Miles Associates LLC

Tis blog entry is a good read… the conclusion says, “The lessons here are clear enough: leadership demands not only steadfastness to a vision. Leadership lso demands the ability to see challenges clearly, to identify relationships (even difficult ones) hat can help the leader succeed. Leaders who succeed demonstrate both pragmatism and a dose of
humility when required.”

Alberto Gonzales as a Case Study in Failed Leadership | Advice and Opinion
Let’s talk about Alberto Gonzales for a moment without the partisan political maelstrom swirling around his decision today to resign as United States Attorney General. The political debates are necessary, but I’m more interested in Gonzales’ decision as a pragmatic case study in failed leadership.

In top-tier leadership positions, there are inevitably crisis episodes and challenging chapters. The question is what should a leader do in response to those challenges. In the terms of a business publication like CIO.com, Gonzales failed to lead his organization in three ways…

Even I was startled by the amount of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) that Google has on me.  And I tend to be cynically defeated in my quest for privacy.

Is It OK that Google Owns Us?

“Make no mistake, Google owns you. The ways in which it owns you are laid out in a complaint filed by EPIC(Electronic Privacy Information Center) and other privacy groups with the Federal Trade Commission over Google’s proposed merger with targeted advertising company DoubleClick. Here’s the list of data that Google collects and retains and the technologies through which the company gets it, from the complaint”…

Critical Zero-Day PDF Bug Compromises Windows PCs

A zero-day PDF vulnerability in Adobe’s Acrobat Reader has come to light that can lead to Windows boxes getting taken over completely and invisibly, according to a security researcher.   “All it takes is to open a [maliciously rigged] PDF document or stumble across a page which embeds one”.

Here is info about this new SP released September 18th.

• Here is Microsoft’s aticle: Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 3
• Here is an eWeek article: Microsoft Releases Office 2003 Service Pack 3

How to Make Better Decisions from CIO magazine

“…Decision making in IT is pretty messy. By definition, integration and standardization are at odds with quick, customized delivery. As a result, in most organizations the interests of the enterprise take a backseat to the more immediate need to improve business alignment and partnership. Within IT, this conflict is internalized, and conference rooms and offices are filled with well-intentioned applications, architecture and infrastructure professionals questioning each other’s motives.

In the heat of the battle, there’s little that can be done other than ensure that the meetings are productive and the right decisions are made. In his 2006 Harvard Business Review article, “Conquering a Culture of Indecision,” business strategy expert Ram Charan identifies behaviors that help ensure decisive dialogues…”

Interesting perspective about the hype over Web 2.0 and open source, etc.

Can Open Innovation Create a Masterpiece? | Advice and Opinion
“…now the industry pundits are pooh-pooing “closed” innovation and are preaching “open” innovation. What’s the difference?”

I never thought I’d see all this written down. It is a great list. And… you need to go to the blog page and read some of the comments.

10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT
If you are preparing for a career in IT or are new to IT, many of the “dirty little secrets” listed below may surprise you because we don’t usually talk about them out loud. If you are an IT veteran, you’ve probably encountered most of these issues and have a few of your own to add…