivery of a strategy or tactic needs to include the assumption of resources prior to the execution of such plan.
   
• Stockpile essentials: do not assume that “other” entities will provide resources free of charge. Scarcity and speculation become part of the conversation during regional events. Work closely with food services for making sure “dry goods” or “foods that can be consumed without the need of heat or cold” are available for those that choose to remain on campus. flashlights, radios, kits, granola bars (dry food), glow sticks, generators, etc should be part of your inventory.
   

Fiscal Issues: 
Pandemics events create very specific challenges for the organization that require long term budgetary and personnel training. Pandemics are a game of percentages and thresholds. Your operation depends on your ability to provide housing services. As pandemic crisis limits your ability to house students, your fiscal viability will be a serious factor to consideration. It may be wise to do a budget analysis identifying your threshold of pain. Pandemic scenarios can create situations where 40 or 50% of your service capacity is completely wiped out.

The template that we used at our school came from FEMA:


http://www.ready.gov/

and

http://www.fema.gov/planning-templates


Other resources:

http://www.acuho-i.org/Portals/0/pdf/Campus_Housing_Guidelines_for_Pandemic_Planning.pdf

6 months later: Lessons learned of applied IT leadership

Introduction

This document is a compilation of ideas presented during the Third Session of the Third Cohort of MOR's IT leadership program at UW Oshkosh on January 2013. The ideas presented here are an eclectic yet structured effort to process, shared knowledge and engage others through this program. I don't have riches to give, so my wisdom will suffice.

First Session: Presence and presentation, definition of leadership and management, leadership journey, balancing the important with the immediate, delegation, creating and individual development plan, coaching for commitment, etc.

• My perception: I was disappointed about the outcome of a hiring process, but the coaches confronted me in a positive manner. At the end of the second session, the senior IT coach shared his leadership Journey. As he explained the big challenges of his life, I began to realize the leadership journey has many ups and downs. The paradigm shift for me was to realize that I will not be remembered only by my successes, but how I handled/overcame failures. 

Second Session:
Introduction to Strategic Thinking, Building Relationships, Creating a Vision, Neuroscience and creating new pathways, Coaching for Results.

• My perception: the currency of the University are relationships and trust. Conflict strikes because relationships are not established. (After all, who has time for relationships when technical tasks have to be completed). Make it your job to establish professional relationships with people outside your immediate circle of influence. Seek to understand when confronted with “impossible” requests.  Help establish a shared vision by sharing what you know at the right time and the right place.
  
  CIOs are at the end game of their technical capability because their role is strategic and political in nature, nevertheless keep them informed of your progress and how that progress is aligned to the University. Data is an important element of strategic planning.  I have heard my boss say: "I believe in God, everyone else bring data to the meetings..."

Third Session: Leading Change and Delivering Results
Leading change, understanding workplace culture, the leaders role in delivering, the three lenses: strategic, political and cultural, developing measures in IT.

• My experience: The one quote I remember is that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. The 6 hour drive to UW superior helped our group (UW Oshkosh cohort) connect at levels we didn’t expect. Perceptions about teams and attitudes started to change. It was no longer “Us vs Them”; we were now one team. This session triggered my interest on pursuing knowledge in the area of assessment and service metrics. 

Fourth Session:
Interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, exercising influence, organizational and political savvy, the leaders’ role as a communicator, leadership as a performance art, coaching for breakthrough.

• My experience: I began to understand why some of my fraternity brothers were more successful than others despite academic achievement. Some of the most successful members of my fraternity had advanced interpersonal skills. 
  
  Leadership is putting yourself outside of your comfort zone. Working on what you communicate with non-verbals is a huge factor for how people see you. On so many ocassions I have heard people say about coworkers: "He/she is not good with people, but he/she is good a fixing computers..."
  
  For every action, there is a reaction of equal proportion and strength. It is important we understand how the “proven” tactics used to fix computers may not fix relationships or people.
  
  During the session, we tested our ability to navigate the implementation process from the standpoint of people, politics and influence.  Through my tactics/experience I won the simulation, giving me the realization of my skills and abilities: strategy and influence. 

Fifth Session:
Developing people, having difficult conversations, leadership and ethics, continuing your leadership journey, taking care of yourself, graduation.

• My experience: I was able to demonstrate that my IT leadership training had made me a better manager, leader, father and human being. 

What have I done since our MOR's IT leaders graduation in June of 2012

• I was asked to serve in MHEC (midwestern higher education compact) virtualization contract process getting me in the areas of bid writing and contract negotiation. 
• I became the departmental expert on assessment and student retention inclusive of Map Works™ and EBI housing survey mechanisms. 
• Made sure my department was accountable for our service deliverables which included the migration to our new data center, the procurement of all the necessary elements for our virtualization effort, the completion of the rewrite for the one and only student portal, a new social media and marketing strategy and the overall planning and execution for our department’s budget process inclusive of a 10 year capital plan, 6 year bond schedule,  revenue model  and occupancy forecast. 
• I continue to engage other campus IT leaders (and administrators) as the conversations related to “reinventing IT” continue to come up. 
• I received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Service Award in the Fall 2012. 

Other Useful Learning Topics

Become Self Aware (of weaknesses and strengths) then move to Self Management. Self awareness is an important part of your evolution as a IT leaders... Knowing your weaknesses and strengths. Self Management is doing something with the information provided by your self-awareness... If you have known weaknesses, what actions can you take to make yourself a better person.

