Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Over my career, I have adopted the role of skeptic. Whenever anything new comes along, I look at it carefully and I must become convinced there is a compelling reason to adopt it. I also, however, turn the same critical eye to my own practices; I seek to convince myself that what I am doing or what I am thinking is really as I perceive it.

It seems counterintuitive that abandoning passwords would make system more secure, but there are reasons why network administrators may choose this options.

"Maybe it will go away" is a strategy leaders employ on occasion. How they act when it doesn't tells you most of what you need to know about them.

Humans like to assign things to categories. Nature does not. The more clearly we understand that, the better decisions we make.

Unless you work in IT, there are no IT emergencies as urgent as phishing attempts suggest,

Students are always learning in you classroom. It may not be what you intend, but they are learning.

The last generation of educators have been trained that the “outcomes” matter. The measurable outcome that will be the indicator of learning is defined and producing it is all that matters. In reality, learning is in the messy thinking, questioning, drafting, and improving that all learners experience.

“Scientists are the destroyers of myths and sometimes the myths they destroy are there own.”
― Charles Darwin

“The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.”
― Charles Darwin

When you hire a narcissist to lead, you are doing long-term damage to your organization.

If you are a leader who believes you know "the" way to success, you are wrong.

“A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, - a mere heart of stone.”
― Charles Darwin They ought to, but they don't.

There are different perceptions that can be applied to the same actions: What the leader perceives as “doing what is necessary for the organization,” the members perceives as “bullying.”

Skilled and competent individuals can leave organizations in which a bully is in charge, thus weakening the organization.

“It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.”
― Charles Darwin

“To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.”
― Charles Darwin

"Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.”
― Richard P. Feynman

Feynman sure did understand science:
https://bit.ly/3L2DXWz

When we stumble upon a paradox, everything that leads to it makes sense, everything has been done right, everyone has answered questions truthfully, so we are accurate and true, but there is a contradiction.

Once you have a way of thinking, you attempt to solve all problems through that method.