Are you accountable for action or outcomes? Jason Botts is an innovative, results-driven technology leader who creates high-performing teams. He is passionate about creating tech transformation that actually matters to its companies, customers, and stakeholders.  We discussed why benchmarks aren’t good enough and how trust and listening can solve even the worst tech disasters. Listen to this episode where Jason shares one of the worst days on the job – only 90 days after an ERP implementation with some 3 a.m. trust building. About Jason Botts: With over two decades of experience, Jason helps realize key performance objectives for businesses large and small by partnering with business leaders and key stakeholders to capture synergies that result in operational excellence and effectiveness. He brings extensive IT operational and strategic experience from many industries, including life science, high tech / fintech and construction. His background includes transforming and leading technology teams that have been repeatedly recognized by InformationWeek magazine as Elite 100 Innovators – from entrepreneurial startup / Fast 50 companies to the S&P 500. He has led diligence and post-transaction integrations for deals ranging from $10M to nearly $3B.Jason serves by appointment of the Governor to the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology and Innovation and was recently selected as a technology leader in Aspen Institute’s Technology Executive Leadership Initiative (TELI). He holds a Master of Business Administration from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). https://thechangearchitects.com/is-your-tech-team-accountable-for-action-or-outcomes-with-jason-botts

Extreme ownership for IT leaders means: if you’re involved, you own it. Brian Burk brings his IT leadership experience to our conversation with his wise counsel and practical tools for accountability. Today’s projects are complex and have moving targets. It’s easy to want to avoid responsibility for results. But you’re here because you’re a leader that wants to see big change so avoidance is unacceptable. Brian shares multiple tools to bring more change and accountability — all while making a successful business even more successful. There are training ideas and a process for group brainstorming called SARGE. Listen in for ways to bring more ownership into your teams. About Brian Burk: Brian A Burk, MBA began his healthcare and life science career as a pharmaceutical and medical device representative. He went on to roles leading US sales operations, Phase IV clinical trials and marketing for multiple global brands in Big Pharma. He has led numerous organizations who provided either healthcare data, analytics, compliance services and/or technology services to the FDA, physician groups, manufacturers, PBMs and hospitals. Additionally, he founded, built, and successfully sold the IP to two healthcare technology companies, which provided e-prescribing and pharmacy routing services respectively. He won the Innovation and Quality awards from eHealthcare Leadership in 2011, 2012 & 2013. Read the full blog post here: https://thechangearchitects.com/if-youre-involved-you-own-it-extreme-ownership-for-it-leaders-with-brian-burk/

How about a specific example of technical debt and its cultural consequences? Ken Knapton shares a real world example where tech silos and cultural silos reinforce each other. This company had several overlapping solutions that wasted money and created at least $5 million in cash expense — while individuals were losing their jobs! If you’re struggling to articulate the case for why technical debt is holding your enterprise back, listen to this episode for the real world implications, criteria to evaluate and quantify, how to know you have a problem, and how to leverage your tech debt to the tune of 50%. About Ken Knapton: Ken Knapton is an accomplished technology leader with extensive experience in leading IT functions, driving efficiency, automation, and delivering improved business outcomes. Ken has a proven track record in identifying and solving complex business problems, implementing sustainable solutions, and driving process improvements that transform business operations and bottom-line results. Read the full blog post at: https://thechangearchitects.com/example-of-technical-debt-and-its-cultural-consequences/

Insider threat detection comes from new school technology and old school relationships. Robert Field learned of sabotage coming from one of his employees from a trusted relationship outside of the organization. Yes, technically, technology could have detected this. But the reality was that Rob’s focus on relationships saved his company’s bacon. He had people around him that cared about his success. As a leader, do you have strong enough relationships to tell you the hard stuff, the stuff you don’t want to hear? Do you lead with integrity every day? Do you have people and technology to protect you from the bad stuff? Listen to this episode for how insider threat detection is a people, process, and tech problem and how to fix it. About Robert Field An expert at leveraging technology to turn corporate strategy into reality, Robert is a Senior Technical Leader with 20+ yrs. of experience leading client engagements. Highly accomplished, versatile global leader with a proven track record of success in building deep, meaningful relationships across the organization driving business change. Demonstrated success in leading large-scale, cross functional teams and delivering strategic solutions that drive growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage. Leveraging a coaching leadership style engaging and motivating teams beyond their expected potential. Highly adept at identifying and seizing new opportunities, leveraging technology to disrupt traditional business models and achieve transformation. Find the full blog post at https://thechangearchitects.com/insider-threat-detection-comes-from-strong-outside-relationships-with-robert-field/