The Four Leadership competencies are:

1. Management of Meaning: your goal as a leader is to identify the purpose and value of what you do and what others do within your domain. It is important that you question the motivators within your organization. What is the meaning of life? Is it 42? Or is it something beyond money and power? Purpose and value take the form of giving back to you and to others.  Is the pursuit of happiness the most important meaning of life?
2. Management of Attention: our daily life has a bunch of priorities and distractions. It is important that you identify what are the top priorities and what can wait or be delegated. As electronic communications become part of our daily life, what we do in the presence of others is important. As we choose to engage our iphones or ipads instead of our co-workers, we need to be mindful of our physical presence during meetings and conversations with coworkers. The “you right here, right now” is far more impactful than the “you on your phone while people try to grab your attention”.
3. Management of Self: This is not a new idea. As kids we are told to control our emotions and behavior for positive rewards. The pavlov effect that this creates can create bad behaviors of expecations for you and for those that work with you. The idea goes beyond that as we grow older and realize that our success at home and at work depend on our ability to engage our emotions and attitudes in a productive manner. Telling people off may be incredibly gratifying experience in the short run, but it doesn’t provide long term solutions to conflict and relationships.
4. Management of Trust: this is defined by the idea that you need to trust your skills and capabilities and the capabilities of others. Moving from micromanaging to a strategic leader takes the form that requires that you trust people and their capabilities. 

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering™

Fear can drive you to make wrong decision: Avoid using the reactive mind to engage conflict at work and at home. Your path to happiness and leadership include the possibilities for tough decisions and/or engagement with difficult situations and people.

Learn to deal with conflict:
Don’t avoid it, don't pursuit it; deal with it. Engage the issues from a logical unemotional point... Extract the emotion and the personal bias when dealing with conflict. Know when to speak and when to be quite (pick your battles).

Learn to deal with people you dislike, detest, hate, disrespect:
There is always someone that will challenge your opinion and perception of value. That may not want to play by your rules and expectation. They are you best opportunity and challenge. Identify why you dislike the person... Identify your personal bias. Engage and seek to understand before judging.

Identify opportunities in the raw
Opportunities never come in nice folders or in gold plated lettering. Opportunities are little dirty things that people pick up from the floor. Be capable of creating your own future by identifying opportunities where no one else sees them.

Diversify your experience
Always find opportunities to help others to learn from your experience... Experience is a tough teacher that gives tests before the lessons are provided. Experience comes in the form of training, certifications, teaching, mentorship with less senior people in your organization.

Develop routines of success
A routine of success is one that helps you identify corrective measures through action planning. Action planning is the process of setting metrics and timelines for accomplishments. As you identify bad habits; new routines can create new pathways of behavior. It is difficult to change old bad habits, however the brain is more capable of creating new pathways for new habits. Those new habits set the tone for who you need to be.

Branding of self
People in IT often say that they got into IT because they liked to fix things or because they didn't know what they wanted to do in life and somehow they ended in positions dealing with information technology and project management. People often become comfortable on how they ended in their roles without putting much thought to career path or professional development for the next job.


The techie paradox:
I am a techie, I don't need to work on my people skills, my expertise drive this boat. The technical mind tends to gravitate to logical solutions to problems. Emotions and attitudes tend to be driven by incorrect self perceptions. It is important that we challenge ourselves with rookie opportunities to public speak or reach out to people in a positive manner. Engaging conflict in a positive manner is what drives your ability to influence others and solve non computer related problems. Often people find themselves in a gap between who they are and who they want to be. Coworkers, supervisors and peers associate you with a very specific set of skills and talents that define your brand (or ethos). If your brand is an organizational match, leadership opportunities and engagement will arise, but if your brand is “different”, this may limit you. Be aware of how you present your brand to others. Once you are branded with negative characteristics or behaviors, your brand will be difficult to change.

Do not let others define who you are or what your current and future capabilities are (will be)...  “You define yourself”.

Keep your MORs leadership binder (IT leadership manual) near your daily activity and use the content every once in awhile (sharpen the saw as Covey advises).  It is important that you apply the concepts presented during training sessions for the improvement of your organization. Revisit the ideas often. Create a calendar entry reminding you to set time aside for you and your thoughts. It is important that you create new ideas with the information provided through any leadership program.

How did I apply what I learned at the ITLP

1. Presence: Confidence, Relationship Building, Communication and Strategic Engagement. Personal retooling through 360 feedback and coaching process.
2. Emotional intelligence: Worked towards evolving my understanding of issues related to self awareness while moving towards self regulation. Expanding my understanding and activation of emotional intelligence and neuroscience theory.
3. From tactical to strategic. Leading from the balcony, focusing my energy on strategic ideas for our department and the University.
4. Empowerment and delegation: Elevated the status and role of my subordinates by empowering them to take necessary steps towards self improvement and accountability. Rewrote job descriptions, realigned responsibilities, stepped out of tactical issues, etc. 
5. Realignment of professional priorities to support the University’s overall mission including student recruitment and retention. Examples: ALMA, Mapworks, EBI Benchmarking, Social Media Workflows, etc 

Applying the three lenses: strategic, political and cultural

1. Promoted interactions with Central IT that fostered collaboration on common goals. Examples of this include participating and allowing participation of my subordinates on the Google Apps implementation, Intranet Advisory Committee, Lean and Security Compliance work-groups, etc.

