Breaking The Cardboard Ceiling

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Breaking The Cardboard Ceiling

• From the Basement to the Boardroom
• H. Larry Eiring, CRM, FAI

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Our Roadmap Today

• The Good ol Days...or Where They?
• Challenges and an Evolution
• A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
• What it Takes Skill, Experience, Attitude
• Breaking Through
• Youre In...Now Stay There!

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The Way We Were

• Focused skills managing physical records
• Service oriented reactive to customer needs
• Modestly educated no graduate degree necessary
• Tactical and operational part of the facilities
  and operations team

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And Where We Worked
RECORDS
FILE ROOM
IS
THIS
WAY
ENTER!
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Then a Serious Thing Happened on the Way to the
File Room

• The economy became GLOBAL
• Time became a COMMODITY
• The need for COLLABORATION became critical
• Organizational KNOWLEDGE was found to be a
  STRATEGIC advantage
• TECHNOLOGY became a real tool that enabled and
  empowered all users
• COMPLIANCE to legal statutes and regulations for
  records hit the news

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New Challenges

• The world became electronic and digital
• Email became the primary form of communication
• Privacy and security for information became a
  necessity
• More and more information was being created
• Businesses were transitioning to business-driven
  solutions using technology as the tool
• Greatest invention in the last 250 years
• The Internet!

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A New Focus on Value

• Too much information
• Not enough time or resources
• Information Fatigue Syndrome
• Doing more with less is critical
• Efficient and effective go together
• Its all about providing VALUE to stay ahead

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A Key Asset
CAPITAL
KEY ASSETS OFTHEORGANIZATION
INFORMATION
LABOR
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Information Becomes A Valuable Asset

• Properly managed....
• Information has a tangible value as a key asset
  of the organization
• Can support and protect the organization
• Creates competitive and strategic advantage
• Mitigates liability
• Improperly managed...
• Information can destroy an organization

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Our Lifetime Opportunity Is Here

• Too much information not enough time and
  resources
• Executives need HELP managing this asset
• IT can only do part of the job technology
• Compliance and Risk Management are new areas of
  concern
• Policy, process and technology now are equally
  important
• A realization that managing the information asset
  requires professional management

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Who Is Worthy?

• The key is in providing value to the organization
  that supports its strategic mission and is
  lasting in impact.
• Anyone in the organization can do it!
• Why not YOU?

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Can You Break Through the Cardboard Ceiling?
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Needed New Skills

• Presentation is everything
• Tactful to a fault
• Articulate at all times
• Strategic in thinking
• Multi-multi tasking required
• Business savvy gets you noticed

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Needed Broad Knowledge

• Knowledgeable in
• Records
• Archives
• Information technology
• Compliance
• Risk mitigation
• Business management.
• Working understanding of
• The integration of records, document management,
  email and other communication systems
• How the organization benefits from the strategic
  value of the information in its possession

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Needed Diverse Experience

• Different areas of operation
• Finance
• Legal
• Operations
• Multiple industry perspective
• Corporate
• Manufacturing
• Consulting
• Broad managerial roles
• Supervisory
• Management
• Senior staff
• Diverse personal interactions
• Multi-cultural
• Multi-educational

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Needed A New Attitude!

• Confident
• Belief in yourself and your abilities
• Positive
• Bringing solutions not problems
• Collaborative
• The collective effort of the team is most
  important
• Open minded
• No idea is a bad idea
• Respectful
• We are all human after all

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Needed Thinking BIG!

• Create a vision
• Think in conceptual terms
• Maintain a strategic perspective
• Have and share big audacious goals
• Connect your vision and plans directly to the
  core mission of the organization
• Communicate concisely the whats, whys and
  whens

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Needed Leadership Ability

• Confidence - is a must
• Commitment - goes without saying
• Courage - to take a reasonable risk
• Character to stand behind your vision
• Credibility to ensure you are heard
• Dedication to task and people
• Passion is the solar fuel!

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The Strategic Circle - 2000
HR
Finance
ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION
Legal
IT
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The Strategic Circle Evolves
Records
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The Strategic Circle - 2007
HR
Finance
ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION
Legal
IT
Risk Management
Info Compliance
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To Open The Boardroom Door

• Drive the information evolution
• Be the architect of the future
• Provide value from the information
• Prove yourself as a leader
• Be proactive
• Be a key player in risk management efforts
• See technology as a tool...not a solution
• Think strategically

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Staying at the Table

• Continually provide value to the organization
• Build professional alliances into the future
• Be an advocate for excellence
• Maintain your vision and passion positively!

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The Steps to Success!
ENTER!
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A Chronicle of Success (mostly)
1980

• Industrial Engineer
• Supervisor, Microfilm Department
• Records Manager
• Asst. V.P. Information Resources
• Senior Manager, Records and Information Resources
• Director, Information Resources
• National Manager, Records and Risk Management

27 Years
2007
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Questions, Comments ?Leiring_at_littler.com