Washington D.C. is "upset" with China for counterfeiting & piracy issues?

"...counterfeiting and piracy remain at unacceptably high levels and
continue to cause serious harm to U.S. businesses across many sectors of
the economy,” 
Source: The Hill, 26 January, 2013

Does ANYONE is D.C. have a clue? Have they all become completely brainwashed by the so-called copyright enforcement industry "spin" on reality? Do they genuinely believe that the average Chinese on the street gives a %&$# for the financial impact of their actions on multi-billion dollar U.S businesses? 

Is it possible the root of the issue is that the powerful lobbyists for the video, music, & software industries are driving this attitude? Gee... You think?

I think we can all recognize that China has a completely different perspective on many accepted Western business concepts. Expecting the Chinese government (&/or people) to play the game by our rules is completely ego-centric & consistently doomed to failure.


For example: The current "developed countries" generation has been bombarded by the music, video, & software industries with "anti-piracy educational" materials nearly since birth. Industry agenda copyright education programs have been pushed on the young population for approximately 19 years. Bottom line impact? Zero... Scare tactics simply do not work. (But they're really great for generating all that free anti piracy publicity...)


If we want to reduce the breadth & depth of counterfeiting & copyright piracy - around the globe - we will only do so when we can present a viable alternative to "getting toys for free." And the problem isn't merely China. It's the entire structure of intellectual property marketing that is so antiquated. We "want" the world to buy our products, yet.we continue to price the products according to our own narrow profit expectations rather than the ability of the consumer to actually pay.


We, the developed nations of the planet, have completely forgotten how to price for sales. We continue to blindly push pricing for maximum profits instead of local potential. Guess what? If the majority of your prospects or customers cannot afford to legally purchase your products, the end result is rampant counterfeiting & piracy.


If you genuinely want to reduce music/video/software piracy &/or counterfeiting, find ways to demonstrate the business (or personal) value of the genuine products. As long as we continue to shape the message in terms of its impact on massive multinational western corporations, & not on the value driven to the individual, we will not "get through."


Hey, China... Here's a thought: you can download & use OpenOffice for free & it works just like that over-priced so-called world standard business productivity software. THAT will reduce at least one serious piracy issue.

Onerous tech agreements are killing your company

Beware: Many software licenses are DESIGNED to ensure you will violate the terms & conditions. Existing SAM certifications minimize this issue, apparently brushing off comprehensive license definitions; terms & conditions detailing; and document management as if these topics are virtually irrelevant.  This "partial" coverage gives you a false sense of security while leaving you defenseless.

Here's the thing: The agreements that legally bind your company to copyright protected products are carefully designed by well-paid lawyers representing the software industry players to ensure that you - the software consumer - have no rights while the software publisher retains all rights. On the flip side of the equation? The software publisher has none of the responsibilities and the software consumer has ALL of them.

Following is a brief video/audio example of the typical Warranty terms of a very common software product. As you listen, keep in mind that you are purchasing a business tool that could easily wipe out your company if it fails to deliver the value for which you purchased the product. Unfortunately, the Warranty clearly states that the product DOES NOT HAVE TO WORK.

You'll find the basic software Warranty slide deck (with sound) HERE.

The Institute for Technology Asset Management has identified over 42 distinct software license types - in the client-server environment alone. We've also disassembled several common licenses into individual terms & conditions to help practitioners better understand their relationships. Our object is to bring software asset management & compliance assurance training into the next generation of quality. When you genuinely understand the ROOT CAUSE of software licensing & compliance issues, you take the first major step in gaining maximum value with minimal risk from your software portfolio of goods, services, & contractual relationships.

Take a look at our Software &; Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM) credential roadmaps. Merely click on the acronyms to download the PDF. Both programs are available as online, on-demand, professional development sessions.

Experience a Software Audit Here - Without Threat - BEFORE You Experience One There!

Software asset managers (SAMs) generally have no idea how to respond to a software license audit. These punitive license compliance audits nearly always end with the enterprise paying a hefty fine (as well as penalties) to one or more copyright holders.

The Institute is the only provider of Software Asset Management Training to deliver direct training in compliance assurance issues. Our Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) credential delivers critical foundation competencies that you genuinely need to defeat the software audit teams & anti-piracy predators.

Take a look at this Introductory Overview to one of the 18 online & on-demand training sessions that make up the SCCA credential. This one covers "Conducting the Punitive Software Compliance Audit" & it is the only program that steps you through an actual audit event. Delivering audit practice online allows us to help you become competent in addressing key issues without having to do so during a costly live audit.