What got you here won’t get you there if you’re a leader driving growth and transformation. Ravi Bommireddipalli is a CEO who focuses on unlearning as much as he learns. For Robosoft’s next level, he’s being charged with leading the company to where it has never been. Along the way he’s going to become a leader he’s never been. And he’s going to grow more leaders so that not all operational details continue to come through him. This episode covers great ground on how CEOs and CIOs need to problem solve at higher levels, cover both the offense and the defense, communicate simply, and hire people who challenge them. Ravi Bommireddipalli Ravi took charge as CEO of Robosoft Technologies in late 2017. Since then, he has been a change agent at Robosoft, leading the transition to a full-service digital transformation company. He has expanded the service offerings and set up systems and talent in place to deliver end-to-end digital solutions for enterprise customers. He believes in forging relationships with customers and being a true partner in solving their business problems through digital solutions. Ravi Teja is a student of Ontology (the science of Being) Business and Engineering and believes that the power of empathy, human understanding and technology can solve a large number of societal and business problems. An Electronics engineer from NIT, Allahabad, an MBA in Technology Management from IIT Bombay, Ravi has 25+ years of experience in technology consulting and implementing digital transformation. His previous stints included Nihilent Technologies, TCS and Rolta. Ravi was the Chairman of Institute of Management Consultants of India (IMCI), Pune chapter and is an active member of the India CEO forum of IMA and the prestigious Forbes Technology Council – an ‘invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives’. Find the full blog post at: https://thechangearchitects.com/what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there-with-ravi-bommireddipalli/

Every step of growth has its own challenges and hot messes. CEO Asad Ur Rehman learned these lessons the hard way as he’s grown from freelance software developer to CEO of a 300-person global firm. There’s a myth about success that when you achieve a certain salary, revenue, job, client, etc. etc. etc. THEN things will get easier, better. Here’s the good news: as you uplevel, you get more challenges. These challenges get bigger and you have to uplevel your problem solving skills. The only way is through and a commitment to learning.  I learned from Tony Robbins a long time ago that modeling the behavior and learning from other folks who have “Been there. Done that.” is a powerful way to jumpstart my plans. You can do that most simply by reading the books your role models write. Listen to Asad’s and my conversation to hear how Asad learned how to become a successful CEO when growth was often 2 steps forward and 1 step back. About Asad Ur Rehman Asad Ur Rehman is a dynamic entrepreneur and technology visionary who has transformed his passion for software development into a thriving global business empire. With a career spanning over a decade, Asad's journey from a software developer to the CEO of Cubic Solutions Inc. a technology company headquartered in the United States with a significant presence across Europe and Asia, is a testament to his unwavering dedication and visionary leadership.Asad's entrepreneurial journey began in 2011 when he embarked on his career as a freelancer in the world of software development. His innate talent for coding and problem-solving quickly gained recognition, allowing him to build a solid foundation in the industry. As a freelancer, he honed his skills, gained invaluable experience, and cultivated a deep understanding of the tech landscape. Find the full blog post at https://stefaniekrievins.com/every-step-of-growth-has-its-own-new-challenges-with-asad-ur-rehman/

