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Lessons From A Political CIO (updated)

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I have updated my write-up of the lessons I took from my time from 2006-9 as the US Department of Transportation CIO. This was published earlier this week in FedScoop, http://fedscoop.com/lessons-from-a-political-cio-2/.

I repeat the update here.

Lessons From a Political CIO by Dan Mintz CIO, Department of Transportation

This morning in the Washington Post there was a column discussing the regular transition of political appointees, http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/fedcoach/2011/02/political-appointee-merry-go-round.html?hpid=smartliving. For those of you are are thinking of becoming a political appointee or wonder about the process,… 

A Passing Thought About Knowledge Management Systems

I have been spending time this afternoon working on my UMUC Contemporary Topics in Informatics class. One of the topics my students have been commenting on relates to information sharing. One of the questions I… 

On Leadership

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I often refer to Leadership as being the ability to get people to do things when you are not in the room. For most of my professional career I did not particularly think about the… 

Ch-ch-ch Changes, or Why I Decided to Join Powertek Corporation

I recently accepted a position to serve as the Chief Operating Officer at Powertek Corporation (www.powertekcorporation.com). Powertek is an 8(a) woman-owned small business involved with all aspects of information technology, including business engineering and program management. Nancy Scott, President and CEO, and Samar Ghadry, Executive Vice-President, are both talented and delightful leaders I look forward to supporting.  The staff they have put together is bright, hardworking, and creative.

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?

The Big Bang Theory Hearts Firefly

For those who knew me when I was the CIO at the US Department of Transportation, you will know that I held a monthly lunch with a small band of fans of both the TV show Firefly, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series), and the movie Serenity, http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/serenity/.

For references to this, see the end of the interview I gave for the DotGov Buzz, http://www.usa.gov/Federal_Employees/USA_Buzz/Newsletter_0522.html#dotgovspotlight, and the reference from a column in Federal Computer Week, written by then rising star Chris Dorobek, http://fcw.com/Articles/2007/09/16/Circuit_633659049783559373.aspx.

I even ran into Firefly fans when in China this last summer when we went to see a solar eclipse, https://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2009/07/21/serenity-on-the-yangtze/.