Remember to turn on your audio so you can hear the narration.  View the slide deck HERE

When you are ready to improve your software license compliance-related SAM skills, click HERE to attend the full session.

The Institute for Technology Asset Management brings your professional SAM & ITAM certifications up to the next level of effectiveness.

SAM & ITAM Certifications Are WAY Below Standards!

At what point in our history did we determine that an individual with less than 12 hours of training is a fully qualified software asset manager? At what point does an individual with little or no experience in the industry become fully qualified to manage the entire IT asset management portfolio with fewer than 16 hours of training?

We need to change the framework under which we qualify professionals in our fields. The software asset management certification started with the CSM (offered by the Software & Information Industry Association). The program was a good "start" but tended to focus more on SIIA's perspective of software compliance management than on life cycle management. Other SAM-related programs have literally exploded on the scene since 2003 - many of these are no more than a new extension of the classic software industry efforts to shape & control our management of software goods, services, & contractual relationships.

When I developed the original SAM & ITAM certification programs in 2000, the plan was to evolve the programs according to the needs of practitioners & to keep pace with global industry changes. The certifications - massively unique at the time - were intended to build the profession as a "standard" for asset management (whether SAM or ITAM). We also committed to keeping the price reasonable so that practitioners around the world could "afford" to attend. Unfortunately, the SAM / ITAM training industry remains well behind the times in terms of the sophistication of their programming.

So? Let's change the model. Through the Institute for Technology Asset Management we have re-sculpted the traditional certification into a significantly more progressive program of credentialing - one that meets & most frequently exceeds such generic standards as ISO 19770 & ITIL. While we "do" continue to train asset managers in the traditional basics of the industry, we also recognize that "basic" no longer translates into "professional."  The asset managers trained in the typical overnight programs developed in 2000 simply do not have the competencies necessary to compete in today's (2013+) technology environments.

Examples: Fewer than 1 in 6 SAM certification programs provide any degree of training regarding "cloud" licensing techniques, risks, & methodologies. Only Institute programs help asset management professionals understand such management tools as business case analysis, cost/benefit, business process management and other methodologies critical to gaining & maintaining effective business controls over the software, hardware, & over-all IT portfolio. Only the Institute delivers core competencies in over 42 common software license types, along with license terms & conditions detailing necessary to clearly understanding your rights & responsibilities.

It's time for change. It's time to evolve to the next level. It's time to look seriously at The Institute for Technology Asset Management credentialing programs.. Look over the Institute program roadmaps (yet another first in the industry) HERE. You may also want to scroll down the page to watch / listen to a sample series of our online training SAM & ITAM sessions.

The Corporate Approaches to Software Piracy & Copyright / License Compliance Need to Move to the Next Generation of Leadership.

This post is in response to an article in ComputerWeekly noted HERE.

The original article discusses how the software piracy landscape hasn't changed much in the past few years. Licensors continue to use unnecessarily complicated licensing schemes & licensees continue to fail to understand as well as fail to manage licenses & licensed products. We CAN, however, change this distressing software piracy trend, but we have to wake up & smell the decaying business processes that expose us to punitive software industry players & their predatory compliance enforcement auditing friends.

It's time to move our outdated software asset management mentalities out of the dark ages & into the next generation of software life cycle management, systems life cycle management, & over-all IT life cycle management.

• As long as business technology consumers permit the software publishers to control the entire licensing process, we will continue to be targeted by predatory compliance enforcement industry players.
• As long as the enforcement industry publicity teams use “piracy” as a synonym for "non-compliance", or "honest licensing errors", we will continue as targets.
• As long as the "compliance landscape" is constantly shifting, we'll be easy targets.
• As long as the enforcement industry-sponsored "studies" & media blitzes represent the smoke & mirrors world of piracy to the public & our legislators, we'll continue to be targeted.
• As long as we permit nebulous terms & conditions (such as the literally limitless "right to audit" clause) in licenses, we'll continue to be targeted.
• As long as our software asset managers are not trained, are being trained only to the enforcement industry perspectives, or are being "qualified" as "professionals" in over-night certification classes, we'll continue to be targeted.
• As long as the enterprise pays only lip service to software & license life cycle management, we'll continue to be very easy - even clueless - targets.
• As long as the technical "experts" in the enterprise continue to be in the dark about the realities of license compliance, we'll remain targets.