Do you know how to tell the story of your career when there’s too much variety in your resume? Adrian Koehler is an executive coach who has transformed a “hot mess” of career experience into clear confidence for how he delivers compelling value every day and in the present moment. This episode is for you if you’re working to develop the through-line to communicate how your variety of positions can contribute to your next career move and frame conversations so you can tell the story of your future impact, not justify your past career moves. Find the full blog post at https://stefaniekrievins.com/tell-the-story-of-your-career-when-theres-too-much-variety-in-your-resume-with-adrian-koehler/ About Adrian Adrian Koehler is a leadership engagement expert and senior partner at the executive coaching firm, Take New Ground. He coaches executives and entrepreneurs in the art and science of leadership for themselves, their teams, and clients to create new, unprecedented results and experience fulfillment in their work. Drawing on his background in philanthropy, ministry, activism, and medicine, Adrian thrives in the extreme environments and finds comfort in difficult conversations—in fact, his passion for human performance has taken him around the globe, serving people in times of crisis, transformation, and stalemates. Over the last decade, Adrian has trained and developed leaders at NIKE, Virgin Hyperloop One, Jeni’s Ice Cream, Herschel Supply Co., Oprah Winfrey Network, Gavin DeBecker & Associates, Siegel & Gale, UCLA and elsewhere.

Making decisions isn’t always hard, but taking action on the decisions can be hard. Alexei Miller is a leader who lived that firsthand when his company’s locations were caught in the middle of international conflict. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Data Art’s “people first” philosophy was put to the test.  A decision for their Ukrainian employees felt like a betrayal of their Russian colleagues. And a decision for their Russian colleagues felt like a betrayal of their Ukrainian colleagues. Which people do you put first when global politics interrupts everything? And you have employees who need to be moved to safety and you have the resources to help? These decisions aren’t easy but they have to be made. Listen in as Alexei shares how the entire company and their clients pitched in to help during difficult times and no-win decisions. Find the full blog post at ⁠https://stefaniekrievins.com/making-decisions-isnt-hard-taking-action-on-the-decision-is-hard-with-alexei-miller/ About Alexei Miller As a member of the group of founders who worked here since day one, Alexei sees himself as a company builder, not a manager. He cares about everything that’s going on, but also recognizes that we often don’t control our teams but rather have to give them space and support to develop. He was lucky to join DataArt back in 1997 while still in the university, studying math and computer science. At that point, he and his colleagues had no specific vision for the company they would eventually become; they were just doing what they enjoyed. Two decades later, they turned DataArt into a global enterprise with over 5,700 employees and over $300M in annual turnover.

Successful leaders find themselves creating alignment during change. Michael Judd shares one of his initial turnaround gigs where he learned this skill directly and then took it with him for the rest of his career. Learn from his experience and self awareness: Do you know your business’ safety net and risk tolerance? Do you know how to create clarity when there’s confusion? Do you know how to align the expectations of your manager with your peers and your teams? Do you know if you’re an innovator, builder, or maintainer? Listen in to this wisdom-packed episode on logical steps to take for any hot mess. Find the full blog post at https://stefaniekrievins.com/the-secret-to-creating-alignment-during-change-with-michael-judd/ About Michael Judd Michael Judd is a technology and strategy expert that has over 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 executives from a variety of industries. His past clients include American Express, Aon, HCSC, Providian, Raytheon, Washington Mutual, and Zurich Insurance. He is known for bringing strong strategic, financial, and operational skills to develop disruptive technology strategies that make sense for his clients. He is a CPA with a strong reputation for collaboration and global experience, he tackles the largest challenges, transforming how people and their processes engage with technology to drive business value.

Richard Luna came to a hard realization when he said to himself, “If you micromanage, then you’re not managing.” As his business and team were growing, he learned — the hard way, of course! — that he was controlling too much: filtering 1,000+ emails a day; creating specific dispatch schedules; putting out fires; selling services; being the CEO, COO, CSO, and CTO; working 18-hour days, the whole shebang. Anyone who is driven recognizes this workload. For those of us who have broad shoulders, like to control for a positive outcome, and are wired for decision making, we all get humbled at some point about the limitations of what we can carry. Plus there comes a point in any team and company where 1 leader simply can’t force growth any longer. You can’t use straight brute strength to make more projects or revenue happen. The law of diminishing returns kicks in. This episode of the Hot Mess Hotline details how Richard Luna went from micromanaging to managing to leader using the beneficial parts of his drive and living out his core values. Both are equally important. Listen in to hear why. Find the full blog post here: https://stefaniekrievins.com/if-you-micromanage-then-youre-not-managing-with-richard-luna/ About Richard Luna Richard Luna is a recognized national computer and IT leader with over 30 years in the field. His tech experience includes serving as IT Director (CTO) of U.S. News & World Report. Today, he is President and Founder of Protected Harbor and NetMagic Systems. The company has grown to more than over 30 employees and is a regional leader in providing managed IT services, data management, cybersecurity, software development and data center and technology planning and consulting for clients from multiple business sectors.

