Hello and welcome to this edition of the Practical IT Manager Tips Newsletter.

This week's article
Be a "Giver", not a "Taker"

I recently taught my 21st IT Manager Institute in South Africa, and the fact that I'm able to teach it there is because I believe in giving versus taking. Read the article below to learn how this story evolved and why you want to apply this principal to your management approach in 2007.

Read the article and get 4 FREE GIFTS below.

MDE News
MDE closes out another successful year with a bang
2006 was a significant year for us and one that positions our company for even greater things in the future. Key accomplishments included:
   - Released the 20 Minute IT Manager with Tom Mochal. We now have
      over 40 e-learning training sessions completed to help you develop key
      skills in IT management, project management, people management,
      leadership, and personal development. See new offer & free session
   - Selected to Cutter Consortium's Senior Consultant team
   - Presented to two groups
           +  IT Financial Management Association - Orlando, Florida
           +  Slovenia 4th CIO Conference - Ljubljana, Slovenia
   - Held 8 IT Manager Institutes. Five were held in the last 4 months of the
      year in Alaska, Nashville, South Africa, Slovenia, and Aruba. November
      and early December had me out of the country for 26 of 30 days as I
      wound up the year doing three international classes. It was a blast, but I
      sure was glad to finally get back home to my family.


20th IT Manager Institute held at Belmont University
We reached a milestone of sorts when we taught the 20th IT Manager Institute and the 5th held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Belmont is an excellent host and endorser of our IT Business Manager Certification (ITBMC). Cynthia McLane, Director of Belmont's Technology Learning Cooperative and a Certified IT Business Manager attended an Institute in 2005 and said this about the program, "I have been managing IT and an IT consultant for over 20 years and I found Mike's IT Manager Institute to be very helpful for me. Some of his tools are so practical and simple to use that I often wonder why I wasn't using something like them before. His approach is well organized and the program puts the entire area of IT management into easily understandable topics that can be used immediately upon finishing the class. He kept my attention the entire time and it was a great experience with tools I'll use for years to come."

21st IT Manager Institute held in South Africa

My 21st IT Manager Institute and 2nd in South Africa was held in November. This was a great class with IT managers and CIO's from Nigeria, South Africa, and Botswana. Two of the managers are from organizations who have had other managers from their company attend one of our Institutes in the US.

On Tuesday, we took a trip to SITA (State Information Technology Agency), the IT organization that supports the government of South Africa. Impressive visit and an organization with many challenges and opportunity, as most large IT organizations have.

First European Institute held in Ljubljana, Slovenia
We just completed our 22nd IT Manager Institute in a very special place - Ljubljana, Slovenia. I have fallen in love with the city of Ljubljana and can't wait to go back next year. It is a magical city full of life, very nice people, and interesting things to see and do. We had 19 students from Slovenia, Croatia, and Kosovo. It is a class that I will long remember.

Our host, Marko Raubar from Housing Co., took care of every detail to make this event one of the very best we have held. Thank you, Marko.

Aruba in December - now that's what we call great planning
We wrapped up the year with an IT Manager Institute in the Caribbean Islands, specifically Orangestad, Aruba. This is the 2nd Institute we have held in Aruba and the third in the Caribbean with our host, e-Solutions Caribbean. This was our 23rd Institute in 4 years. We are excited about the growth of the program, especially in regions around the world.

We always like going to the Caribbean. It's a great place for training and relaxing a bit, especially when the weather is cold in Tennessee.

Schedule an IT Manager Institute in your area for 2007
We are expanding our reach in 2007. If you have 6 or more IT managers in your company or if you are interested in hosting an open class in your city, contact me to discuss how you can bring the IT Manager Institute to your location. The IT Manager Institute and ITBMC certification program can be taught in 3, 4, or 5-day sessions.

We are specifically interested in the following US cities and countries:

Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Honolulu, HI
Las Vegas, NV
New York, NY
Orlando, FL
Philadelphia, PA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA

Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
England
Japan
Mexico
New Zealand
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
United Arab Emirates

Be a "Giver", not a "Taker"

I believe there are 2 types of people in the world - Givers and Takers. Both exist in all parts of society and in business. I have relatives who are of both type. Fortunately, most of my relatives are Givers, but there are a few Takers. I don't have much to do with the Takers, but I visit and do things with the Givers of my family a lot.

Up until 1986, I was a Taker. I didn't realize it at the time, but in retrospect it's clear to me that I was very much about doing things and pushing people in order for me to get ahead. Conversations with my boss usually led to questions like, "Why aren't you paying me more?", "When will I receive my next raise?", "Why isn't my bonus bigger?", etc.

Well, in 1986 all of that changed, and when I stopped focusing so much on Taking, my career took off in a very positive way. What happened was that our company had a major reorganization, and when this took place I landed in a new management role with about 25 people on my team supporting approximately 25 clients. We provided programming and software training services.

The amazing thing that occurred was that in this new role, I forgot so much about Mike Sisco and focused heavily on supporting my client, developing and supporting my employees, and doing the things that a manager should be doing. We had great success that first year and I was working too hard and having too much fun to worry about "what's not happening for me".