Final words of wisdom for other IT leaders in progress.

1. Take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy the moment. The opportunities for friendship and connections with other IT/business people are invaluable. 
2. Keep that binder close to you and share the information within with coworkers and those around you looking to self improve and grow. 
3. Make sure you set up a covenant with your cohorts and those going through this program that you will maintain contact and that you will make an effort to hold you accountable for self improvement, learning new things and shared with others the lessons learned during your ongoing leadership journey. 

The payload of the MORs IT leadership program is NOT:

1. A membership to a really cool secret society of computer geeks
2. A guarantee that your training will deliver a new title or a better job. 
3. A check mark on your performance appraisal or resume. 

The payload of the MORs IT leadership program is very simple: the empowerment to be the best leader (human being) you can be regardless of title, position or wage.

(graduation story: read below)

Final Story: The native american tale of the two wolves living inside of us.

My introduction to Latino Issues at USHLI

By Victor Alatorre
Two years ago, I had the pleasure of attending the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute in Chicago IL.  Attending the USHLI was as a very rewarding experience for me. I attended the event 20 years ago during my freshman year at UW Oshkosh. It was a good refresher for my memories of what happened 20 years ago. The experience allowed me to recap the changes to my perceptions and values.

The memories of the event 20 years ago were few, however I remember how I felt and what I perceived (inclusive of self-perception), more than what I was listening to or understanding. Those struggles related to language and cultural differences.

My ability to communicate and immerse into the conversation of the Latino struggle of 1991 was difficult. I didn’t understand it, but I was just starting to experience what it was to be Mexican in America. I had been in the US for only a year or so, so I had many personal challenges related to missing home, my family, my culture, etc. I had a hard time understanding why there were Mexican kids that look like me, but didn’t speak Spanish.

I was experiencing a painful transformation and immersion into the new reality. Back in Mexico I never understood or experience the concept of being ethnically different. I knew the concept of being the heavy set kid, the concept of living in poverty due to my parents divorce, but never living based on the concept of ethnicity. No one ever identified me as Mexican or foreign. It was until my sophomore year that I understood that some people didn’t like my patriotism represented by a Mexican flag taped on the window of my residence hall, my ethnic music, and my perceived language limitations. I was the only native Mexican student in Fletcher Hall in the fall of 1991. Other students of Hispanic origin didn’t speak like me or identified themselves as having the same challenges, etc. And, like many of the speakers of this year’s conference, I experience my first racist remark by a kid living in my hall; I learned the meaning of the term: “beaner”. Which was used by my next-door neighbor as a response to my Mexican flag posting on my door/window. I have a picture of that same Mexican flag next to the US flag I received when I became a US citizen last year.

Despite the struggles; I continue to appreciate the blessings my experiences living in the US have given me. During my experience at UW Oshkosh, I became the president of an all-white fraternity. Only a few years before, I had been warned (by other international students) to stay away from the fraternity house in the corner of Algoma and Wisconsin across campus. I had no money, thus a job was necessary. My first job in the minority lab under the division of academic support allowed me access to further opportunities at the Department of Residence Life, Management Information Office. I was promoted several times and eventually became the Coordinator-Manager of a very successful Residential Computing Office and also one of the Assistant Directors of Residence Life.

20 years later

The USHLI conference is held annually in Chicago and organized by a prestigious group of Hispanic Leaders. Dr. Juan Andrade is the sponsor, promoter and organizer of this event every year. Cultural, economical and leadership topics are presented through 3 days of workshops and forums. There seems to be tracks that are not identified but seem to be: professional development for high school students planning to attend college, college students planning to graduate. With activism in the areas of: immigration, Latino rights, collective bargain, the historical legacies of Hispanics, and acknowledgement of the rising stars of the Latino communities throughout the US. I was hoping to see more information on student development and advising and/or how to retain and further the path for Hispanic students.

Other observations:

I believe in a humble approach to leadership, but I got a sense that the organizers believe they are providing the participants an amazing opportunity by allowing them to be in the presence of very successful Latinos (as). I believe Dr Andrade applies a very top down (old school) approach to Hispanic leadership. The struggles of the generations are very different. The Mexican American generation of Dr Andrade struggled with blatant racism and lack of opportunities in professional environments, hence the emphasis on the work of Cesar Chavez, Unions and (us vs. them) approach.

http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/andrade.html

We could spend a great deal of energy pointing out many situations where racism had an impact on the participants, but I believe a better approach is to look at the commonalities between Hispanic students and their counterparts. While I appreciate Dr Andrade’s contributions to Hispanic leadership, I’m not sure the USHLI operates like other professional conferences.

The first breakfast (the labor unity breakfast session) had a folk guitar player that spoke/sang about the struggle of migrant workers throughout the Midwest. I enjoyed his songs and the undercurrent of humor, but the stories were not pleasant. There was a sense of indoctrination for a struggle that the participants didn’t experience in their own skin. Do I fail to appreciate the Latino struggle? No. My grandfather was a Mexican immigrant requisition prior to World War II, so I’m sure he would have enjoyed the old school songs of protest. But I’m not sure many in the room understood what the activism of the Mexican migrant struggle was about in the 50s and 60s. I wish there was a historical unbiased context of the presentations, but none were provided.

