Brian Calderwood

🚀 Discover the key strategies for successful workplace collaboration! Check out our latest blog post to learn how fostering strong partnerships can drive your organization's success: https://ukg.inc/3xNZBKJ. #WorkplaceCollaboration

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#ConfessionsFromTech You know all those forms that you have to input text into to get past? 9 out of 10 times, I put a random Dad joke in there, and smile, imagining some AI bot trying to process through some banal pun; or some IT person catching it into their inbox and smiling. Other times, I'll put the 'ole tried-and-true Rick Roll YouTube link. This applies to ServiceNow change requests, MS Office access requests, Expense Report description fields, etc.

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What is this and what does it do? 🤔 . If you know, you know. This is a hard one. 😱 . Bonus points if you spot what I did for this install. 🙌🏼 #TheWhiteGloveMacGyver #infrastructure #technology #informationtechnology

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Check out this article from Fidelity's Learning Center on how to age in place. What's that you ask? The ability to live in your own home, as part of your own community—safely, comfortably, and independently—regardless of age, income, or ability level. #FidelityAssociate

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With my background in IT Service Management and Operations, we've always thought in people, process and technology. We have been shifting work to the left for decades toward the least costly solution. First to cheaper providers, then to level zero (self-serve), and more recently to automation. Now, as Generative and Predictive AI continue to gain ground, so many organizations are ready to invest and get past optimization and efficiency and into business value. This means data is at the center of the people, process and technology to drive that value. And can we maintain quality deliverables while reducing cost? In order to do that, we need to start with the basics and make sure we have: 1. Solid foundations on which to build (e.g. systems and data architecture readied for this work). 2. Defined processes that are consistent and repeatable (and where they are nuanced, automation can be a piece of the solution, but not the whole thing). 3. Usable data for the tasks you want to automate or shift. (e.g. clean; ready for the task; available - does it even exist today?) What else would you add to this list? #genai #ai #automation #machineworkformachines 🖼 created with Designer/Dall-E

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I think this concept carrys over well to leadership as well. When you simplify, simplify, simplify, the path forward becomes very clear. Remember, we aren’t here to do “ a lot of things.” We are here to do valuable and meaningful things. Go be great today.

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Explore this board-game-style infographic to learn about the risks and rewards of enterprise networking and how to master connectivity.

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Leaders, how do you push yourselves and your teams past plateau? You may rhetorically respond, “Our current plateau is a higher elevation than any other our team or our organization has achieved. We’re good here. Congratulations. You’ve just sealed the needed momentum for your team’s decline in delivery and performance. Remember, career is an epic not a sprint (nod to those Agilists out there). Here are a couple of principals to help you transform your current plateau into a launchpad: Allow pace to adjust with pressure: the demand of your environment may require you to speed up or to slow down operations. That’s ok so long as you keep making progress. Keep focus on finishing: there will always be another project or initiative. Don’t let that dissuade you from finishing what is at hand. Finishing is requisite for success. “Almost finished” may be as hindering as never starting. Respirate: take a moment to exhale and to inhale regularly. Coach your team to do the same; not only with physical breathing, but more importantly with creative thought and process evaluation. Taking one deep breath will not carry you very far. Likewise one bright idea will not carry your enterprise forever. Think again, and again, and again until you get better. Then think again. What have you done to help your enterprise stay motivated to recover from plateau?