With success comes opportunity. The next year, I was promoted and became responsible for 4 more organizations like the one I had been managing. I now had the entire US client base responsibility for this particular software product. In another year, I had national responsibility for two more product lines so bigger responsibilities seemed to just keep coming to me, and with those new responsibilities came more pay and bigger titles.

I believe there is a direct correlation between the fact that I stopped focusing on "me" and started focusing more on clients and employees so that we were successful as a team. I truly believe it was at this point, sometime in 1986, that I transitioned from being a Taker to that of a Giver.

Since that time, I have tried very hard to give more than I look to receive, and the interesting thing I find is that I usually receive back much more than I expect. An example is the story that led to the fact that led to me holding  my IT Manager Institute in South Africa. In November, I held our 2nd class there.

It all started when Adenike Akinlade, a manager from Phillips Consulting in Nigeria contacted me to ask me to attend a seminar they were putting together for the banking industry of Nigeria in late 2004. The banking industry in Nigeria was entering into a significant consolidation phase due to new government regulations, and they wanted me to present a topic on the importance of an IT due diligence when consolidating companies.

The date of the seminar was November of 2004 and my schedule simply didn't permit me to attend. It was obvious from Adenike's reply when I declined their invitation that she was really interested in finding a credible source who had a lot of IT due diligence and assimilation experience, so I decided to make her company an offer.

The offer was that I would condense my 2-day IT Due Diligence and Assimilation class into a 1-hour presentation using an e-learning medium called Articulate on "The Importance of IT Due Diligence in an Acquisition". I set the fee and required prepayment before doing the work. Adenike and her company agreed and wired me the fee. As you know, there is a certain amount of trust that goes into any transaction where prepayment is required.

We received the wire transfer of funds so I set off to do the project. As I was developing the session, I thought it might be helpful for the seminar participants to have two of my ebooks on IT Due Diligence and IT Assimilation plus the process and tools that I developed to help me conduct an IT due diligence and assimilate companies. So, I sent Adenike a message and gave her an offer to create a CD from the material I would send her, if interested.

No extra charge, just added value for her seminar participants.

As I neared completion of the project, I thought of two additional things that might be of benefit to their seminar participants, so I sent Adenike another email message offering two more items. Again, at no additional charge.
    -  45-minute presentation on Key Considerations in an IT Due Diligence
    -  Case Study article of my Most Difficult IT Due Diligence to add to the Participant CD they were creating

Adenike was very grateful and liked the idea very much. Then, she asked me if I would be interested in sitting in on a Question and Answer session via conference call after my presentation was delivered to the seminar group. I thought it was a good idea and agreed, again at no additional charge to Phillips Consulting.

The point here is that I over-delivered and felt very good about helping another company provide substantial value to their seminar attendees, much more value than what was initially requested and contracted for.

The seminar went very well, even the Q&A conference call. I'll never forget my getting up at 3:00am, moving into my home office in pajamas, and waiting for the phone call from Nigeria to answer seminar attendee questions. It struck me at the time at just how international our company was becoming.

A few weeks later, Adenike contacted me again to ask if I would be interested in doing another session. Apparently, their seminar went so well that many who were not able to attend heard about it and were asking for a repeat session. I agreed for the same price we did the first one. This second seminar took no additional time or effort on my part other than getting up at 3:00am to sit in on the Q&A session of the 2nd seminar.

In early 2005, I decided to try to hold an IT Manager Institute in South Africa. Phillips Consulting has a Johannesburg, South Africa office so I contacted Adenike to see if they would be interested in hosting the class. They were, so we held the first class in South Africa in December 2005. Before the class was finished, they booked me again for 2006, and we have already scheduled a class for November of 2007.

The message here is that I believe I created a great partnership with an outstanding company in Phillips Consulting by "over delivering" in that initial project. It was a win-win for both of us and has led to even more opportunities of working together. I could have very easily just created the one session we agreed to, but I offered and was accepted to provide much more value for their seminar participants. A couple of people in the 2006 class attended that November 2004 seminar hosted by Phillips Consulting so the benefits keep on coming. Do you see what I mean by "receiving much more than you expect when you give?"

Over delivering can lead to more business, and the gratification you get when you know you are delivering more than what is expected is truly a positive thing. It's hard to explain, but it simply makes you feel very good about yourself and what you are doing.

I encourage you to look at this in your personal and professional life. What I've found since I became a Giver in 1986 is that I receive back much more than I expect, and it gives me tremendous self satisfaction knowing that I'm really helping others.

I wish you the best of success and a prosperous 2007.
Mike Sisco, ITBMC

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My gifts to you to start 2007 in a positive way
There are four free gifts for you and people in your network in this newsletter. Please feel free to forward our newsletters to anyone who might benefit from our Practical IT Manager Newsletter and these free gifts.   Best of success.

Gift 1  -  IT Management-101 ebook & 7 tools for new subscribers
                Click here to subscribe and download the free items

Gift 2  -  Fast Start for a New IT Manager session (See Page 2)

Gift 3  -  Assessment of IT: The First Step in Achieving IT Success
                Click here to download

Gift 4  -  Mike Sisco's IT Manager Articles Collection ebook
                Click here to download