Despite my decision to move, CSC, the company I am leaving, continues to be a  great place to work  with committed and talented employees, many of whom have become friends over the last year. So why did I leave?

Simply put, it became clear to me that my need to help grow something and bring about change within my workplace is greater than I had realized. While I valued my time at CSC, my fundamental worth there was related to what I was not what I did. It brought home the fact that my happiest times were when I was valued for the changes I helped bring about.

At the US Department of Transportation I had in many ways the perfect position, at least for me. I was able to take advantage of my experiences to provide strategic insight into the use and management of Information Technology. I used my capital-P political experiences to work with the small-p organizational politics of being a Departmental CIO. At the same time I was lucky in that the DOT CIO had responsibility for a significant operational segment of the Department, managing the desktops and telephones for headquarters and a growing percentage of the field offices as well as a data center for the non-FAA agencies.

I tell people that during my three years at the Department of Transportation, no-one ever felt that any one person was in charge of Information  Technology BUT they agreed that IF someone was in charge it would have been me. I was able to use that general opinion to cause more change than I had expected.

Powertek provides a comparable opportunity to the one I had at the US Department of Transportation. This is a chance to bring my background in the public and private sector to support the development and implementation of a strategic vision, and to utilize my leadership skills to mentor employees who have less experience and to provide operational and tactical direction. I feel very lucky and privileged to be part of a company that has been very successful thus far but with hard work has the potential to make even more of a difference in the future.

As usual I am always interested in receiving input from the larger community. If there are people out there who are willing to provide advice regarding growing and transitioning an 8a company and/or would be interested in talking about business opportunities or partnerships, please feel free to reach out to me at dmintz@powertekcorporation.com or my personal email at dmintz@ourownlittlecorner.com . You can also find me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter at technogeezer.

The Editor’s Letter headline is:

“Whac-A-Mole” Approach to Security

and contains the following paragraph:

“It’s hard to imagine more appropriate imagery for our cover story (“Moving Target”) about the widespread frustration with mounting cybersecurity threats and the lack of an effective U.S. government response. CTO Daniel Mintz of consulting firm CSC aptly describes the feds’ “Whac-A-Mole security” approach as one where long-term strategy takes a back seat to daily tactical responses.”

http://www.cio.com/article/495811/A_Whac_A_Mole_Approach_to_Security

I appreciate the mention and anyone who has heard me talk about cyber-security will know I use that term a lot. My one question is whether it should be “whack” or whac” …

The full article is located here:
http://www.cio.com/article/496125/Obama_s_Cybersecurity_Push_What_It_Means_for_CIOs