• Be well read and articulate your points.  Executives often find IT people confusing and awkward to talk to.
• Focus on learning about the business you are interviewing with.  Learn what their needs are and then match your skills to them.  Don’t worry about you forcing your talents on them.
• The typical IT resume is hard to read.  It is long with software and products most people haven’t heard of.  Focus on what you have done and what you will do for their organization.
• Companies don’t buy computers.  Computers are just a tool they need to complete their mission and purpose.
• IT is an expense to may companies.  IT need to serve the business and needs to be treated as such.

Here is what I mean by that.  Chick-Fil-A is a great company based near me in Atlanta, GA USA. Any location you go into across the country will be a terrific experience.  Friendly employees, clean and welcoming environment.  In fact the service at the one is far better than that at some places that cost three times as much.  If you take a baby in there a member of their staff will make sure you have everything you need and also give you some Cheerios for them.

Chick-Fil-A makes chicken.  They don’t make hamburgers, fish or any other protein.  There is no need for them to go away from their core values or change what they do.  If they did I think their business would dissolve away and look like any other fast food place.

They also are not open on Sunday’s or holidays.  No exceptions.  They are also very successful.  And what I love is they will not bend their principles on these things.  If you drive down the interstate and see a list of upcoming restaurants if there is a Chick-Fil-A you will see a note underneath that reads “Closed Sunday”.  They are upfront and honest about who they are.

What all do your vendors do?  Are they focused like Chick-Fil-A?

Don’t take this passive approach to network security.  Proactivity is the only way to defend a network.   You must be able to detect and respond to any threat.  Passivity is the guaranteed way to loose data.

This echo’s one of the items I teach on in our Security Practice class.  There is an increased “blindness” when companies move data and servers to the cloud.  Companies have little or no control over these servers so your security is 100% dependent on someone else’s security practice.

Don’t confuse cloud companies with being technical companies.  They are sale sbased organizations.  While a lot of the services are now and will continue to be secure.  There is a rapid adoption of new businesses popping up and without proper testing.

If you are looking to move your data to the cloud make sure you do your due diligence and properly vet these service providers.  And never give up the keys to your company without having complete access to control who has access.  Doing so blindly is playing with fire.

My advice to any executive that is responsible for IT or other digital assets, is to take time to understand all of the areas where your data resides and make sure that the data is protected and backed up.  There is nothing worse than not knowing something when you are thrown into a situation when you have to know.  These situations could be from employee turnover to employee termination.  Getting access ahead of time is basic continuity planning and needs to be as the top priority for any organization.

People are lonely and many are unhappy with the company they work for.  Beer, wine, or a cocktail will loosen people’s screws, but most people will talk if you are willing to listen.

This is precisely why social engineering is so effective in gaining access to a company’s data.  How will your employees react to a social engineering attack?  Test before you find out for real.

When the project began this wasn’t the case.  The first day they started building it you would have thought they had a deadline of that weekend.   A lot of action, brick layers, carpenters, concrete trucks, landscapers, etc.

Slowly as the months progressed the work slowed down.  Now that temperatures are around 45 at night here the patio is still being built.  So the investment they made in the additional seating will not be reclaimed for several more months now.

This is often the case with enterprise as well.  Months are spent deciding on a solution.  Once purchased the project starts with great excitement and then fades away.  Another business objective starts and the original project may or may not be finished.  The money was spent though but the goals are never realized or realized later on.

As the year winds down we are in the process of wrapping up our projects and goals and starting to think about 2012.  Our business is not the same as it was 11 months ago I can assure you.  And what I thought I wanted to do has changed as well.  Some things I thought were great ideas were failures.  Some things I didn’t even think about have been a tremendous success.

With a looming recession affecting many businesses and fast changes affecting others, have your projects been reevaluated?  Have the products you are using been reevaluated?

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Copyrights, trademarks, and patents don’t necessarily mean much across borders.  The countries you operate in need to back the rights you hold for them to mean anything internationally.  Several countries are known for, if not for endorsing but, not enforcing protected products and IP.

Ask yourself one question; is my company data safe when it leaves the country I am based in?  This same question holds true weather you are US based or based in Argentina, Brazil, or South Africa.  When devices leave your borders you need to maintain privacy and control.  If not employees accessing your office could very well be the target of snooping.