The current generation struggles with ongoing identity issues of “Hispanidad”. Hispanic Students recognize the ongoing opportunities vested on them by their parent’s effort for education and living standards but they struggle with the burden presented by our culture and their mix identity. How can we become more American or more Hispanic since the internal perceptions-of-self are somewhere in the middle? To outsiders, most of us, look Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban, but our value system is very much American and mainstream. I have heard my US born Mexican cousins talked about the internal struggle of identity. Two of them have said to me in different occasions (jokingly) that they feel like they are Americans trapped in Mexican Bodies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanidad

Sponsorship

The conference has big sponsors thus they are constantly reminding the attendees of the generosity provided by companies like Miller Coors, Southwest Airlines, Verizon, University of Phoenix, etc. While I understand every conference needs the resources provided by sponsors, it became very noticeable and very intrusive (more so than any other event I have participated in the past). Every napkin and every meal had a verbal reminder of who the providers had been. I noticed that free alcohol was provided during the socials and dances. Despite the enforcement of drinking laws, it set a poor precedent knowing that many Hispanics struggle with alcoholism. If this is a leadership conference, why do we allow external marketing forces to use alcohol as a marketing tool?

Dinner Dynamics

There were very long dinners (2 hour+) that served a dual purpose of recognizing US Hispanic leaders, while allowing them to share their philosophies, struggles and outlook of the future. Some of their speeches were very useful; nevertheless I wish we could have been given the chance to opt out from some of the self-proclamations of excellence. There were too many political agendas intermingled with encouragement and recognition of the contributions of the Hispanic echelon.

The dinners had a “Hispanic” family atmosphere… I can’t find any other analogy to describe the interaction between the organizer and the students attending the event. It was like going to your grandpa’s house for dinner and having your grandpa talked about his struggles and successes. If you listened to him you were rewarded with a gift or a memento of the event. But conference organizers demanded the respect of the family in a very direct way by asking coordinators to silence people that were talking with a room full of people. There had to be over a thousand people sitting in the conference room for every meal and service was slow. While one side of the room was finishing dinner, the other side was just starting, so complete silence was impossible.

Presentations Our Struggle, Our Strength

Dr David Camacho was an assistant to the Chancellor at Northern Arizona University (he was very proud of that fact). His experience and presentation were “a little” disorganized and carried emotional baggage from the struggle of Chicano Culture in the Southwest in the 1960s. He used the reference of historical factoids (like the independence from Spain, the fragmentation of Mexico, etc) to instigate activism through his experience in Northern Arizona. He was very proud of his path to leadership (or assistance to the leadership) and his struggle, and seemed to have something to offer, but the ideas were lost in the mix. At some point in my life, I have been indoctrinated into believing that California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and “Tejas” were taken from us. Some believe that if the southwest belonged to Mexico, my homeland would have been a larger wealthier place. The truth is that the perceived wealth of the southwest is the byproduct of many generations of people coming from all over the World and US. Sadly I believe that the “decadence” of the Northwestern part of my homeland would have been pushed farther north.

Honorable Ricardo Muñoz, District 2 in Chicago (Speaker)
Talked about the union issues in Wisconsin. He welcomed the students and talked about his political career and the upcoming election. Encourage people to vote and to hold politicians accountable for their actions.

Ms Esther Lopez (Speaker)
Director Civil Rights and Community Action spoke about labor issues and the attack on unions and civil liberties protected through collective bargaining. Among the many words of wisdom, she kept saying that: “If you are going to be an effective leader; you better know who you are”. So Self-awareness is an important element of her advise. She also used the statement: “Leadership know thy self”. So nothing new here… Her inspiration words came from mainstream ideas on leadership. She spoke about elements of our common history. After her motivational speaking, I wanted to go and punch someone, but I didn’t know whom or why. :)

Other thoughts

• Humble yourself through teamwork: So, be a team player because your success depends on your ability to lead your team.
• Evolving Leadership: You need to create a team to constantly evaluate the strategy. Don’t surround yourself of people that agree with all your wishes and ideas.
• Responsibility of Leadership Be a benevolent leader. A sense of utilitarianism.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism
• Self-Deprecation: Have the ability to laugh at even yourself.
• Leadership is a team effort: Let others to lead; share the glory as well as the pain.

National Issues Forum 1: The impact of anti-Latino public policies on Latino voting behavior.

The round table provided good Information on the struggles of Hispanics in various states. The economy and the impact the shift of power is having with anti-immigration laws in Arizona (SP 270), Indiana (SP 590), Nebraska, etc.

The following individuals were able to present their perceptions and opinions on the struggles on the States they represent.

Hon Kelvin Roldan Rep 4th district from the State of Connecticut: had not much to share about his struggle in Connecticut. His presentation was very academic and seemed to approach political activism through a more subtle approach. I’m not sure I understood his position on what was happening in the State of Connecticut other than he seemed grateful to be a Hispanic District Representative. The other reps kind of made fun of him by calling him “Professor”.

Hon Crisanta Duran Rep 5th district from the State of Colorado: not much was shared by her other than Colorado is currently experiencing a lack of Hispanic leadership and representation due to the absence of former Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, now the Secretary of the Interior for Obama. She rightfully claims to be like many other Mexican Americans in the US, the product of many generations of Mexican Americans living within the geography of the US prior to the foundation of the US territory as we know it. She stated that: “She didn’t cross the border, the border crossed her”. At some point, I take issue with the statement because it comes off (to border crossing Mexicans like myself) as elitist… The other ones that look like me are the ones that crossed the border (not me).

