Tom Watson
An experienced and proven leader and a sophisticated and tested problem solver, his experience is best described as the following: herder of cats, soldier, father, husband, and forever learner.
IT Personnel Need to Develop Interpersonal Skills and Here's How with Tom Watson
Despite the fact that IT is a customer service-based job, IT people are commonly not people people. This needs to change! Join the conversation between our host, Phil Howard, and guest and management expert, Tom Watson. Tom shares powerful advice on how you need to be a different kind of manager now than the world is used to, starting by questioning your existence in IT multiple times daily and never dwelling in your comfort zone. Though it sounds daunting, Tom will show us how you can easily realign what you ask and what you do to become more efficient workers and greater leaders in the IT workforce.
Every failure should be turned into a learning opportunity.
3 Key Takeaways
- How Phil eventually worked for Tom despite Tom's multiple rejections
- Why you need to promote and train the best leader and not the best worker
- Why you need to stop taking failure so harshly to heart
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Episode Show Notes
[1:04] Phil begins the show raw
- Phil introduces Tom
[2:50] Tom explains how they met
- He received a cold DM on Linkedin
- Checking out Phil’s website and deciding to respond
- Using Phil’s service to integrate their team voice migration
- “Hi, I know you wanted to connect with another bearded technology guru…”
- He responded because Phil acted like a human being
[7:32] Phil and Tom recall their topic selection for the conversation
- Tom’s whiteboard called “the bane”
- Migrating a company to a new platform that saved their team
- How Zoom affected the workforce in the past several years
- The development of Microsoft Teams
[12:20] Phil saved Tom a lot of money through his service
[12:54] Tom read Phil’s article that Phil thought was a masterpiece
- Tom told Phil that his article wasn’t that special
- You can implement Teams in three different ways
- What did he forget to mention in the piece at first?
[15:50] When Tom read the article, he wanted to learn a little more than what he already knew
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- “Everybody in IT should question their existence in that job field at least seven times a day.” -Tom Watson
- You don’t know what you don’t know yet
- When Phil messaged him again, it proved he was a real person
- This happens a lot in real life
[20:40] Would you rather work with someone dedicated to your life, or an IT salesman just trying to meet quota?
- The world is changing fast
- Phil’s plug for his friend, Mr. Shaw
- He has high emotional intelligence
[23:20] “Most IT people aren’t people people.”-Tom Watson
- Tom compares this to being in the army
- You have to learn to bridge that gap
[26:00] You can apply IT to business
- The problem with promoting the best worker over best leader
- “I want my expert in the field to know what he would do in my position.” -Tom Watson
- I’m here to help and protect you, not to tell you how to do your job
[28:30] What about entry-level individuals that need training?
- “The creating of the micromanager”
- We micromanage ourselves
- “I wouldn’t expect an entry-level person to make decisions outside of their lane, but they should be empowered to decide what they do and do not know.” -Tom Watson
- The two ways you can approach a know-it-all personality
- Use it as a learning point
- The two ways you can approach a know-it-all personality
- Managing as comparison to parenting
[32:40] Phil’s experience having to train his replacement when he was promoted
[33:46] Don’t train the hardest worker, train the best leader
- “Leadership isn’t telling people what to do. A good leader can step in a chaos-crisis and start directing people.” -Tom Watson
- A good leader is just a human who talks and connects with other humans
- Why would I try to tell people how to live their job?
[38:04] Phil recaps the highlights of their conversation
- Nerds in the army
- IT needs to bring up ideas and face confrontation openly
- IT avoids scenarios and people but IT is about customer service
- Is it fear and insecurity?
- Addressing some of the stereotypes
- Stepping out of your comfort zone to grow and find what’s more
- Tim Ferriss’s The Four Hour Work Week
[43:56] Tom’s suggestion for those in IT who don’t like confrontation
- Get out of your comfort zone
- What Tom learned about what he can do because of the army
- “You realize that you can do more than you think you can. So in that meeting, speak up.” -Tom Watson
- Ask them what their biggest problem is so you can fix it
- Reasons people are afraid to bring up an idea
[49:54] A last piece of advice
- “Every failure should be turned into a learning opportunity. If you’re constantly trying to be better, then you will get better.” -Tom Watson
Resources
- Tom's Linkedin
- Tim Ferriss's The Four Hour Work Week
Once a Week Newsletter
Leadership Articles / Emerging Topics / Nagging Issues
Dissecting Popular IT Nerds
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