NIST Cloud Computing & Workshop IV

NIST did a great job today of putting on the Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop IV. My big take away for the day was the marked degree in seriousness that Agency leaders seemed to be looking to the cloud to solve some of their real world challenges. The language around the cloud is changing a bit from "cloud service providers," to "common service providers," While leaders are still citing privacy and security as real areas of concern, there is recognition that adopting cloud characteristics can make Enterprise IT work better.  I figure that this is a real achievement.

IT is becoming about service delivery, whether internal or externally hosted.  Cloud computing is a good way to fix many of the architectural problems that very siloed structures have created over decades and that Agencies have been forced to Bandaid together. It was simply too costly or too complex to do anything else.  As someone who has watched the Infrastructure as a Service evolve, I have to say it's quite rewarding to start to hear some of the problems being articulated more clearly so that industry can come alongside the Government to help fix them.

Just the view from my part of the cloud...

Lighten the Load or Sweeten the Carrot?

I remember a Zig Ziglar recording where he talks about incentive-based motivation and how it only works if the load is light enough, the carrot is sweet enough, and the donkey is hungry enough. Zig was making a point that all motivation is self motivation. What motivates you may not even get me out of bed in the morning.  During my current class at Gonzaga University , we have been reading Collins' (2001) classic Good to Great and it has been perspective shifting for me.  For those who haven't read it or need to be reminded, Collins' team did extensive research that proved that those companies that had exceptional results had Level 5 leadership in place.  The two characteristics that they found in Level 5 leaders that made them achieve were: Tenacity, and Humility. 

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble when your perfect, right? Isn't that what we expect from our leaders in most cases? Shouldn't they be all powerful? Don't they know the stress and drama they are creating in their own organizations?  I don't believe they do.

In fact, I've given this a lot of thought over the last 8 weeks.  CJ Mahaney states that, "Sinfully and culturally defined, pursuing greatness looks like this: Individuals motivated by self-interest, self-indulgence, and a false sense of self-sufficiency pursue selfish ambition for the purpose of self-glorification"  (location 289, Kindle edition).  


So are you thinking like, "yeah, Kohut, so what? That's the way it is?, It's just business," or is Collins really onto something?


Personally, I'm with Collins'. Leaders should get the right people on the bus to begin with and there won't be so much throwing people under the bus.