Hon Ruben Gallego Rep 16ht district from the State of Arizona: a Marine and Harvard graduate talked about how the retirees rule the anti-immigration sentiment in Arizona. He talked about his experiences when he was going door-to-door and getting doors slammed in his face. It was not a matter of skin color, but cultural shifts experienced in the southwest.

Hon Mara Candelaria Reardon Rep 12th district State of Indiana: The one and only Hispanic woman representing in the state of Indiana. She talked about the struggles of Hispanic women that do not look like traditional Hispanic women. How constituents and peers say the most inappropriate things because they do not know she is Hispanic

Hon John Haroldson District Attorney, Benton County, Oregon: a dual citizen that grew up in my hometown (Monterrey) shared his experience dealing with the laws affecting Hispanics in his district. The challenges presented by culture and language. He was often asked why he chose to become a DA instead of a public defender. He stated he wanted to contribute or represent to the fairness of law applied to Hispanics within the realm of the prosecution. I had the opportunity to meet him after the presentation.

http://www.co.benton.or.us/da/haroldson.php

They gave the following opinion on the upcoming challenges:

• The ongoing efforts to redistrict will have an impact on Hispanics throughout the US. It is important that all citizens understand the impact this will have on their representation
• Go vote because mainstream politicians do not understand the impact of the Hispanic vote. They do not fear the Hispanic vote because we tend not to vote.
• Social activism is important, but ultimately Lawyers will take on the issues. Marches and Protests are important visual queues, but ultimately decisions are made within the legislative and judicial branches.
• Many states are looking at banning illegal immigrants from getting in-state tuition.
  (Like it was happening in Wisconsin)

Moctesuma Esparza

http://maya-entertainment.com/about-us

Moctesuma Esparza is the President of Maya Entertainment, a movie media conglomerate that focuses on Hispanic movie productions. His movies, interactions with famous Hispanic artists are well known. He was a good but intense speaker. In my opinion he was also part of that original Hispanic struggle of the 1950s in California. He had very good points about other examples of successful communities like the Jewish people in the US. But he ultimately used that Jewish paradigm of self-protection (Jews seeking business with other Jews) to promote his business. He came with a payload; to encourage the participants to buy and rent the movies he produces. I’m not sure it was necessary for him to make the connection between consumers and his goals as a producer. He belongs to the old guard of Hispanic men that grew up in a time of great segregation.

The Diverse mind using innovative thinking to succeed in a changing nation
Tina K.... (motivational speaker and personal coach)

I went to a coaching presentation by Tina K and Associates. Unfortunately, the title of the presentation didn’t allow me to realize that this was a high school level presentation to encourage Hispanic high school students to attend college. I noticed that her last name was Balderrama, but it was only stated on the USHLI pamphlet. Her corporate presentation didn’t use the last name Balderrama. So I ask to myself: Why did she hide it on the name of her consulting firm? Why was it convenient to make reference to the last name during the presentation, but not in her private enterprise? Her presentation had many overused clichés and thinking exercises, thus I’m not sure I belonged here.

She did talk about the Hispanic scholarship fund.
http://www.hsf.net/
Nina Vaca Recognition Dinner (speaker)

I attended a presentation and speech by Nina Vaca, the CEO of Pinnacle. Her life story was good. I was able to locate a good article about her life. She is the president of a very successful company in Texas. Pinnacle is a custom software developer in Texas. She is the top Hispanic woman leader in the nation. She was very young and good looking and very high energy.  
Her advice came with this payload:

1. A leader is someone that can change minds.
2. Treat people, as they ought to be treated.
3. If you are in control, they are in control.
4. You define you.
5. Showing up is half of the battle.
6. “Dime quienes son tus amigos y te diré quien eres”. Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.
7. Leadership is doing what we say we are going to do.

Note:  The best advice she gave was to “not self-segregate” (which I agree to a point). She also expressed that success is directly related to self-perception. 

National Issues Forum II: With its Different Shades of Red and Blue, what will congress do? Two opposing view: Mr. Juan Williams vs. Sr Ruben Navarrete.

I was looking forward to this presentation because I have read both journalists. I know Juan used to work for NPR but lost his job over “racist” comments made about his nervousness seeing Muslims in planes during his travels. His termination was controversial, but he now works for Fox News. I expected a right wing spin to his comments, but he came off as honest and educated on the topics.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/21/juan-williams-fired-npr_n_770901.html

Ruben Navarrete is a Mexican American, double Harvard graduate, and a syndicated journalist from San Diego. He is a self-proclaimed centrist, but gets a lot of criticism for his opinion on immigration and politics. He approaches the topic of immigration from an economical and political issue, not a cultural one. I get the chance to read his column on CNN every Tuesday.

http://www.rubennavarrette.com/

Both provided their opinion on what is to come with the redistricting based on new census information. It will have an impact on Hispanic’s ability to share their voice to congress. They talked about who was at fault of the failure of the Dream Act. It was interesting to see that Republican voted against it, but more importantly, a handful of democrats voted against it as well. So Hispanics should not be so quick to point out that if it weren’t for the republicans, the bill would have passed.

It was expecting a debate, but it turned into a “mano a mano” of agreements on political posturing shared by both parties. I was happy to be in the presence of people I read often.