It's time for the next generation in software asset management professional development & awareness. Business technology consumers need to stop being reactive & start being "intelligently proactive" in addressing the root causes of software life cycle management & compliance assurance.

I've spent nearly twenty years studying the enforcement industry players & their games & it has become evident that our training programs are less than optimal in their approach to compliance assurance (& nearly empty in terms of effective life cycle management). Each & every issue listed in this article & my response could have been minimized by intelligent asset management. Unfortunately, our asset managers frequently are not given the knowledge they need, nor the executive support necessary to address the problems up front - where they could have avoided the confrontation.

For an example of what I'm saying, look through the technician comments on the discussion thread noted in my previous post.

What you'll see, if you can make it all the way through the thread, is that these front line IT personnel DO NOT generally have a clue about compliance or license management. If these people do not understand, or if there is no well-trained/empowered software asset manager in their enterprise, their companies are defenseless - & ripe - for punitive compliance audits.

You want answers? I'll be glad to provide them, along with pointers to the next generation of strategies & tactics for compliance assurance & software life cycle management professional development. Feel free to connect with me at any time.

The Institute for Technology Asset Management publishes its Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge - TAMBOK - the planet's only cost-effective guide to the competencies asset management practitioners need to succeed in the front lines of SAM & ITAM.

Non-Commercial Use Clause - A Software Licensing Land Mine

At The Institute for Technology Asset Management, we’ve encountered the “Non-Commercial Use” clause in multiple instances of enterprises being audited for non-compliance. The bottom line behind this clause is its very “obtuse-ness” (if you will).

Much like the “right to audit” clause & its reliance on various nebulous (ever-shifting?) definitions of both “audit” & “compliance”, the Non-Commercial Use clause permits the copyright holder to write the rules as they encounter the instance – even up to selecting the most useful copyright law to cite in your legal notification - thus maximizing the potential for non-compliance settlement fines & penalties.

Further (& again, we believe intentionally), VERY few IT personnel have any clue how non-commercial applies to ownership of the system versus how the product is actually being utilized much less which systems in the enterprise contain these products. As software asset managers - SAMs - it's up to us to help educate the enterprise about this hazardous clause - one that is present in a wide range of licenses.

Result of Misinterpreting This Clause: You become an easy - & conveniently defenseless - audit target!

Bottom Line: Closely review the license terms. If the license has a Non-Commercial Use clause, recognize that the clause essentially applies to both where you put the product AND how you use that product. Essentially, do not place the product on a corporate system & do not use that product to produce any subsequent product or service.

Want a revealing experience relating to this type of clause (from the perspective of real live IT personnel)?  Read the following thread - it's long...but invest the time in clearly understanding this classic disconnect between licensees & licensors.  The organization initiating the thread used an evaluation licensed product – with a non-commercial use license caveat - in a production environment.  The odds are really high that your own IT personnel have done this, or are doing this… The thread is HERE.

Software Asset Management is NOT About the SAM Tool!

We're constantly neglecting the key disconnect in terms of software asset management within a majority of enterprises. In brief, the company wants to rely on automated tools to perform effective SAM and we continually fail to ensure that there are qualified software asset managers present to utilize those tools. The SAM tools approach follows the classic IT line of approach that "software" (in this case, the systems discovery tool) can cure all our problems.

This post is in response to an article published in "Business News Daily" - Making the Case for Software Asset Management.

The practitioner members of The Institute for Technology Asset Management have determined that a clear majority of SAM-related issues can be resolved with minimal cost & disruption to the enterprise when software goods and services are managed from a business life cycle perspective. For Example: 

The core of many of our software issues can be traced back to ineffective license and agreement negotiations coupled with a failure to genuinely FOLLOW the terms and conditions of the agreement.

As long as the enterprise fails to approach SAM from this business perspective, with intelligent controls in place and clearly managed, the enterprise will over-spend on virtually all tech-related products and services as well as remain essentially defenseless targets for an ever-expanding predatory software and copyright compliance auditing industry.