Leaders lead humans and people working together, not robots working together. Denise Cooper and I explore this topic in a very frank conversation. We’ve gone off course with leadership when we think that multi-tasking and motivating all employees in the exact same way is going to work in the 21st century.  Humans can’t multi-task; hell we’re not even supposed to have multiple priorities. (“Priority” was created in 1400 and “priorities” was created in the 1900s.) And each individual needs something slightly different to do their best work. But we still see leaders treating their folks like robots: same expectations, same hours, same communication, same motivations, multi-task everyday all day, and keep multiple plates spinning. The most successful organizations of the future will choose their priority: what to focus on first. Listen in to learn more. In this episode we mention a new kind of management framework that might be helpful for you to explore: Holacracy. Find the full blog post here: https://stefaniekrievins.com/great-leaders-know-they-lead-humans-not-robots-with-denise-cooper/ About Denise Cooper Denise Cooper is the Founder and CEO of Remarkable Leadership Lessons, a company founded over 10 years ago to assist C-suite, senior-level business leaders, and managers in raising their game as contributors to profitability. Denise serves as an Executive Coach and Keynote Speaker, with a proven process for grooming diverse candidates for succession. She does this through one-on-one customized development plans, professional assessments, and time-proven case studies.Her expertise and wisdom are grounded in neuro-leadership, behavioral & psychological principles along with 25 years of experience. Denise has worked across a wide range of industries and organizations from Fortune 500 corporations, small to mid-market & nonprofit businesses. Change is impacting every aspect of business and executives need leadership skills that inspire trust, enable quick response times, clarify purpose and create work cultures where belonging and contribution are foundational principles.

IT executives have too many root cause analysis examples to count. Benjamin Pulatie is a leader and entrepreneur who’s no different. But because of his mega hot mess he learned how to take control when everyone was in charge but no one was in control; and check his emotions at the door. Listen to this Hot Mess Hotline episode as Ben describes how he methodically evaluated what wasn’t working across 300 servers to find a solution that was costing millions of dollars a day. About Benjamin Benjamin Pulatie, CEO of MAD Software brings 24 years of technical experience across multiple industries such as healthcare, energy services, and retail with expertise in information security, supply chain, and workforce management. Having consulted for small organizations and fortune 100 companies, he brings a pragmatic and common sense approach to innovation and operations management.

Solving the right problem with change management is a perennial problem for IT leaders. Juan Betancourt is a tech entrepreneur who is willing to keep looking in the mirror, ask the hard questions, and continuously improve until he gets it right. Our conversation focuses on how he led his team through massive business shifts because that’s what it takes to keep up in his industry. Leading a team through change that is forced from external pressures (looking at you ‘rona) is different from leading a team through change because of internal pressures and business vision. Listen to this episode as Juan describes his leadership and company pivots when demand for their services went to zero. About Juan Juan Betancourt is the CEO of Humantelligence, an HR enterprise software solution like Grammarly, but instead of writing tips, it surfaces tips for communicating and collaborating. This major innovation, impacting the way distributed knowledge workers collaborate, earned HRO Today's Top HR Tech for Collaboration and TalentCulture’s Top HR Tech for Employee Collaboration awards. Juan also founded Gonza Executive Search and served as a client partner for both Korn Ferry International and Heidrick & Struggles. He was an executive at Procter & Gamble, Decathlon, Siebel Systems, Reebok, and Puma. Recently named a Top 30 HR Tech Influencer, Juan is an expert in helping organizations build high-performing teams, while operationalizing inclusion & belonging.