Conclusion

Attending the USHLI provided me with a great opportunity for refreshing my perception of multiculturalism and Latino life in the US. I think it gave young people attending a new perspective of what their responsibilities will be and how their political and professional legacy will have an impact on the future of the US. Despite my critical analysis, I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend and experience this important event.

Further Thoughts on Leadership Strategy

by Victor Alatorre

Observations

The purpose of this blog entry is to explore my perception on what it takes to be a strategic leader in the area of information technology.  

Successful organizations will invest in people. An investment in human capital will enhance value. According to research, employees only engage 10 to 15 percent of the skills within their organization. Successful organizations allow individuals to expand the application of knowledge, skills and abilities. IMHO, the structure of the organization (like in the State) limits what individuals can do or should do within their job responsibilities. It was true 10 years ago, and it is true today. The added factor today is attrition and cost cutting measures dumping more and more responsibility on those strong enough to sustain the effort.

Organizations will be successful if they are capable of sustaining intellectual capital. We tend to connect intellectual capital with organizational knowledge which is (in itself) fueled by human capital.

In the last few years, those companies that have invested on innovative intellectual assets and human resources have had the most success (Apple, Facebook, Google, etc), however the economy has placed pressure on budgets associated with professional development and research and development.

The "Jack Welsh" strategy was the gold standard which included a philosophy of selecting the right people and allocating resources, while watching the talent rise up. 

Well, 20 years ago, Mr Welsh was regarded as the top manager of GE and one of the top leaders in corporate America. Jack was successful at learning the ways of his corporation and identifying talent and opportunities. He had a strong ability to see strategic value to mergers and acquisitions and to apply the GE way to cut the bottom “10 percenters” every year. This approach included the application of statistical theory to improve process (lean sigma), quality improvement through applied statistical analysis and the HR removal of those that lacked the motivation to improve shared value.

There is enough research covering the complexity of managing “knowledge workers”.  So we ask "What motivates technically savvy people?" Without getting too political, I believe our current employment structure and compensation plan fails to identify value and recognize talent for what is worth to the organization. It limits flexibility and opportunities for growth. I believe our current employment structure provides rigid structures that protects silos for better control and management.

The truth about managing knowledge workers goes beyond compensation and moves into the realm of opportunity, professional development and respect. The respect generated by the work knowledge workers do on daily basis. Respect takes many forms like: recognition an awareness of value provided, ability to get buy-in from administrators, the ability to spend time on new ideas or correct old ones, be allowed to learn new skills, etc.

Essential Leadership attributes were identified as:

• Technical Competence: Hopefully most people in IT have some technical skills, the article fails to identify the depth of technical skill required to be successful. I would add that ability to learn new technical issues is more important than established technical focus on area. All of us face obsolescence, so keeping up with technical skills is important.
• Conceptual skill: strategic thinking does not come easy to even upper managers. I have experienced it at many levels. They are too busy managing tangibles. I believe strategic thinking is problem solving on steroids for problems that have yet to be identified. Day dreaming, puzzle solving and skills that are not easily perceived
• Track Record: A track record is a history of performance or individual action. If the track record is good, then it can “perhaps” forecast future ability. A track record can deceive people into believing that if your track record as a technical specialist can translate into a positive track record as a manager.
• People Skills: As technical people, we tend to gravitate towards electronic, non verbal communications. I do believe that the promotion process favors extroverted technical people. Good looking extroverts is what fuels the lines of upper management promotion. It is also called presence.
• Taste: Lets call it “talent development”. The ability of a leader to provide professional development opportunities and challenges is important. Sometimes this goes against the very nature of a manager’s propensity to control and limit. I believe talent development to be the most important element of leadership development.
• Judgement: Technical people tend to be problem solvers, problem solvers tend to be analytical people, however decisions some times have to be made with limited information. This is where the gut instinct comes to mind. The ability for technical people to make sound decisions in a finite time allocation is important. Sometimes people avoid making decisions, specially obsolete technical managers.
• Character: I believe this is your value system which is a byproduct of family interaction, childhood and professional experience, and personality. Character is not easily identifiable by interviews or communication, It’s what people do that defines them, not speech. Character cannot be acquired.

I believe the most successful leadership factor has to be character. While we may agree with this statement, character is not something that can be put on a resume or easily identified during an job interview. Character is what drives individuals in an organization to do the right thing when others simply do not play by the same rules. Character is sometimes the missing element in management, so organizations suffer due to the flaws of those leaders driving them. Character is what you do for others when they have no power over you or your future.

In my interpretation, knowledge workers demand the following:

• Meaning or direction: A leader that knows and communicates where the organization is going, perhaps sometimes shares anxieties without sounding too negative.
• Trust in and from leader: Ability for managers to back off when needed and step up when an expectation of recognition is needed. Authentic interactions between management and process holders.
• Hope and optimism: Ability to provide a sense of accomplishment and optimism during a tough implementation and while providing a sense of progress. The energy to stay the course and motivate others for a common cause. 
• and Results: What is the bottom line’s value and perhaps lessons learned.

Passionate leaders are effective leaders if...

A strong point of view is perhaps one of the factors identified as an elements of a successful leader. However in my opinion POV may also be detrimental to the long term success of an organization. Steve Jobs had a strong POV regarding Apple’s product, however I wonder if many were capable to speak up against his opinion. There are various degrees of passion that without “checks and balances” can be catastrophic to an organization. So we have to ask ourselves the following question: What is the meaning of what we do, what is the value we provide and how do we measure it?