Do you need justification for SAM? Try these:

• Fewer than 20% of software licenses are seriously negotiated by the business consumer
• A majority of software asset managers are trained & "certified" in programs designed by the compliance enforcement industry & their friends - The Institute provides the only genuinely supplier-neutral life cycle asset management training to the SAM community of practice.
• If your training enterprise is owned by, or financially supported by, the enforcement industry or software publishing industry, your training is NOT going to be focused on cutting life cycle costs. That would represent a serious conflict of interest to the provider.
• Fewer than 10% of SAMs have ANY training in detailing (following?) license & agreement terms & conditions.
• A majority of enterprises has no idea where the proper license support documentation is located. These companies are easy audit threats & the enforcement groups KNOW it.
• Fewer than 5% of SAMs have any level of oversight in terms of "how" software products are distributed across the enterprises systems. This is one of the TOP VIOLATIONS in non-compliance audits.
• Over 95% of enterprises still believe that, if they are compliant, they will not be targeted for audit. WRONG. According to your license agreements your business can be audited at any time, for any reason, & for NO REASON by any number of 100+ enforcement groups.
• That same 95% of enterprises still believes that, if they are audited by one enforcement group, they're safe from further audits. WRONG. Just because one enforcement group gives you their "blessing" does NOT preclude the rest of the groups from piling on & conducting their own audits.

Train your software managers to genuinely manage the entire range of SAM products and services. Ensure that their training reaches beyond merely counting computers and policing surface compliance. For more clarity, take a moment to look over the FREE Software & Copyright Compliance Quiz. Take notes and recognize that each question represents a category of SAM deliverables you need to have in place to ensure maximum ROI and value with minimal risk.

Are you interested in the NEXT GENERATION of SAM credentials? Take a look at these Credential Overviews from The Institute for Technology Asset Management.

Are you ready to join the NEXT GENERATION of well-qualified Software Asset Management Professionals?  Follow this link to The Institute's exclusive online - on-demand - training programs. professional development.

SAM Credentials Need To Evolve To Reflect Competency, Not Instant Certifications

It never fails to astound me that asset management practitioners can be transformed from "I just got this job" into proficient(?) software asset management professionals in as few as one or two days of training. I'm further blown away that a majority of our industry training programs include an "instant" short-term memory exam as part of their certification schedule.

Do me a favor & check my math. It looks like the typical training session can be completed in an average of two business days. These sessions probably include multiple breaks for coffee, tea, lunch, & (I hope) at least a 2.5 hour exam. If I'm correct in my calculations, the actual time-on-task for today's certified SAM practitioners churned out by the typical 2-day program is less than 7 hours. I hate to even consider the time-on-task for a single day program.

Based on all this, it would seem to me that we're actually killing our credentials by popping out people who know just enough to get themselves & their enterprises into what an ancient Chinese knowledge expert dubbed as "interesting" SAM operational times. (Yes, I know they didn't phrase it quite that way.)

Here's how we approach the typical SAM certification problems with the training & credential programs from The Institute for Technology Asset Management:

• Our SAM credential has been broken down into Software and copyright compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM). Between these two, the candidate receives more than 29 hours of actual time-on-task training broken into approximately 39 individual focused self-paced sessions.
• We are not proprietary in our programming. We focus on openly available competencies that practitioners can easily apply specifically to their SAM (and IT) environments. Nothing is hidden.
• We have broken out the classic SAM training program into brief self-paced on demand sessions that can be taken singly or as a bundle.
• Via this individual session delivery, we can deliver significantly more time-on-task than ANY alternative program in the industry.
• When the basics of the certification are delivered online, we can eliminate the costly & disruptive travel aspect.of typical SAM programs.
• The Institute also provides an "open source" style knowledge base (in the form of our easily acquired Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK). Through this simple TAMBOK practitioners and enterprises alike can gain a comprehensive view of the actual needs of asset management infrastructure.
• What's more, The Institute provides third party tracking of your training portfolio via a SCORM Compliant industry standard Learning Management system.
• Also, the SAM-related exams are free-standing and can be completed at any time after fully completing the coursework. This provides candidates with plenty of time to study and translate their knowledge from short-term memory into their more stable long-term memory. Result? Candidates learn and remember more than ever before.

I'll cover additional differentiators for Institute credentials in follow-on posts. For now, recognize that The Institute is moving SAM & ITAM credentialing into the next generation of credibility - for practitioners, as well as for those who hire credentialed SAMs / ITAMs. 

To look over the range of Institute Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM) credential programs, click HERE

sign in to the LMS (Learning Management System) [ It's Free] and review the course content.  Each session has a brief printed introduction and the live sessions last from 30 to 90 minutes.

Any questions, please let me know.

The Next Generation of SAM Training & Certification is Here

Comprehensive SAM - Online, On Demand- At Your Convenience, Without Disrupting Your Busy Schedule!

