It’s been a long time since I have been able to read for pleasure. All of my reading tends to be on my couch at home in the evening. It seems since the Affordable Care Act was passed in March of 2010, I have only had time to read articles, white papers, webpages regarding the act, and parts of the act itself. None of which I’d consider pleasurable reading and all of which I did at home because I get too distracted to read in the office. By the time the special session of the legislature convened in November, I felt at least conversant in the areas of the health insurance exchange and related matters. When the special session finished and the legislators decided to allow the Federal government to operate the exchange rather than the state, I was relieved in many ways but that’s a whole other blog. It meant I’d get my evenings back to read something I wanted to read like horse magazines, Star Wars novels, and whatever else catches my eye. 

For Christmas, my oldest son, Clay, gave me the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Biographies aren’t at the top of my reading list but the Christmas break provided a little extra time so I read all 656 pages of it. Prior to reading the book, I didn’t know much of anything about Jobs. While I’ve always been a fan of most Apple products, I have never cared about their corporate structure or leadership. 

I enjoyed learning how the technologies evolved from the ground up and I enjoyed learning about product development in a large corporation. I didn’t enjoy reading about Steve Jobs’ egomania and mistreatment of others. Why mince words - he was a complete jerk. From the accounts in the book, he demeaned his staff by yelling, using vulgarities when referring to their work, pushed them to the breaking point, and then took credit for their work. He didn’t invent anything himself but would take an idea the engineers had and then have them refine it until it became the final product. That was his “genius” if you want to call it that. I wonder what they would’ve produced if he’d been a positive leader. 

Thinking back to sports, I don’t think our team played harder when a coach ridiculed and shouted obscenities at us. It may have motivated us for the moment but it he didn’t earn respect over the long haul. Certainly, John Wooden never behaved that way, and his teams won more championships than anyone. 

The point of this blog is to say that we don’t ever want a culture at ITD that promotes or allows negative behaviors. While all of our guiding principles apply here, two of them are most relevant.

• Respect: We treat everyone with dignity and respect. 
• Achievement: We develop quality solutions that best address the needs of our state. We are committed to delivering results – on time and within budget.

On behalf of the management, we appreciate and value all the work produced by the staff at ITD, but more importantly, we appreciate you.