Generating Trust: candor, congruity, perhaps integrity.

We believe in humble leadership which is the ability to manage your ego when dealing with information flow and decision making. The author’s example states that “the face you use at home should be the same face you use at work”. I go further by saying that: Congruity is the correlation between what you say and what you do.

Another term we tend to use is “Candor”. Which is one of those that can cut both ways. It’s the ability to trust that the truth will not get you fired. Candor allows for truthful communication when issues arise that require the honest contribution of all parties involved. In my opinion candor can be problematic because it puts you at a disadvantage when issues arise. Candor works when all parties involved play by the same rules, but it can disadvantage those that show their end game.

Moral Compass:

It is defined as the ability of the individual to use resources and influence for the greater good of an organization. Moral compass is what is missing at many levels of our organization. It is what we need to have to be a long term successful leader. I conclude that organizations often elevate individuals with a moral compass deficits; I call them destructive achievers. In my opinion, while their reigns of “terror” are “sometimes” short lived but, they tend to have a long term delaying effect on progress.

More ideas later.....

Social Media (What is it?)

By Victor Alatorre

The purpose of this document is to serve as FYI for social media enthusiast and beginners. Social Media is a general term to describe electronic mechanisms of communications that allow interaction between people. Social Media is the evolution of communication mechanisms that provided interactions for the purpose of information dissemination, customer service exchanges, technical expertise exchanges and customer services. I will focus on how social media can be used to enhance your organizational marketing strategy. Social Media is not a replacement for directed organizational mechanisms and branding. Social Media includes a handful of new technologies, sites and services, but the most prevalent are: Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Google+, Pinterest and Foursquare, etc.

Facebook
Facebook has become the most established mechanism of communication for students, employees and people in general with a network that includes 845 million people as of February of 2012. As of today, Facebook should be one of the pillars of communication and interactions with current and future customers. You can begin this experience by establishing a page that includes basic information about your program, product and/or service. Once your page is established, it is your goal to create credibility but establishing relationships (awareness) with people in your program and encouraging other to share and “like” your page. Credibility is established by maintaining regular content updates and by getting people to visit your page regularly. Content flow requires discipline and strategy. So it is your goal to maintain updated tidbits of information about your services and events.

Facebook allows for people to interact, share personal information, pictures, updates, information, etc. Facebook for organizations is a marketing and promotional tool; a gateway for “tangible” and “measureable” interactions with business constituents. Having a Facebook page is not a strategy in itself. It requires for all business units and process keepers to come to a common platform for branding and promotion strategy. The what’s, where, when, how’s and who’s have to be established before a credible presence can be established. Content priorities and workflows (outside of Facebook) have to be determined prior to trying to convey a message or idea. A person with Public Relations ability/skills is also a requirement as conversations about your ideas/services/products may quickly spin out of control. The quick and proper handling of concerns by customers is an important element of a social media strategy. Answering questions for subpar services and products in an honest and proactive approach is essential to the management of the online presence.

Twitter (http://twitter.com)
In 2006, twitter was established as an experimental micro-blogging tool allowing users to send (broadcast) 140 character tweets (messages). As of today 300 million users have created an account on this service to share small messages to people “following” them. Twitter has been particularly popular due to its perceive “lightweightness” (agility). The concept of following and followed is important to understand to measure your clout. Clout is the impact on the broadcast of these tweets. The learning curve of tweet requires an understanding of the mechanics behind twitter. An individual tweet allows you to broadcast your message to a virtual room. In order for you to be effective, you need to identify strategies to get people to follow you. You do so in two ways:

Using “#” and “@” tags
Your tweets are information/funny/creative/controversial in nature and have appropriate hash tags. A hash tag is the symbol “#” attached as a prefix to the idea or noun you want to convey. So if you are talking about “Ferraris”, you can use the hash tag to allow the word “Ferraris” or “Italiansupercars” become a trend on the public timeline. If your idea is important to those that read it, you message will trend. The other approach is to use the “@” sign as a prefix to a user you follow or want to respond to. If person wants to respond to a technical question you have, they will add the “@” before your username triggering an identification mechanism.

Following people/organizations/accounts
Another strategy to get people to follow your twitter account is by identifying users that may have similar “interest” or “services” as yours and selecting their accounts to follow. This will create a response from some users to start following your account. Many twitter users do not post much or post too much. A happy balance has to be identified.

Things that could go wrong
Things that you could do to derail the strategy:

• Too much twittering may turn people (followers) off as their timeline (message queue) may become overwhelmed with your messages.
• Too many messages about nothing may create a sense that you have nothing to offer. People posting information about when they went to eat or sleep or party may be OK for celebrities and close friends, but it is not a useful or measurable strategy.
• Too many harsh responses to others. As people scan the public timeline for associated responses to ideas, causes, services and product; people have to be careful not to alienate others with abrasive language.
• Unless your ultimate goal is political, religious or ideologue in nature; you should limit how much controversial information is shared by you. Anything that is controversial, religious, hate-speech, blunt-coarse, etc. should be left out of your timeline. Once you post something on twitter is there for good. While you can delete messages on your timeline, if others repost your messages, they become part of the broader twitter timeline, which is searchable, and identifiable (traceable).