Leadership is about taking risks, not seeing into a crystal ball. Pamela Diaz is a leader that asks her team to trust her enough to take risks with her. And she returns that trust with empathy. Here at The Change Architects, we work with a lot of teams that demand all their questions be answered from their manager before they move forward with plans — which stalls progress and problem solving. And it’s simply impossible. Fortunately there’s another way and Pam knows what’s up. This was a fun conversation. Listen in to this episode where I reference Indiana Jones and Turduckens. Pinky swear they’re both related to change management. About Pamela Diaz Pamela Diaz is CEO and President of Entara, a security-first eXtended Service Provider (XSP). Under her leadership, Entara has been recognized for several awards due to its forward-thinking and strategic security solutions by CRN, MSSP Alert, and Channel Partners. Pam is also the Co-Founder of Forecheck, an automated incident management, remediation, and resilience platform built for ingesting incidents from security providers. Pam is dedicated to connecting organizations with the IT and cybersecurity solutions that their businesses need to thrive. She is passionate about building relationships and connecting with individuals that challenge the status quo and stretch to continuously improve our future. Through her dedication to building a great team and company culture, Entara has been recognized in both Chicago and on a national level as a Best and Brightest Place to Work. Pam is on the Board of Directors of Bounce Children’s Foundation, an organization transforming the lives of chronically ill children, and serves as Chair of the Governance Committee. She is also on the Events Committee of the Female Integrator Mastermind (FIM), a peer-to-peer female mentoring group. Through FIM, she regularly presents about equality and female empowerment.

Resistance to change doesn't always show up in your team like you think it does. Jessica Carroll is an executive who has driven multiple digital transformations as a CIO and Chief Customer Experience Officer. The same lessons that apply to "going to the cloud" also apply to digital transformation and how to use AI in 2023. In this episode we discuss how it's easy for the leader to think their teammates are resisting, but they really might just need more information; think about the problem from a different perspective; or need to wrap their head around the project in a way that's different from you. Listen in to this episode where Jessica describes how you can move your team from needing more information to action. See the full post at: https://stefaniekrievins.com/resistance-to-change-isnt-what-you-think-it-is-with-jessica-carroll/ About Jessica Carroll Jessica Carroll is a speaker on the topics of client engagement, team culture, and digital transformation. She has been published in CIOInsight, BizTech magazine, among others, and was named a Computer World Premier 100 IT Leader. She is a contributing author to the book, Digital Transformation Demystified, in which she discussed client and employee engagement practices. Currently Ms. Carroll is the Chief Experience Officer for Acuative, a global managed services provider. In this role she is responsible for guiding customers through their digital transformation, serving as their consultative advisor and advocate, and holds responsibility for enhancing the employee experience for the Acuative internal team. Prior to joining Acuative, Ms. Carroll was the VP, Customer Success at TenFour IT and had a noteworthy tenure in a variety of senior IT Leadership positions at the United States Golf Association, culminating in her role as the Managing Director for Information Technology where she led the infrastructure, business resilience, security, operations, and development disciplines.

Have you ever felt like you weren't delivering the results as an executive that matched your compensation? Scott Couchenour is our faculty member who can tell you exactly why and how to get you focused on results, actions, and the mindset needed to do the strategic work necessary at your level. It's easy to get sucked into too many meetings, too many decisions, and too many tasks. As a senior leader you need to focus on delivering the value that only you can. Usually that means more time on strategic planning and execution, managing investments, aligning staff, and business development — not making a decision for a teammate who is abdicating responsibility to you! Listen in on Scott's episode to learn why you need your very own "offensive coordinator" so you're being proactive, not reactive to whatever hits your inbox each day. About Scott About Scott Couchenour Drawing from nearly 30 years of experience as a COO and CEO, Scott helps Gen X leaders who are successful yet dissatisfied with the uncertainty of where their life and business is headed. He concentrates on helping owners of small to midsize companies create clarity and design a comprehensive life and business plan. He helps not only with strategy but secures solid traction through an iterative approach. Scott’s clients are reaching new heights and accomplishing much more than they ever thought possible. As a Pro Troublemaker, Scott focuses on creating clarity first, helping clients to reveal their many options when they might normally feel backed into a corner. Clients will find that Scott is genuinely interested in what they do, is committed to closing the gap between “where they are” and “where they want to be,” and that his goal is to create a fun and engaging experience during the important work of coaching. Scott is a Certified through ILCT (Institute of Life Coach Training) and is proud of working with his long-term clients. One of his clients is on their second 5-year life plan and he loves to be there to witness their positive growth. He is also extremely proud of his husband, father, and “Pop Pop” to his grandkids. He loves to play piano, work on spreadsheets, and explore coffee shops.