Reduce the cost of your SAM credential by eliminating unnecessary travel costs. Complete the core competencies of Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) & Software Asset Management (SAM) at your own pace without disrupting your busy schedule.

Follow the link included below to check in to the SAM training industry's only competency-based professional development system. Via our free Learning Management System (LMS) you'll build a credible portfolio of successful course & credential progression.

Read the content overviews & review over 38 cutting edge SCCA & SAM offerings. Take one or more cost-effective 20 minute to 90 minute sessions to try it out, or opt for the even more cost-effective bundled series. The programs come with over 600 pages of Workbooks to help you tailor the content to your unique enterprise & culture. These Institute for Technology Asset Management programs significantly exceed the scope & depth of virtually any alternative SAM programs on the market.

Have questions about the SCCA or SAM credentials? Feel free to ask. I'll provide whatever answers you need to succeed.

Take Me To The Online Training Portal!

Fiscal Cliff + NDAA = Software Asset Management (SAM)

Short Summary: The federal government of the United States has clearly stated that, by law, DOD Departments need to get their software asset management (SAM) infrastructure/framework in order. Key success factor targets:

• Establish & pursue a FORMAL PLAN for managing software assets
• Conduct (& document) a formal software asset inventory
• Gain & maintain control over software inventories
• Reduce existing spend & establish control over future software-related spending
• Optimize use of existing software inventory
• Optimize ROI
• Brief Congressional Committee of results on a yearly basis

The Story - Many Americans observed the fiscal cliff activities in Washington, D.C. during December 2012 and into the first week of January 2013. All that politically charged action resulted in Congress passing the 700 page, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) covering budgeting and authorizing spending for the Department of Defense (DOD). NDAA was signed it into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013.
 
What's in it for You? Why would this Federal Act be important to software asset managers, or the IT asset management community at large?  The answer is simple: Section 937 (pp. 256-257)  requires–by law—that the Department of Defense (DOD) establish, or enhance, its framework for Optimizing the Software License Portfolio Management. Effective Software Asset Management--optimizing value while minimizing risk--"should" be absolutely vital services for ANY practicing software or information technology asset manager (SAM / ITAM).

Setting the Stage for Software Asset Management - Much of the ground work for Section 937 could conceivably have been established (and essentially ignored?) by President Clinton’s Executive Order 13103, issued on September 30th, 1998. Clinton’s Order, while specifically attempting to ensure that governmental departments monitor their environments to eliminate potential “Software Piracy” issues, essentially clarified the critical need to establish, and maintain, a comprehensive as well as effective software asset management framework within those governmental departments. (Click HERE to read &/or download Executive Order 13103)

The Cold Hard Facts of the National Defense Authorization Act:
Take a brief look through Section 937 of the NDAA. We’ve added underlining and color to highlight many of the critical issues that software asset managers (SAM) as well as IT asset managers (ITAM) need to consider.

SEC. 937. SOFTWARE LICENSES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.
(a) PLAN FOR INVENTORY OF LICENSES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Information Officer
of the Department of the Defense shall, in consultation with
the chief information officers of the military departments and
the Defense Agencies, issue a plan for the inventory of selected
software licenses of the Department of Defense, including a
comparison of licenses purchased with licenses installed.
(2) SELECTED SOFTWARE LICENSES.—The Chief Information
Officer shall determine the software licenses to be treated as
selected software licenses of the Department for purposes of
this section. The licenses shall be determined so as to maximize
the return on investment in the inventory conducted pursuant
to the plan required by paragraph (1).
H. R. 4310—257
(3) PLAN ELEMENTS.—The plan under paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
(A) An identification and explanation of the software
licenses determined by the Chief Information Officer under
paragraph (2) to be selected software licenses for purposes
of this section, and a summary outline of the software
licenses determined not to be selected software licensesfor such purposes.
(B) Means to assess the needs of the Department and
the components of the Department for selected softwarelicenses during the two fiscal years following the date of
the issuance of the plan.
(C) Means by which the Department can achieve the
greatest possible economies of scale and cost savings in
the procurement, use, and optimization of selected softwarelicenses.
(b) PERFORMANCE PLAN.—If the Chief Information Officer determines
through the inventory conducted pursuant to the plan
required by subsection (a) that the number of selected software
licenses of the Department and the components of the Departmentexceeds the needs of the Department for such software licenses,
the Secretary of Defense shall implement a plan to bring the number of such software licenses into balance with the needs of the Department.

