IT people tend to be intelligent, dedicated, and well meaning. Yet, when compared to other professions of similar education, we often do not receive credit for our efforts, and receive less respect from our fellow workers then our due.

There are many reasons for this:
* We are detail oriented, and tend to ignore the big picture as less important.
* We see ourselves as service professionals, and view ‘putting up with it’ as a regular part of customer service.
* We want to work on the real technical problems; conflict with people is just too much work.

This talk strives to provide only practical techniques. This problem isn’t about our personal well-being; when technical people are overlooked, business make poor decisions. If you are in a position of leadership, you are expected to step up and defend your teams and projects.  If you don’t, it’s not just your raise that was lost, but the team you manage will also suffer.

The truth is difficult conversations are a part of life, as well as business, and we need to develop the tools for dealing with them. Let’s talk about what has worked, and what has not, throughout my career as a Director.

John is the Directory of the Altius Institute for Biomedical Science