From Donald Welch, NYU's VP for Information Technology and Global University CIO
Every decade NYU undergoes an accreditation review. Yesterday we met with the president of Georgetown University, who is leading our review. He tactfully described NYU as decentralized and under-organized. Years ago, consultants described NYU as accidentally federated. While humorous, there is truth that underlies these quips. The work we’ve been doing to align our federated […]
IT@NYU, I get asked about artificial intelligence a lot—what do I think will happen and what is NYU doing? Is it dangerous? Beneficial? A bunch of hype? CIO Tech World invited me to share my thoughts. Spoiler alert: it’s all of the above. If you’ve talked to me about it, you know I am, as the title […]
As you know, we are increasing our focus on cybersecurity. If we need to be reminded why this is important, we can look at the University of Michigan. They started class this semester with their network cut off from the internet and none of their enterprise systems available to staff, faculty, or students. On October […]
We are considered IT professionals, and I think it’s safe to say that we all would consider ourselves professionals. When you look up what it means to be a professional, you’ll see a set of characteristics. I’ll distill them into these: Ability to learn, conscientiousness, interpersonal skills, adaptability, and integrity. We trust professionals to work semi-autonomously, to […]
IT Leaders, We’d all like to think that leadership is easy, you just adopt the behaviors that Zapp! and most other books tell you to. Unfortunately, as in life, it’s not so easy. This part of the book focuses more on the how rather than the what. We all have lots of issues that compete for our […]
Let’s continue to dig into Zapp!, a book that focuses on the importance of empowerment in the workplace and the negative consequences of a disempowering management style. The next case study illustrates common problems that develop as a result of an employee’s lack of empowerment. Author William C. Byham uses the term “Zapp” to describe empowerment, […]
I was listening to a podcast that said that a sense of awe was an important ingredient in being happy. The happiest people periodically paused to marvel at something much bigger than themselves. Many get a sense of awe from nature, some from their spiritual beliefs, some from the accomplishments of others. There are many […]
Good to Great by Jim Collins is another book that has influenced my approach to leadership. It explores why some companies are able to achieve sustained greatness over time while others fail to do so. The research led to the identification of a set of characteristics and behaviors that distinguish great companies from their good […]
I want to personally thank and congratulate those of you who are participating in our Digital Storage Spring Cleaning Challenge—now through Friday, April 21. The Challenge, part of the 2040 Now Climate Pledge, is an important step in reducing climate emissions by promoting practices that will make the technology we use, and how we use […]
Changing behaviors, such as using different leadership styles or building our emotional intelligence, takes time and effort. The boost we get from attending a leadership class has a short half-life. As we come back to our normal responsibilities, those important lessons fall by the wayside and may never make it into our default behaviors. Research […]