Leadership, Entrepreneurism, and Professional Development for Technical Professionals

Welcome to L.E.A.P Think! I’m really excited to have the opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas about professional development with you.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

So, what is L.E.A.P. Think?

I think the description sums it up nicely.

“L.E.A.P. Think will explore ideas, advice, tips, tricks, and questions around the topics of leadership, entrepreneurism, and professional development. Many posts will be of interest to a wide range of careers and professions, but my goal will be to explore and present topics that are particularly relevant and interesting to technical professionals.  Technical people like to joke that the correct answer to any question is “it depends.” L.E.A.P Think embraces this notion. I won’t be focused on answers but rather on questions that force you to think and explore how the topics we discuss apply to your life and a career. From time to time I’ll nudge you to act and grow rather than simply sit and read. I hope you enjoy the conversation.”

Why am I writing this blog?

That’s an interesting question. In a roundabout way the blog will probably do a better job of spelling out why I’m writing it than anything I can say here and now. But here are a few reasons I’m interested in blogging on the topic of professional development. First, I still like technology, but I don’t love it quite as much as I used to. I’m still pretty darn good with SQL Server, but to be honest staying up late reading books about the SQL Server optimizer is more likely to put me to sleep than fascinate me. Then again, most things put me to sleep at night these days because I’m quickly turning into an old geezer. But a decade ago? Heck, I loved reading about topics like the optimizer. What do I read now? Well, I still read a lot of fiction, but most of the non-fiction I read tends to be on topics related to leadership, entrepreneurism, and ideas. I’m at a point in my life where I’m more fascinated by questions than answers. Today, the books I read tend to help me refine my ideas and come up with new ideas.

I’m also writing this blog because I tend to think best when I’m writing. I find that I often need to write my thoughts down to better refine them and understand them. I hope you enjoy this blog, but in a way I’m writing this blog as much for me as for you. I’m trying to refine my philosophy of leadership and business so that I can apply it to my own life and my businesses. I hope to help you as much or more than I help myself.

Am I qualified to write about this topic?

Probably not. However, I’ve matured to the point where I’m more aware of what I don’t know rather than proud of what I do know. There are many people who could do a better job of writing this blog than I will. In fact, I plan to have guest bloggers write posts on a pretty regular basis as part of different series or to explore concepts I’m not an expert on. In addition, I plan to interview people on a regular basis. I’ll be sharing different aspects of my background as we get to know each other better, and I’m also going to ask, beg, plead, and cajole you to share your thoughts and ideas with me and other readers. I’m the central voice of the blog, but I shouldn’t be the only voice.   

Will anyone be interested in this blog?

Yep, I think so. I’ve bounced the idea around with a lot of people. I’m convinced that many people in the Microsoft technical community have great interest in these topics. I’m wrong at least once or twice ever decade, so I could be wrong this time.  What do you think? Are you interested? Do you think other people will be interested as well?

Let the conversation begin!