November 2016 Articles
Mister Rogers, IT, and Gratitude
By Don Crawley | November 20, 2012 9:29 pm
This is Thanksgiving week in the U.S. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, because it’s always been the least commercialized of our major holidays. I love the time with family and friends, the great food, and the opportunity to reflect on the blessings of my life.
The Other Skill Set Required for Success in IT
By Don Crawley | November 27, 2012 8:45 pm
Today’s IT professional must master two skill families in order to be successful. The first is technical skills and knowledge. That part of IT education is obvious. Without a solid technical understanding, you simply can’t do the job. The second is gaining skills for customer service in IT: An ability to understand, get along with, and influence people. Even though our jobs are indeed technical in nature, the human component is always present and it’s often the most challenging part of our jobs. We may have the technical knowledge to help an end-user, but if they’re angry, frustrated, or otherwise upset, it’s our people skills that allow us first to manage the situation successfully. Then we use our technical skills to solve the technical problem.
A Salute to Veterans
By Don Crawley | November 5, 2014 7:30 am
In the United States, we celebrate Veterans Day every November 11 as a way of honoring the people who have served in our armed forces. Veterans Day was originally known as Armistice Day, to mark the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War One. Major hostilities of World War One ended when the …
IT Management by Wandering Around
By Don Crawley | November 12, 2014 7:30 am
The landmark business book In Search of Excellence, written by Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., was first published in 1982. It sold more than 3,000,000 copies worldwide and became something of a bible for 20th century business people. Much of its content is relevant today and even applies to us in information systems …
Reputation Management: The Power of One
By Don Crawley | November 19, 2014 7:30 am
In a previous blog post, I mentioned my experience in the Sultanate of Oman, a country on the Sea of Oman, bordering Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman is a wonderful country of some 4,000,000 people with a rich history and beautiful architecture, filled with very warm and gracious people and I …
Gratitude: How to be More Grateful
By Don Crawley | November 26, 2014 7:30 am
In the United States, every November on the fourth Thursday of the month, we celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday because it’s a time when we get together with family, we enjoy a huge meal, and we express our thanks for our blessings. Oh, and we also watch a lot of American football. Thanksgiving is …
Tech Skills or Customer Service Skills: Which is More Important?
By Don Crawley | November 11, 2015 7:48 am
Technical Skills Come First In any skilled field, whether it be information systems and technology, medicine, law, airplane maintenance, or any other skilled field, technical, professional, or otherwise, you simply must have technical skills in order to do the job. We certainly wouldn’t want a surgeon with limited ability performing surgeries nor would we want …
Search by Tags/topics:
- #nsa16
- @HighPointU
- A+ certification
- about anger management
- about public speaking
- afghanistan
- and public speaking
- anger
- anger and anger management
- anger and control
- anger control
- anger management
- anger management anger management
- anger management for
- anger management in
- angermanagement
- angry customer
- appreciation
- armistice day
- arrogance
- artificial intelligence
- attitude
- authentic
- authenticity
- authority figures
- automation
- bad customer service
- bad news
- barista
- beauty
- best behavior
- best motivational speakers
- better listening
- bitterness
- book club
- Business
- business communication
- business communications
- career
- careers
- caring
- ccie
- ccna
- ccnp
- certification
- change perceptions
- cisco
- coffee
- collaboration
- commitment
- communicate
- communication
- communication in business
- communication skills
- communication style
- communication training
- compassion
- compassionate
- compassionate geek
- competence
- comptia
- conceit
- conflict
- conflict management
- conflict resolution
- control anger
- control on anger
- conversation
- corporate training
- country music
- criminal justice
- customer
- customer care
- customer care training
- customer choices
- customer experience
- customer focus
- customer perceptions
- customer service
- customer service by phone
- customer service chat
- customer service courses
- customer service fail
- customer service fails
- customer service in it
- customer service in it support
- customer service on the phone
- customer service questions
- customer service rules
- customer service skills
- customer service skills training
- customer service telephone
- customer service tips
- customer service training
- customer service training ideas
- customer service training videos
- customer service tutorial
- customer service videos
- customer services
- customer support
- customer support service
- Dale Carnegie
- dealing with difficult people
- depression
- diet
- difficult people
- dignity
- discretion
- education
- effective communication
- effective communication skills
- emotional intelligence
- empathy
- employee retention
- end user
- end-user support
- ernest tubb
- exercise
- famous motivational speakers
- fitness
- geek speek
- giving thanks
- gossip
- grace
- gracefulness
- graciousness
- grammar
- gratefulness
- gratitude
- great customer service skills
- Gricean Maxims
- growth
- happiness
- health
- help desk
- help desk it
- help desk training
- helpdesk training
- hippocratic oath
- hiring
- hospitality
- how control anger
- how do you control anger
- how to anger management
- how to be a better listener
- how to be a good listener
- how to be more compassionate
- how to control anger
- how to deliver bad news
- how to do a presentation
- how to improve customer service
- how to make a presentation
- how to public speaking
- how to say no
- how to troubleshoot
- human relations
- humor
- immigration
- improve customer service
- improving customer service
- in search of excellence
- inspirational speakers
- inspirational speeches
- intent
- interpersonal communication
- iraq
- is help desk
- is tech support
- IT career
- IT certification
- it course
- IT customer service
- IT customer service training
- IT customer service training video
- IT customer service training videos
- it education
- it help desk
- IT management
- it management service
- it service support
- IT support
- it tech support
- it training
- it training class
- jargon
- jobs
- juvenile justice
- kaizen
- keep your cool
- keynote speaker
- kindness
- korea
- labels
- leadership
- lean
- learning
- linux
- listening
- listening skills
- listening techniques
- lpi
- Macintosh
- Management
- management anger
- management by wandering around
- management of anger
- managing and supervising
- managing emotions
- maslow
- mcdst
- mcsa
- mcse
- Meditation
- memory
- microsoft
- military
- mistakes
- mister rogers
- motivation
- motivational speaker
- motivational speakers
- Naikan
- network+
- networking
- nfl
- nutrition
- optimism
- peace
- people
- people skills
- perseverance
- personal growth
- personal responsibility
- personnel
- persuasive speaking
- pete carroll
- positive attitude
- positive psychology
- presentation
- presentation skill
- presentation skills
- primum non nocere
- psychology
- public communication
- public speaking
- public speaking how to
- public speech
- publicspeaking
- punctuality
- reading
- reputation
- reputation management
- resentment
- respect
- responsiveness
- robert h. waterman jr.
- robotics
- rumors
- security+
- self-improvement
- service customer support
- service desk
- service level agreement
- setting expectations
- show you care
- skills for communication
- skills for customer service
- skills of communication
- sla
- soldiers
- speak-er
- speaking
- speaking in public
- speaking public
- speaking skills
- spelling
- Stephen Covey
- stress
- stress management
- stretching
- success
- support desk
- support service
- taking ownership
- team building
- teamwork
- tech support
- tech support calls
- tech support help
- tech support it
- technical skills
- technical support
- technical support it
- Technology
- telephone etiquette
- telephone manners
- tenacity
- thanksgiving
- thinking
- toastmasters
- tom peters
- top motivational speakers
- training
- training communication
- training courses
- troubleshooting
- type a personality
- ugliness
- veterans
- veterans day
- vietnam
- Viktor Frankl
- volunteer
- volunteering
- what is anger
- what is anger management
- what is business communication
- what is public speaking
- when is anger management on
- windows
- workplace culture
- writing
- written communication