Action and empathy move at different speeds in companies. Don Monistere is a longtime IT leader who has driven a lot of change. He's led the acquisition and merging of several companies and freely admits that plans on paper sometimes sound great and play out in the real world in a terrible way. He cares deeply about his people and he has a strong bias for action. For those of us who have a bias for action (me included) it's easy for us to run over people, push them out of the way, or dismiss their concerns because it slows us or the result down. Bottom line is that we end up with less people following us because they don't want to keep up, can't keep up, or think we've lost our minds. Listen in as Don describes how he now prioritizes listening and empathy over action and how that leads to more buy in. See the full blog post at: https://stefaniekrievins.com/action-cant-get-in-the-way-of-empathy-with-don-monistere/ About Don Monistere In his current role as CEO and President of General Informatics, an information technology company, Monistere is responsible for the strategic vision and day-to-day execution of their corporate plan to achieve the goal of organic growth as well as choosing the right acquisition partners that add value to the GI services portfolio and service delivery model. Monistere’s tenure at General Informatics has been very productive. General Informatics has expanded their footprint from a Louisiana based business only headquartered in Baton Rouge, to a growing Information Technology company that serves the entire Southeast as well as portions of certain western territories such as Colorado and California, growing from less than 40 employees to more than 200 today. Monistere has been a well-known executive for many years in the technology space and has been quite successful in his career as an executive in the Information Technology industry. Don has a strong background in successfully leading information technology companies and his experience in sales, marketing, operations, and IT services helps organizations accelerate their growth trajectory, better serve their customers, and facilitate management frameworks that allow organizations like Vista, TekLinks, IBML and now General Informatics to scale their operations and prepare for hyper-growth Monistere is also an author publishing “Enhanced Life Performance” in 2017 “Enhanced Executive Performance” in 2019 with his third in the trilogy “Enhanced Corporate Performance” that just came out in November of 2022. All three books focus on an approach to life, career and business that allows you to achieve a flow state that Monistere describes as “Enhanced.” He has used many of the techniques in these publications to create the success that he has achieved to date.

How do you come back from burnout as a leader? Jimmy Burroughes was an overachiever who tried to prove himself for too long and burned out. In epic fashion. As someone who knows he's here to make a difference in this world, he wanted to do too much, be too much, and was burning the candle at both ends. One day in 2017 it all caught up with him and the life that he had unraveled. Luckily for him and for us, he came back from being lost, feeling hopeless, and being unable to get out bed. He now uses his experiences to work with teams and leaders so they never get to where he was. My hunch is that you've been where Jimmy has been...or are on the brink of it...or have a colleague who is burnt out now. Listen in for real guidance to re-engage in life with joy. See the full blog post at: stefaniekrievins.com/how-to-come-back-from-burnout-with-jimmy-burroughes About Jimmy Burroughes Jimmy Burroughes is a leadership expert on a mission to change the way we achieve results. With over two decades of experience as an Officer in the British Military and a track record of success as a people leader in top global organizations. With an MBA and extensively qualified as a coach and facilitator, Jimmy has developed a passion for building high-performance cultures by making the complexity of better performance simple, and therefore easier to apply. He and his team have developed a proven facilitation-led approach and delivered in some of the world's largest organizations. Jimmy hosts his own podcast and is also the author of Beat Burnout - Ignite Performance. It’s the leader's guide to building a high-performance team. The book was the product of multiple years of research, working with 7 to 12-figure businesses all over the world and taking those best practices and distilling them down into five simple variables. He can share insights incorporating elements of neuroscience, behavioral science, energetics, and a variety of standard leadership concepts. Jimmy is a highly engaging guest, who is a specialist in simplifying high-performance concepts into a format that will both engage and encourage your listeners to try new things. Outside of work, Jimmy splits his time between living at the beach in Los Cabos scuba diving, or in central Mexico, hill running, whilst constantly searching for his next property project with his partner and dog. You know firsthand the challenges of balancing higher performance expectations & avoiding burnout & high turnover. Jimmy's team helps high-performing senior leaders like you to create a team that achieves success, boosts your profile, & helps you all get your weekends and evenings back! Beat Burnout and your CompetitionUnique ApproachBetter Results and Happier TeamsPersonalized, Diagnosis-Based Service

