My Style
An Overview
The information below provides information about me. Further down, you can come to understand my earlier career and background and how it has helped to lead to my current career. Trust me, all of this was not laid down in a formal plan when I began my career, but it does serve to reinforce the useful purpose of continual education.
Who am I
I get asked this question a lot – “am I hands on?” I am hands-on; both as a technologist and as a leader; I care about technology and the aspects of using technology to deliver business value – inclusive of business intelligence, analytics, visualization, big-data, modelling and integration with the cloud. But more so, I care about human intelligence (HUMINT) and the ability of people to succeed. You can read about my leadership style further down in this document.
Within this document is a sampling of my work product. The listed items provide a snapshot into the work products that I have completed in my most recent endeavors. I have been directly involved in each of the below items. Some to a degree where I have provided oversight to the team and others where I was directly involved in the implementation of the deliverable.
I have developed in Python, using Anaconda as an IDE and Jupyter Notebooks to craft presentations to provide solutions. I also teach programming and analytics at the undergraduate and graduate level (Faculty | School of Business | Stevens Institute of Technology). I have a strong knowledge of UNIX OS and its utilities (shell, perl, bash, ksh, AWK) used for data massaging, scripting and wrangling as well.
In addition to my experience in teaching STEM related and specifically analytics/big-data technology, I also provide seminars on career readiness to secondary and post-secondary education individuals and groups. I do this through Zenith Career Seminars; a division of Verstandnis Corporation – a company that was founded in 2019.
I also utilize visualization software – such as Tableau, PowerBI, and Excel for visual storytelling and showcasing, as well as ESRI/ArcGIS for geospatial analysis and visualization and LIDAR assessment (there is a difference between storytelling and showcasing).
I have also had direct responsibility and have been involved in data migrations, digital transformations, data-center migrations (flash cuts/lift and shift), integrations to/with cloud and process improvements; I use data-based decision making to determine and make risk based approaches in delivering work.
An additional aspect of using analytical data is in the use of making risk based decisions. I take pride in the work that I have done to build multi-attribute and multi-objective utility models to assist in making decisions under uncertainty. These work product have proven their worth by the revelations and the insight that they provide relative to the investments and decisions on both capital and operational expenses.
I have 15+ years of experience as a direct People Manager. I have directly supported (managed and led) teams inclusive of Business Analysts, Architects, Developers, Systems Engineers and QA Testers in this role. This support includes project scoping, analysis, guidance and assessment, project management, career readiness, performance appraisals, HR related issues, governance, contract management and fiscal responsibility.
I typically apply various styles in my leadership; they depend on the situation. I believe in leading by example. I am not afraid to have those “cut against the grain” types of conversations. I look to build relationships within and across the organization (horizontal and vertical).
My dominant styles of leadership are both affiliative and/or directive; these each depend on the situation, the players involved, and the maturity of the team and the timeliness of the need. In the areas of operations, the style and exertion of influence is often directive. In seeking change, my style is often adaptive. My dominant leadership style is affiliative and is what I use in my general and daily execution. I am not afraid of having hard conversations and I seek to listen and obtain opportunities that result in positive change within, and for the organization. Things are not about me, but about the work that is delivered and the reputation that is assigned to the team. Yes, Leadership matters but more so, Character matters.
As a leader, I am accountable. I think of myself more of a node in the network or as an orchestrator. When things go wrong – I went wrong. When things go right, the team did well. While I understand the phrases of leading from the front, etc., – to me, leadership is less of a position of where you are standing and more of where you need to be; it is not about the “view you have from the position you are at”, but the role you perform in a given situation. I shy away from the terms of “my team”, but rather prefer “our team”. Of course, if things go wrong, then yes – it is my team; I am accountable and can freely admit and accept when I have gone wrong, gain opportunity from the lesson and move on.
- I very often use data to make decisions and look at the data to understand where strengths and weaknesses and opportunities exist. I also recognize that people leadership is not just about objectively managing by data, but is also about maintaining a subjective view – especially when it comes to managing individuals and teams; subjectivity represents the artistic side of the equation.
- My leadership is continuous. I know my authentic self and practice my principles. I do not subscribe to the myth of the complete leader.
- Outside of my direct people management, I am expert in building relationships across the spectrum. I work hard and approach engagements in a consultative and professional manner. I have been recognized as a strong leader in working horizontally and vertically when it comes to establishing, building and strengthening relationships.
- I have participated also in feedback surveys across my organization and teams and would be happy to share those directly with anyone who has the need for verifying my credentials.
As a leader, I am always striving to do better and refine my skills. To this end, I spend time assessing situations and discussing with peers and authors of leadership books on how to handle situations. I also invest of my own time in reading books on leadership and character. While there are tons of books available, I find that not just books with leadership in their title serve to educate – I also look for history books – some being very old – that provide great examples, and real world examples, of situations and leadership and how to handle them. Many things change – but it seems that human behavior is a constant.