How do organizations use twitter?
Organizations scan the overall timeline for hash tags associated with their name, products, services and/or befriend people/accounts that are perceived as the topic experts. Technical companies identify questions shared on twitter by end users and respond directly or indirectly through the various mechanisms available. Gurus and experts sometimes respond to people following them when using appropriate hash tags for their topics of expertise. Twitter can create a sense of community by allowing people to react to information in a very decentralized way. People have used twitter to organize people to action as seen in the civil unrest in the middle east, a tool for communication and updates for catastrophic events (japan earthquake) as they take place, sharing of instant communication as events take place allowing for geography/distance to be a non issue.

News bureaus have used the twitter as a stopgap for content as issues or opinions arise. Formal news workflows have been replaced with end users news reporting. So anyone can become an instant celebrity if your contributions on twitter are deemed of value.

YouTube
(http://www.youtube.com)
Former PayPal employees created one of the most successful and controversial tools for video content deployment in 2005 as a place where people could upload video content. The company was acquired by Google in 2006 which allowed for the survival of this website. YouTube is the vehicle most people are familiar with the hosting of video. Prior to YouTube, a person/company would need a pretty substantial infrastructure investment to share video content, as it required enormous amounts of bandwidth. YouTube has had to deal with litigation related to the legality of the distribution of copyright material by non-copyright owners. As large copyright owners realized they could not contain the end user effort to share distributed video material, some content owners establish channels to distributed high quality content in an effort to curve down the distribution of unofficial material.

How can organizations use YouTube
YouTube provides any end user the ability to share, host, provide comments, and qualify video. Organizations create channels where “official” content can be distributed. The use of tags similar twitter allows for content to become popular and become relevant. If the video shared through this mechanism is perceived as noteworthy, popularity may allow for the content creator to become an instant celebrity and jump into more formal channels like TV networks.

Google+
(http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/)
Google launched Google+ in 2011 in an effort to compete with Facebook. I further believe that Google+ is Google’s effort to create a single point of entry for all content it holds on your behalf. If you are a Gmail user, Google created a single login interface for other services it provides like: Google Docs, Blogger, YouTube, Mail, Calendar, Images, etc. Its approach has been controversial because it gives Google the ability to scan your content inclusive of pictures, phone interactions, locations, phone/email directories and brings them to you in a single point of reference. Users create circles where information can be shared with specific people in those groups. It allows for a mechanism of identification based on previous email interactions. So while it doesn't determine who you provide access to your content, it does suggest based on access to your user email directories, who may be of interest to you. Content streams are information flows created by you and those that you follow. Its user experience is a more robust experience than twitter, but adoption requires “trust” and promotion. So far only certain content keepers, organizations and technical people are using Google+ on regular basis. I believe that unless, Facebook makes a user interface experience or privacy mistake, Google+ will be relegated to a second level contender. Organizations are beginning to set pages and content through this channel. Its integration with other services like blogger and YouTube may give Google+ leverage. Furthermore their Hangout (video conferencing) implementation is a very serious contender/alternative to more established video conferencing services like WebEx, etc.

Pinterest
(http://pinterest.com/)
Pinterest is a pinboard style content pining service that became “fully” operational recently with an optional interface with Facebook to provide a rich content experience where people can organize and share photo based content with friends. It allows for people to “Pin” a certain picture or creative idea and to share or choose to “like” the element shared with others. It has been incredibly popular because it allows non-technical people to share and distribute fashion, technology, humor, fitness, and food creations through very simple mechanisms.

Instagram
(http://instagr.am/)
Is a product and a service that allows users (through specialized software) to take, share and modify digital pictures while creating an interface that shares those pictures with twitter or Facebook. It allows non-professional photographers create extraordinary and sometimes nostalgic photographic material. The instagram hosting service allows for people to share, follow others, add comments and like material. In terms of organizational use, instagram is simply another tool for content manipulation and distribution.

Linked-in
(http://www.linkedin.com/)

Linked launched in 2003 is the professional version of a social network site like Facebook allowing for people to associate with each other based on professional role. Inclusive of meeting people, the site allows for the creation of professional groups or associations. It has been the instrument of choice for many marketers that identify potential customers based on perceived role within an organization. People can ask to associate with you and begin written exchanges. It is a very useful tool for people seeking employment, professional advise on specific topics, and professional introduction through third party connections. It has become the most pervasive form of business stalking used by aggressive businesses. The one thing that is different from other forms of social media is that allows for people to know when someone has been reviewing your credentials and public profile.


Blogger
(http://www.blogger.com)
Blogger is one of the oldest social media tools available today and it is owned and hosted by Google. The concept of blogging is simply the effort to maintaining public topic specific content actualized with frequency. The concept of blogging has allowed non-technical people to become content publishers and content distributors. There are an infinite amount of topics and user currently using the technology to create, distribute content with the intent to attract attention and to set credibility for search tool placement. Google bases priority of websites based on influence… Influence is determined based on credibility. Top-level sites are those that can be perceived by the search engines as worthy of attention based on content. Blogging allows ideas distribution through mechanisms that allow content to be linked creating a mesh between content keepers and distribution mechanisms. People seeking specific information about a topic will search Google for information; content in blogs will rise up based on “hits”. The more hits a certain page gets, the more valuable its content will be for Google and its owner. There are many hosting services available for blogging interfaces (Content Management System) like Wordpress, Weebly, LiveJournal, TypePad, Xanga, etc. however Blogger is the only one tightly linked to Google’s overall content presence. One single point of entry for content hosted and distributed through existing mechanisms established by Google.