Mindfulness , Adaptive Leadership and The Cloud

Attending the recent Cloud Partners Conference here in Chicago was truly amazing. I had some observations that I think the Channel – specifically, my clients who are managing technology would appreciate.

First thing that I noticed, sitting around the Advisory Board meeting was that a lot of us have shaved heads. This brought me into the realm of thinking about Buddhist monks. This led me to thinking about “mindfulness”. Mindfulness is the ability to be aware about what is happening within ourselves and to pay full attention to what is happening around us, non-judgmentally. It is the attention that emerges from paying attention on purpose, in the present moment.

As I listened to the opening remarks, about the transformation that our business model is going through with virtualization and companies that are “born in the cloud”, I began to look at my business and how it has transformed over the past twenty years.  Mindfulness of what is happening within- and in this case, within my company.  How will we make the transition? What skills do we need to acquire? What talent do we need to attract?

Leadership has to be adaptive. It has to grow in response to challenges and opportunities.  Adaptive leadership has to be dynamic- it requires focus and activity to result in a changed environment. As a leader, I have to have a sense of where we are at and adapt to these challenges in our channel environment.

As I met with the vendors, I had a renewed openness to find out what they were offering. Along with my staff, we went through the Expo hall and asked basic questions- “What do you do? Who is your target client? How can we work together?”  Afterwards, we met and reviewed the meetings we had with different providers.  This wasn’t a technical exercise- trying to solve problems with whatever is at hand.  Being adaptive, we need to create an environment that promotes a framework for healthy conversations about our strengths and weaknesses. Which vendors will be part of our offering is a dynamic question. It will change as will our evaluation of ourselves, our developing strengths and the new challenges of the cloud.