Kim Willenbring

No Bench. No Backup. No Plan. I was on a call with a Director of Mainframe Services this week. They’re looking for a z/OS Systems Programmer. He told me their current Sys Prog is retiring in six to eight months. They’ve already been searching for a replacement for three. HR has sent candidates, but none with the depth they need. And with every week that passes, the runway for knowledge transfer gets shorter. So I asked him: “Do you have any junior or mid-level Sys Progs who could be trained up?” No. They run very thin. No bench. No backup. Then I asked: “Does HR ever partner with outside recruiters for roles like this?” “No,” he said. The company believes their internal recruiter can handle it. I see this all the time. Internal HR teams are smart, capable, and hardworking. But mainframe recruiting requires deep specialization, you have to understand the ecosystem, the behaviors, the career paths, and the tiny nuances that separate a “solid candidate” from someone who can truly step into a mission-critical role. So I asked him one last question: “What happens if HR can’t find someone before your Sys Prog retires?” He said they’d probably have to bring in a consultant just to keep things running until they can find the right person. Here’s the thing: Most companies wait until it’s almost too late. Not because they’re careless, but because they believe the search will be simple. Mainframe searches are not simple. If you’re struggling to find the z/OS or mainframe support your organization needs, reach out. This is the work I’ve done for 25+ years. I know the talent, the skill sets, the market, and the “purple squirrels” most teams never see. If your internal team is stuck, I can help you get unstuck. Let’s talk.  #Mainframe #IBM #ZOS #CICS #DB2 #Headhunter

68

9 Comments

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a key guardrail for secure access. This guide explains core IAM components, how they protect resources, and why they are foundational to Zero Trust security strategies. Read the breakdown: http://oal.lu/Q1obO #IAM #ZeroTrust #Security

1

In this clear guide, you’ll learn how to secure Wi-Fi and cellular networks so your organization stays protected no matter where your users connect. We will also show you best practices for WiFi and cellular security to prepare you for your career. In the CISSP exam and in real leadership roles, you’ll be judged on how well you design wireless defenses that protect your organization everywhere your users connect. Read the full article here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gsypwqbM

2

“I’ll just handle it myself.” It sounds efficient. It feels productive. But often, this instinct is rooted not in helpfulness, but in fear and insecurity. I catch myself doing this at home with my spouse and kids. I tell myself I’m just being efficient, but under the surface, the real reasons are often: Fear that the task won’t be done the way I want. Desire to be seen as the world’s greatest husband or father. But here’s the cost: By doing everything myself, I rob others of the opportunity to grow, contribute, and succeed. Take my kids, for example. Sure, I could clean the kitchen or fix the thing faster on my own. But if I always step in, they never get the chance to practice those skills. I can guide them, support them, and encourage them, but they need the space to try, stumble, and improve. This isn’t just a parenting insight. It’s a leadership one. At work, we fall into the same trap. We withhold delegation. We swoop in to fix things. We don’t always trust our teammates to do it "right." But in doing so, we stifle their growth and limit our own capacity as leaders. Great teams don’t emerge from one person doing everything. They thrive when ownership is shared, trust is extended, and success is celebrated together. Have you ever realized that doing it all yourself was holding others back? What helped you shift?

I’ve noticed an interesting paradigm in my professional career that I’m trying to articulate and come to terms with. There are generally two camps when it comes to professional communication. Some folks expect requesters to perform due diligence, e.g. reread the message before sending, proofread, get the facts correct. It’s a form of respect for the recipient’s time. Other folks accept the imperfections of the world and roll with the punches. Someone called you the wrong name? Whatever. Typos in the request? You get the gist. Clearly AI generated message? Fine. Move on. I suppose both are reasonable philosophies, though I personally fall into the former camp. But I’ve noticed that when you reach a certain level in your career, you get to have your cake and eat it too. You can send off a half-formed email/Slack, make mistakes that a single reread would have caught, copy-and-paste AI slop or allow an AI agent to write autonomously for you, while also having the privilege to be hypercritical when someone below your status does the exact same thing. Hierarchy can determine who owes diligence to whom. I don’t think most people are even aware of this communication subtext and that is what makes it worth pondering… Have you noticed this pattern? Which camp do you fall into?

14

1 Comment

A lot of operational inefficiency comes from processes that should’ve been retired years ago. Temporary workarounds become permanent. Extra validation steps pile up. People adapt to the friction instead of fixing it. Then everyone wonders why things feel slow and overcomplicated. Most environments don’t need more process. They need cleanup.