While you may not work for the federal government, or even in the United States, the requirements defined by this act represent the absolute minimum of infrastructure that software asset managers (SAM) and IT asset managers (ITAM) need to put in place—and maintain—for their enterprises. 

Are you genuinely covering these issues in your technology portfolio management (TPM) services?

Of equal importance, it’s time for business leadership to recognize that the infrastructure we put in place to manage costly software assets is precisely the same infrastructure that we expand to cover the entire IT portfolio of goods, services, and contractual relationships. When we build this infrastructure—this asset management framework—from the bottom up, we establish a significantly more powerful foundation for gaining and maintaining optimal ROI value (while reducing risk) within the IT portfolio.
 
And, please, don't forget, the only effective method for identifying software is contingent up our abilities to actively and accurately discover hardware. Software and hardware asset management are part and parcel to the same basket of services—and competencies—delivered to the enterprise by the effective IT asset management professional. 
 
Want more? The Institute for Technology Asset Management (ITAM) is your primary source for competency-based professional development. Only the Institute provides you with the key knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques necessary to succeed in the field. Take a look at a selection of overviews for our ground-breaking online—on-demand—professional development programs HERE.

SAM or ITAM Practitioner? Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way!

IT Asset Management & Business Process Improvement: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way!

Every time I teach a course, be it software life cycle management, asset management, project management, negotiations, or some related business process improvement content, I run into the same problem. Way too many of the people attending the course make the same comment:

Commitment: "Our company wants to improve the way we do (this or that) but, when it comes down to actually making the move, there isn't sufficient executive support--no serious follow through."

I'm sure you've seen this, too. The enterprise--as a whole--is aware that there are more effective ways to accomplish certain tasks or projects, but it has no formal process for approaching, planning, and implementing a change initiative. Unfortunately, & realistically, a majority of SAM or ITAM initiatives ARE change initiatives. What's more, executive management--leadership?--does not, or will not, take a visible role in enacting the business process improvement or change. THIS is where my title content comes into play.

My politically incorrect message to management is this:

"Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way!"

Result? How many times have you heard the lament:

Employee Quote: "I spent the time and effort attending this training, or that seminar, (or the company spent the money) and identified a specific way (or two, or ten) that we could improve business processes in our company. Then, when I came back to work, I wasn't encouraged (permitted?) to make anything happen."

In this tough economy--in ANY economy--a company lives and/or dies by its abilities--its willingness—to evolve. So, we need to start asking & answering some tough questions if we expect to become & remain a true profession.

In what ways do you encounter the corporate roadblocks mentioned throughout this blog--even in this single entry? Make a list. 

Now, take a little time and prioritize that list. Put the really important potential improvements at the top--the possible maybes toward the bottom. Next, look at the top couple changes you'd like to see established and consider the following questions:

• In what ways is this proposed change important to the enterprise?
• In what ways is it important to my department?
• In what ways is it important to my boss?
• In what was is it important to me?
• It would also be wise to create another list, this one documents the potential roadblocks.  More importantly, it enables you to prepare options for countering that opposition:
• In what ways might the enterprise oppose this change? Why? How could I counter that opposition?
• In what ways might my department oppose this change? Why? How could I counter that opposition?
• In what ways might my boss oppose this change? Why? How could I counter that opposition?
• In what ways might others oppose this change? Why? How could I counter that opposition?

Based on your answers, put together a list of steps for phasing the new idea (ideas) into the enterprise.  Take the entire process slowly. Locate the easy wins--successes--and grab onto them first.  Document--and COMMUNICATE--the value you have added, then push for more.

It's been my experience that--with very few exceptions--few people have ever lost their jobs because they have directly contributed to the growth and improvement of the enterprise. On the other hand, I HAVE seen a bucket load of people who lost their jobs because they tried to become &/or remain invisible.

So? What's my bottom line? It's this simple:

Either you honestly want to change, grow, improve, enhance, expand (pick a word) the enterprise, or you don't. Whichever way it works--GET OFF THE FENCE & DO IT!

As the economy continues to "flubber" around, I predict that the wise enterprises will be the ones that get back to encouraging their personnel to open up and actually contribute their innovative ideas for building the business. I'll even go so far as to fantasize that many of these companies will actually reward their people for contributing above and beyond expectations. (But, maybe I've gone too far with that last idea...)

 

What are your thoughts? You DO have thoughts, don't you?