Leading an IT team has its own requirements and challenges, and both technical and non-technical professionals can find that leading and managing "techies" can present its own specific difficulties.
This book provides both the technical and non-technical IT professionals, who are thinking of becoming a leader or are being asked to take on a leadership role of technical teams for the first time, ideas and suggestions that are instantly actionable.
The book anticipates the issues the technical leader is going to face and the authors share their experiences and the experience of the technical teams they have have led and coached, to help future leaders meet the demands of leading in the fast-paced IT of today using actionable advice and real world stories
Readers will be able to lead an IT team more effectively by:
● Understanding what is expected of contemporary IT teams
● Recognizing what makes IT staff different
● Being more self-aware of how to effectively interact with technical people
● Communicating more effectively with team members
● Building IT teams and developing team members
● Setting clear direction and priorities for the IT team
● Focusing on key skills that make IT leaders more successful
Because this book will:
● Explain frameworks that we have successfully applied for team building and communication
● Provide practical hints and tips based on our extensive experience in leading, coaching, mentoring, and developing IT leaders and teams
● Share real-life stories and anecdotes that will resonate with and help the reader internalize the key ideas
● Summarize everything discussed in the book through a real-life case study
● Be an easy and fun book to read with illustrations, quotes, fun facts, and practical advice.
Sandy Molloy started her career in education and worked in colleges and universities in Australia, Greece, USA, and the UK teaching communications skills, cultural and behavioural studies. In the early 1990s with an M.A. in HR and Change Management, she joined an American Global IT company. Over the next three decades, she travelled worldwide, working with clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Her IT experience includes the Finance, Government, Education, Retail, Public and Private sectors. Sandy's roles of Director for People, Culture and Communications, and Head of Leadership Development UK IT operations allowed her to design and embed processes that made significant cultural changes. Sandy trained at MIT, Boston in the Learning Lab (Organizational Development) and with the Neuro Leadership Institute, New York University. She is a Master of the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development and a psychometric practitioner. She has written and articles on leadership, managing change and transition management, and studied leadership while living with tribes in Kenya and Tanzania. Sandy has a passion for people and an inexhaustible enthusiasm for helping leaders reach their full potential. She is currently a neuroscience coach working with organizations to develop positive and sustainable change with leadership and teams.
Dr. Yousif Asfour is an experienced technology executive with more than 30 years' experience, with more than 20 years as CIO and CTO in the USA and Middle East. He is an experienced and dynamic leader who has successfully built high performing technology teams that lead the transformation of several organizations in various industries including technology, government, and higher education. Yousif currently sits on the boards of several start ups and serves as Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer at the American University of Beirut leading the Office of Information Technology, the Talal and Madiha Zein AUB Innovation Park and AUB Online. Most recently, Yousif was the President of the CIO Lebanon Association, the founding CIO at NYU Abu Dhabi, and played a key leadership role in establishing TechCARE, the Lebanese National Research and Education Network (NREN). Yousif received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in cognitive and neural systems from Boston University. In addition to several publications in professional journals, Dr. Asfour also holds a patent related to fast data transfer for multi-processor systems.