4

I saved a client down under over $1,000/year last month, and all I did was move their domains to a different registrar. They had a couple dozen .com domains at one of the big legacy registrars, paying ~$63 AUD per domain per year. The new registrar charges ~$15 AUD. Same domains, same DNS, same everything. About half of what they were paying was for "Full Domain Privacy and Protection," which is a fancy name for something that's been included for free at every major registrar since 2018. After GDPR hit, ICANN required all gTLD registrars to redact personal info from WHOIS records by default. Your name, email, address, phone... already hidden. The modern registrars just include this at no charge because that's the baseline now, while the legacy ones still charge $20-30/year for it because nobody's questioned the invoice. And "Protection"? That's transfer lock and auto-renew, both of which are free standard features everywhere. They just bundled free defaults under a name that sounds too important to uncheck. Remember when registrars charged $50-100/year for SSL certificates before Let's Encrypt made them free? Domain privacy is the same story, just running about five years behind. How many line items on your domain invoices are you paying for just because they've always been there?

6

2 Comments

If digital transformation fails because of misalignment resonates with you, I'd like to pose the real question: How do you know when your organization is misaligned? It often does not reveal itself during planning. Everything seems aligned in meetings, discussions over slide decks, and strategy documents. The breakdown shows up in execution: • Leadership (as we all) tend to focus on outcomes, but teams are stuck figuring out HOW to use the tools. • Technology is deployed, but adoption is inconsistent or superficial • Operations create workarounds instead of changing workflows • Training happens once, but behavior never really changes At that point, frustration gets labeled as “resistance.” But it’s rarely resistance. It’s a signal: The system makes sense in theory, but not in practice. Alignment isn’t about agreement at the top. It’s about clarity at every level of the organization. Before fixing the technology, it’s worth asking: Do people actually understand how this changes their work? That’s where transformation either starts to work—or quietly starts to fail.

9

2 Comments

The biggest IT mistake I made early in my leadership role? Assuming technical clarity equals organizational clarity. It doesn’t. The systems were documented. The tools were configured. The backups were running. But when something failed, confusion surfaced instantly: • Who decides? • Who communicates? • Who escalates? • Who informs management? Technology wasn’t the weak point. Coordination was. That experience changed how I approach IT strategy. Now I focus on clarity of ownership before complexity of tools. Question: What causes more chaos during incidents in your experience? ⬇️ Comment with: • “Technical gaps” • “Communication gaps” • “Both” #ITLeadership #CyberSecurity #DecisionMaking

2

LEADERSHIP - Isn't about having ALL the answers... Its about creating the SPACE for others to find theirs.

3

Great thoughts from Ginny. Most of us grew up chasing goals: grades, promotions, titles. And that mindset served us well. But once you're established in your career, something shifts. It’s no longer about just achieving the next milestone. Now it’s about commitment: → What impact do you want to have? → What kind of leader do you want to be? → Where do you want to go, and who do you want to bring with you? Goals get you moving. Commitment shapes who you become. #Leadership #CareerGrowth #MindsetShift

2

1 Comment

Attackers have a new favorite entry point: the browser. As enterprises go cloud-first and employees spend most of their time in the browser, the old playbook no longer works. Endpoint agents can't detect threats if there’s no download, while network-layer tools can't see what renders inside the browser tab. This is why SquareX always says: the browser has become the new endpoint. And it’s exactly why browser-native attacks are on the rise—and why your defenses need to shift up. Tune in to listen to our founder Vivek Ramachandran’s segment on the DomainTools Breaking Badness Cybersecurity Podcast with Kali Fencl: https://hubs.ly/Q03s6Kct0 #cybersecurity #browsersecurity #enterprisesecurity

24

I give long-distance lovers and change managers the same advice: Start every interaction with positive energy and intention. When you begin on the upswing of what’s right, you’re far more capable of rolling with the inevitable punches that come with what’s wrong. Whether it’s a system rollout, governance reset, platform overhaul, or cultural transformation — your steadfastness in positivity, belief, and intention makes those around you feel safe and secure. It’s easier to win if you start ahead. #Leadership #ChangeManagement #DigitalTransformation #MindsetMatters #HealthcareIT #ai #it #inspiration #motivation

24

3 Comments

This time of year is one of the few chances most of us get to properly wind down. Not check emails “just in case”. Not half-switch off. Actually stop. I’ve learned over the years that stepping away isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s part of doing the job well. If you don’t pause occasionally, everything starts to feel urgent and you lose perspective. Time away does a few simple but important things: • It reconnects you with people who matter more than work • It clears your head • It helps you come back calmer, sharper and clearer The work will still be there in January. You’ll deal with it better if you’ve taken a proper break. So, if you can, log off. Spend time with family and friends. And recharge those batteries. It’s not indulgent. It’s sensible. #leadership #consulting #WorkLifeBalance #recharge #AgileCadence

25

3 Comments

question for you folks, with regards to enhancing my attractiveness as a senior manager/leader in my field, would you think I should: A) get my PMP certification? B) get some kind of management focused AI certification? C) get an up to date certification on Cybersecurity like a CISM cert or something similar. I'm intimately familiar with all of these topics from an experience and current use perspective, any of these would just me studying on what the cert wants to hear.

Compliance doesn’t have to be complex. We help organizations achieve SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS readiness through automation, continuous monitoring, and audit-ready controls.

2