Funny Things You’ll Hear at the “Leadership for IT Professionals” at the 2011 SQLRally

Register now! WWW.SQLRALLY.COM

The 2011 PASS SQLRally is just about one month away and it’s high time I highlighted some of the important things you’ll be hearing about in my precon seminar Leadership and Team Management Skills for the IT Professional. Just to set the context, many of us IT people got to our lofty career positions because of our keen use of technology.  It takes a lot of smarts to get where we’ve gotten, but they are a very specific set of smarts that can’t always be used in every business setting.  And, since so many of us have topped out in our potential salary as long as we stay in the trenches and the only do technology work, a lot of us are starting to eye those middle manager positions so that we can continue to see our career grow.  The only problem is that all of those skills that enabled us to become top tier technologists don’t transfer into the management arena.

I’ll be teaching a wide variety of soft skills and specific management checklists to help you survive those early transitional days.  And if you’re not a manager?  You’ll still want to attend because the wide variety of communication skills we’ll cover will help you stay on top of many other real life situations, from leading the local Girl Scout troop to taking a role on the local PTA organization.

You can read the full and pedantic session description at the link I provided up above.  But here’s a list of Five Funny Things You’ll Hear in the Precon:

1. “Here’s where we get out the whips and chains…”
2. “In this section, we’re going to learn how to manage our managers…”
3. “And then I was, like, OMG. And she was, like, LOL.  And her cousin was, like, ROFL. But then I was, like, meh…”
4. “Darth Vader would be proud…”
5. “The beatings will continue until morale improves!”

And one bonus:

• “That’s what she said…”

Did I put these in context, heck no! But it’s a fun session, with some practice labs and LOTS of content to help you make that transition from full time technologist to part- or even full-time leader!

I hope to see you there.

-Kevin

Twitter at kekline