The True Cost of Bad Leadership

by Brenda J. Christie

In an article entitled, "Why Good Managers Are So Rare," the Harvard Business Review wrote, what I would consider, a rather stinging assessment of the cost to business of hiring a manager without the requisite talents.  It estimates the cost to be in the billions of dollars and a trend which is experienced on a global scale.  I like the fact that the short-coming is assessed in billions of dollars as talk of money, especially of this magnitude, tends to catch people's attention.

The article describes the 5 talents inherent in good managers, and goes further to say these talents are innate, i.e., that education and coaching cannot necessarily bridge the gap.  However, it does say that 1 in 10 people possess these talents and that they are usually close by.

A fascinating article, I find its only shortcoming is that it does not call upon shareholders to take a more active role in demanding that companies maximize their ROI by ensuring leadership possesses these talents.

Click here to read the full HBR article.

Best,
Brenda J. Christie

Mainframe Memories

by Brenda J. Christie

As the mainframe turns 50, Enterprise Systems magazine has taken the opportunity to look at the mainframe in its exception and sometimes from the perspective of people who were there, on the cusp of something great.

An especially endearing article written by Neale Ferguson, chronicles his accidental introduction to the mainframe,  and how it captured his heart and passion for the next 18 years.  Written from a system programmer's perspective, it nonetheless, succinctly describes the challenges and opportunities of piloting uncharted territory.

Having spent my early days working with punch cards, Wylbur, Rosco and 370/3090 Series machines,  I could put myself in the machine room or on the phone with the datacenters re-running jobs using CA-11 or participating in Disaster Recovery tests, or even asking the tape library to mount 6270 reels called for in jobs.

I really enjoyed this article.  It really brought back the sense of camaraderie and dedication so prevalent in the field.

Read it at Enterprise Systems.  You may have to subscribe to the magazine (it's free), but it is well worth the few minutes to fill out the few questions.

Best,

Brenda J. Christie