How to say "No" in IT is tricky. Heather Darring shares with us what's even trickier: saying Yes too frequently, projects going out of scope, and then reading an IT audit that says, "You suck." Okay, okay it didn't actually say that she and her 1 colleague sucked, but it described missed expectations and she took it personally. Years later she's able to share how that experience turned into an opportunity to reset expectations across the entire business, to grow, to learn, and ultimately expand her department and become the CIO. Listen in to this episode with Heather, the CIO of an international nonprofit, as she shares what happens when IT doesn't say No to their business colleagues (and should) and how they're mortals like us not magicians! ha! See full blog post at: stefaniekrievins.com/it-needs-to-say-no-sometimes-with-heather-darring/ About Heather Darring and Kappa Alpha Theta Heather Darring is the Chief Information Officer for Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. A rising IT executive, Ms. Darring has worked in the industry for 15 years. After earning her master’s at Ball State University’s Center for Information and Communication Sciences, Ms. Darring has worn many hats, including networking, database management, hardware and software support, and project management. She loves solving challenging problems and leaving things better than she found them. She champions change management and strives to support staff through meaningful and lasting change. Kappa Alpha Theta is the first Greek-letter Fraternity for women. It was founded in 1870 just as women were allowed to seek higher education. The legacy continues today, leading every member to personal excellence through lifelong sisterhood.

Courageous leadership is a choice. Deseri Garcia is a coach and faculty member here at The Change Architects. Because she's been in the trenches as a leader, she knows what it takes to have hard conversations, lead with clarity and vision, and adapt to those around you while maintaining authenticity. Deseri's experience is now in teambuildng and coaching. Specifically she creates teambuilding experiences that build connection, problem solving skills, and shared results. Listen in to this episode to hear about Deseri's coaching success, approach, and how she gets as much as she gives as a coach, trainer, and facilitator. Also, you'll hear how we met and why everyone should have a happy dance! See the full blog post at: https://stefaniekrievins.com/courageous-leadership-with-deseri-garcia/ About Deseri Garcia Deseri Garcia works with top-level executives, directors, managers, and business owners to provide transformational coaching, team building support, and leadership development. Her goal is to genuinely connect with people and identify with them in an effort to improve both team and personal effectiveness. Deseri is an accredited facilitator of 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, certified in ACCT (Association for Challenge Course Technology) certified and holds a certificate from the Coaching Clinic–Corporate Coach U and Predictive Index.  She has a bachelor’s degree in small business and entrepreneurship. Deseri began coaching and leadership development work in 2004. Prior to that, she spent nearly 20 years in Corporate America, where she gained invaluable insight into the value of building relationships in the business world. She worked in International Business Development for Langham Transport Services for over 13 years and in operations and sales for Roadway Express for over 5 years. Her Pro Troublemaker skill is straight talk: “I won’t step over much. I make direct requests. I give straight advice and I expect your best.” Deseri is a multi-sport adventure racer/endurance athlete and has completed seven marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2000 and 2002.