Last I heard, we get paid for making things possible...

Ability is what you are capable of doing, motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.  - Lou Holtz.

Storyline:

Early in my career, one boss gave me sage advice: “Companies hire us to make things possible, not to report why things are not possible”. Throughout my career, I have seen many examples of people who do not stop for the “impossible”.  Here is one such story:

You don’t have the right degree.

Many years ago, while looking for a person to manage our business systems, we interviewed a young man who had just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in business. Knowing fully well that he did not have a degree in Computer Science, as was normally required; we took into account the fact that he was a computer fanatic from the age of eight and displayed tremendous enthusiasm to tackle new challenges. It was a risk, but the interview team felt that it was worth it.

You can’t get onto the corporate roadmap.

During the first month, he noticed that our small group needed some key applications, but was told that it was impossible to get on the corporate group’s roadmap. So he decided to learn programming himself. Instead of going to a full semester course with a fee of $3,600 that others had done, he bought a book for $32 and got started on the basics.

We don’t have the budget.

Then came the second hurdle. We did not have the budget for the server to host our applications. He found out that a local IT department had recently upgraded some systems and had put the old ones in the warehouse. He got one for free. In the process, he made friends with the technician who provided invaluable support, and who was later himself promoted into new roles.

The customers hate dealing with IT.

His customers were used to support groups that measured their success by the number of tools delivered, instead of tracking if it had solved the customer’s real needs.  As a refreshing change, he patiently listened to various internal customer/user groups’ needs and then focused on delivering solutions rather than just systems and tools.  Customer satisfaction had never been higher.

Starting up a business is the biggest challenge.

When, after 5 years with us, he left to pursue his own venture, the stamp on his exit paper read “Eligible for Re-hire” (as soon as he is available.) I expect these same qualities will help to overcome the next level of obstacles in starting up two businesses destined for success.

Reflection:

In the words of one my mentors, “The difference between a very successful person and not-so-successful one; between a 5 figure and 7 figure income is not in the technical or content knowledge. It is given that you need that. The key differentiation is in how you carry yourself with respect to attitude, relationships, communication, commitments…

Comments

[Tess]

So true but so hard to break the mental barriers about why it can't be done. Thanks

[Ramon]

This is eye opening. Where is that young man? We may need him for some motivational speech in our company.

[Anon]

My boss used to say: "Just because you come and report ten problems on the project and your predessor had found only three, does not mean you are making a progress. Bottom line is that My project is still not moving."

[Brian Landberg]

We are paid to solve problems--A great (and painful) reminder of this tenet that we can so easily forget, as we are wrapped up in meetings, emails, and other quotidien tasks; losing the forest for the trees.

Lately, I see an increasingly complex proliferation of "tools" which may be suboptimized solutions, but in the overall picture, finding and analyzing data/info via a myriad of portals, databases, WSS, erooms, etc. juts gets harder and harder.

If we have a CEO and a CIO and a CFO, perhaps it is now time to get a CTO - Chief Tools Officer... unless we can ourselves figure out how to syntesize and simplify the work we have to do. Moore's law for exponential increase in transistors and trace lines per square mm should not result in exponential increase in time (or stress) spent at work. I feel that if we don't change something for the better...soon... I'll be too buried in emails and ARs to get around to solving any problems at all.

[Anand]

Update: That young man's business is thriving. Every client he has done work for wants him to add more services for them. Plus client base is growing. Even in bad economic times, his business has grown very well.

[microCEO]

Thanks for the update. The story with update reminds me of a saying I once heard: "Talent sticks out like an awl in a burlap sack". :-)

[Eastcoast]

I agree with much of this, but I would say I am not entirely in agreement with the comment about the differences between a 5 and 7 figure income person. People who focus on money (and those who are often paid big sums) become slaves to money, make decisions based upon money and sometimes, this can be extremely bad as we have seen just this last week (MF Global), last few months (Solyndra) and in recent years (AIG or even back 10 years to Enron).
And sometimes, the people who make big money and have big responsibility, previously made big bets and were just lucky. And this is not just confined to business as a quick overview of military history proves this out time and time again. The problem is history is written by the winners and we often forget the lessons of the losers. Look at the Battle of Arnhem and years later, Montgomery still thought he could have won. It was a decisive defeat and thousands were killed. This is why it bothers me so much reading about many of the campaigns in the east during the Civil War (stupid generals who committed thousands to their death and then do it again a month later). Many business guys do the same thing, it’s just they send families to their ruin instead of their death.
It’s Saturday, it’s early and perhaps my mood is not the best. Have a good weekend.

[RO]

A great reminder for sure. One of these days I hope that I'll be lucky enough to meet Neil, as you've told me so many good things about him.

I was just musing to someone the other day about how a big company tends to put up a lot of barriers to getting 'IT stuff' done and that it probably takes longer to convince someone to do it than it would take if they just said yes and did it.