| I was once lucky enough to be in the same room as Nelson Mandela. He didn’t speak to me, didn’t look in my direction nor probably even knew I existed but he had an aura and a legacy that felt inspirational to me then and now. Amanda Gorman is not yet at the Mandela level, she’s only 22 years old, but she delivered an inauguration poem at the Capitol this week that soared above all the divisive politics and felt inspirational then and likely well into the future for the many who saw it. If you didn’t catch it at the time, we’ve included it in this weeks newsletter. Elsewhere we look at Observability, Servant Leadership, Learning from Failure and more from our Accidental CTO. Have a great weekend. Andrew Weaver andrew@cto.academy |
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LEADERSHIP Learning To Learn From Failure by Sanjay Mistry Anchor article this week was from key member of the coaching team Sanjay Mistry, where he recognised a struggle to master his kids skipping rope with the learning you can often get from the struggle to become an effective tech leader. “Easy to see people at the top of their tech career or sporting discipline, where they make success look “relatively” straight forward, and presume it’s been a gilded path to the top but of course, it never is. Skill, mindset, luck, application are all key ingredients but perhaps the one that cuts a consistent thread through all of those at the top, is their ability to absorb failure as just another learning channel and a fundamental to helping you grow an effective skill set in your chosen path” Find out more in this weeks article here |
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ACCIDENTAL CTO Diary of an Accidental CTO: Part IV by Mostafa Khattab Another diary instalment from Mostafa Khattab, our Accidental CTO in Dubai … “I’m sure for all of us there is a risk of getting distracted by the many different things you are working on at the same time. But another steep learning curve for me as an accidental CTO has been the sheer volume of potential distractions that come with senior management and how you need to understand very quickly how too prioritise, delegate or drop certain tasks. For those of us coming up through the ranks as engineers and perfectionists, it’s far from easy to do” Read rest of the article (and earlier instalments) here |
NEWS & VIEWS Articles catching our eye this week Fault-Finding not Firefighting: Why observability is the new monitoring – No unhappy complex system is alike: Each is unhappy in its own way. A growing line of business in software development, observability seeks to understand how and why modern software applications and teams become unhappy in order to set them on a path toward happiness, uptime and profit. IoT in Review: 10 Most Relevant IoT Developments of 2020 – From the effect of Covid-19 to the most prominent new buzzword to the biggest IOT acquisition of the year. If you love IoT, you’ll love this article. What Servant Leadership Is Not – There’s no magic formula for servant leadership, but there are a few common misconceptions about what it means to put your team’s needs first. How To Use Stress For Advantage When Making Decisions – Stress tells you to wait but the longer it takes to decide, the more stress you experience. If you feel a little stress about making a decision today, wait a day or two and you will feel more. |
BOOK OF THE WEEK Sandworm : A New Era Of Cyberwar and Hunt For Kremlin’s Most Dangerous Hackers Sandworm considers the danger posed as the Kremlin’s role in foreign government manipulation comes into greater focus.*Winner of the Cornelius Ryan Citation for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club of America* “As Russia has attacked, Greenberg has not been far behind, reporting on these incursions in Wired while searching for their perpetrators. Like the best true-crime writing, his narrative is both perversely entertaining and terrifying.” —New York Review of Books “Sandworm is much more than a true-life techno-thriller. It’s a tour through a realm that is both invisible and critical to the daily lives of every person alive in the 21st century.” —Los Angeles Times |
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| FEBRUARY 10TH LIVE WEBINAR Q&A The Future of Cybersecurity & Technology Leadership |
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Rameshwar is joined on Wednesday 10th February 2021 by Chakradhar Kommera the CEO of Ensurity, a cybersecurity engineering company. Before founding Ensurity, Chakradhar held senior management roles at several prestigious global institutions such as Credit Agricole, Barings, ABN Amro and Thames River Capital. He also is a CFA from AIMR and has 22 years of experience in technology and finance with fascinating insight about the future of cybersecurity and how it could affect your role as a technology leader. |
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MEET THE TEAM #3 Richard Weaver, Head of Careers Richard is the latest colleague in the spotlight and before anyone asks, we are not related though he is the better looking brother I should have had. |
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| INSPIRATIONAL Amanda Gorman : The Hill We Climb |
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90 Things You Need To Know To Become an Effective CTO
The Digital MBA for Technology Leaders has been formally recognized and certified by the Continuing Professional Development Certification Service (CPDUK) as “conforming to continuing professional development principles”, recognizing both the high standard of professional training and exceptional value being delivered by this course to technology leaders seeking to advance their careers.
A part-time CTO is a technology expert who works on a part-time or consulting basis for a company. The aim is to develop and implement the company’s technology strategy and oversee all aspects of its technology operations and product development.
Generally speaking, the role of a chief technology officer involves strategic management and execution of technology initiatives within an organization. It is, therefore, pivotal in shaping and implementing the technology roadmap while aligning it with the company’s overall goals and vision. What enables tech leaders to drive innovation, oversee development and infrastructure, ensure data security … Read more
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