The CTO Handbook/Job Manual: A Wealth of Reference Material and Thought Leadership on What Every Manager Needs to Know to Lead Their Technology Team

When work gets done, problems occur. This is a lesson I learned from my father.

When in college I worked on weekends doing odd jobs for money. Cutting wood was one of those jobs. On a Minnesota winter day, I was in the woods cutting trees into firewood. One of the trees was large and needed to be taken to a clearing before it could be cut into logs. I tied the log to my father's pickup with a log chain. I jumped in the pickup, put the truck in gear, and pushed the gas pedal. Nothing happened. I revved the truck. Still nothing. Finally, there was a loud snap. Puzzled, I looked down and noticed the parking brake was engaged. I had broken the truck axel.

Walking home through the new-fallen Minnesota snow, I went through my options: run away, cry, plead for mercy. In the distance was my parents' farm, my father walking through the yard. When I approached, he asked what happened. I told him. He paused and looked down. Then, looking back at me, he said, "If you do nothing, you'll make no mistakes…Let's go look at the pickup." It's a lesson that I've applied to our business.

We have five guidelines we use to deal with problems:

• When you bring your manager a question or a problem, bring along a few possible solutions. Be ready to tell your manager which solution you think is best and why. Don't use the manager's time to think through the problem if this is something you could do beforehand.

• Prepare your manager for bad news early. This allows your manager time to help you, defend you, or prepare other parties for what is to come.

• Take blame. This shows your character in the fires of a crisis. Skip the sackcloth, ashes, and flogging. Once you've owned and defined the problem, cut quickly to finding a solution.

• Listen. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. When you sense someone is upset, or miscommunication has taken place, listen without reviewing in your mind what you plan to say next. If appropriate, make sure you've understood the issues by restating what the person said.

• Act with character, be committed, and divide and conquer. Adversity tests character and shows others how we are "wired" at our core. Behave with character and be committed to solving the customer's problem. If you lose heart when adversity comes, your only strength will be weakness.