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Some Tuesday ramblings about positivity! We live in a very negative world. There’s bad stuff happening all the time.  I work in the service industry, meaning unfortunately people only ever call us when something is broken. They are frustrated, and they are likely focused on the negative impact that is having on them. This leads to negativity in our own lives as well. A frustrated client can frustrate us. Maybe they’re down cause they did something we think is stupid. Maybe their old IT didn’t keep things up to our standards. Maybe someone didn’t help us the way we needed them to. It can be very easy to find the negatives and focus on them, or even share them. When we share a negative, or "vent", we’re really just spreading the negativity. Often, when it’s shared, it’s shared to get other people “on your side” or to try to laugh at someone else. But does sharing and spreading that help anything? Does it change the situation or better our lives? Not really. In fact it can bring others down, and invites more people to join the negative space. What we really need to do is flip our brains and focus on the positives. Let’s look at the examples above and flip them around: A client did something silly and now their down: Let’s look at the situation as a teachable moment. Maybe the client wants to learn what they did wrong, so they don’t repeat it. An other IT company did something that we would never do: This one presents us with a very easy way to wow a client, especially during onboarding. We can show them the right way to do things, and we can do that without ever mentioning the other IT company. We can say “I’ve fixed this up to our standards, I think it will work much better for you.” If someone hasn’t helped you, or hasn’t given you the guidance you need, you can just talk to them. “Hey, I appreciate the help you’ve given so far, but I’m still a bit stuck, can you help me some more?” or “Hey, I know you’re really busy, but I need help on this, can we set a time for you to sit with me?” Rephrasing and re-purposing our minds with positive intent helps us to spread that positivity. It’s not easy, but there are some action items that can help. Any time something has you frustrated or feeling negative take a pause. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing for a few seconds. Force yourself to find the positive outcome. The more you practice this, the more it will come naturally instead of needing to be forced. Make a point each day to do two things: First write down something you did that had a positive impact on someone else’s life. Second write down something someone else did that had a positive impact on your life. Keep a log of these and look back on them from time to time. You’ll see a pattern of positivity, and it can help to drive away the negatives. In the end, our lives are only as positive as we let them be. To quote Willie Nelson, “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” 

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So excited for this. Michelle Hood, PMP is going to run this session and speak to Project vs Product. You do not want to miss this session. #womenintech #womenintechnwa #womeninproduct #communityofpractice

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Let's talk about your needs and how 4Liberty can support a competitive delivery model to achieve your project and company goals. 4Liberty, Inc. John JD Domenichelli

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We spend a significant amount of time on #DisasterRecoveryPlanning and Testing. After spending the past two months in our East Coast Cloud to make sure everything is ready for a disaster, we failed back to the West Coast yesterday. We significantly beat our #RecoveryTimeObjective (#RTO) and #RecoveryPointObjective (#RPO). It took many #TableTopExercises, #LiveDrills and #Failover tests and plan re-writes to get to this point, but it's worth the effort as it gets easier to respond and recover. We still found some minor updates that can keep it running smoothly in the future. #DRPlan #DRTest #BusinessContinuity #DRPlanConfidence #KeepTesting

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Love this novel way of looking at a #jobsearch and likening it to gardening especially at this time of year where it may be too-of-mind for many. This wouldn’t be a post from me, though, without some ideas about how to leverage #genai to help you curate and explore some of these areas. For the Soil (your foundational message: why this role, why you, why now) - Gemini.google.com For the Lighting (highlighting the relevant experiences in the resume, LI, stories for each role) - trying LI’s built in AI model, or leverage perplexity.ai Warmth (networking and personal connection) - not sure how to get started, ask Claude.ai about how to create connections with others and good ways to network Water (follow-ups, consistency) - if you’re using Outlook or GMail, leverage Copilot or Gemini to assist you within their productivity suite; don’t have an email with this tools, check out superhuman.com with its built-in AI Sweet talk (showing genuine interest and gratitude; positive self-talk) - while GenAI is being developed in this space, try an app like ThinkUp or IAm or try the Gratitude Journal or Happier app Research (know the players and find connections to their interests and needs) - perplexity.ai is regularly sited as one of the best chatgpt’s for research Patience (so much is out of our control) - see above app suggestions Wishing you this best in your job search journey. I hope learning some new skills with GenAI helps you along the way!

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Did you know, April 18, 1983 was a day that changed the tech landscape forever? It's the anniversary of the Osborne Executive, the OG portable computer that made huge waves in the industry. Let me take you down memory lane… the Osborne Computer Corporation unveiled the Osborne Executive as the successor to the Osborne 1. Legend has it, the early announcement of the Executive sent shockwaves through the tech world, leading dealers to cancel orders for the Osborne 1 faster than you can say 'upgrade.' Oops. This infamous blunder apparently crippled the company's cash flow, sending it spiraling towards bankruptcy. But there's more to the story. While what’s now known as the ‘Osborne Effect’ may have played a role, tech history is rarely black and white. Competition from rising rivals, the arrival of the IBM PC, and a dash of mismanagement also helped doom the business. Despite its tumultuous journey, the Osborne Executive remains a symbol of innovation and the ever-changing nature of the tech industry. Did you own, use, or even see one of these? #TechHistory #OsborneExecutive #anniversary

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