IT Recognition & Leadership

 A post showed up in my LinkedIn feed recently that stopped me in my tracks. It got me thinking about the health and well-being of IT teams, and more specifically, the people I lead.

I have spent 30 years in IT here in Silicon Valley. In that time, one thing has remained stubbornly consistent: IT teams are taken for granted. We are the glue holding complex processes together, and most of the time, nobody notices until something breaks.

I rose through the ranks the hard way. Front-line support, increasing responsibility, and eventually leading the very teams I once was a part of. That experience gave me something invaluable: a deep appreciation for what these people go through every single day.

Here is what I believe without reservation. The head of any IT department has one non-negotiable responsibility above all others: protect your people. That means managing their workload, shielding them from unnecessary chaos, and creating conditions where they can actually do their best work without burning out.

At my previous company, where I spent 13 years and built what I genuinely consider a world-class support organization, the executives largely took IT for granted. The old saying, "if it is working, we are doing our jobs," sounds harmless enough, but it erases all the effort, planning, and late nights that make continuity of service possible. Recognition rarely came from within.

The moment that sticks with me most happened at a sales kickoff meeting around 2014. A guest speaker from VMware stood in front of 150 people and asked one simple question: Have you thanked your IT team today? It took someone from outside the company to start a conversation that should have been happening all along. The SVP of Sales asked me to stand and be recognized. It felt good, but it also felt like it should not have required a guest speaker to make it happen.

Recognizing people for good work should not need a catalyst. It should be instinctive.

But this is not really about IT getting a moment in the spotlight. It is about something bigger. Every experience I have had, every leader who invested in me, every difficult situation I navigated, helped shape the way I lead today. I did not get into technology for applause. I got into it because I genuinely love what it makes possible for people.

Burnout is real. It is quiet, it is cumulative, and by the time you see it, you are often too late. Flexibility and empathy are not soft skills. They are the foundation of a functional, sustainable team. Nobody on my team should ever feel overlooked or worn down without someone in their corner.

That is the standard I hold myself to. Every day.