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Kwanzaa Day 7 of 7 |  #Imani  (Faith): Today 2025 is officially behind us. For many, including those in my industry, 2025 was tough. I'm not sure how one deals with the complexities of life (aka 'adulting'), or finds the will to look forward into 2026 confidently, without having Faith as a foundation. To keep my faith strong, I've been part of a men's bible study group for many years. In 2025, when searching for passages for us to study, I've been using AI to help. There are many that are passionately against using AI as part of reading/studying the Bible, but I've found it to be very helpful.  I don't use AI to give me "answers" in order to improve my "understanding" of the Bible - I use it to give me thought-provoking "questions" in order to improve my "engagement" with the Bible. I've even built my own Bible Study AI Agent so my conversations are tailored to the guardrails and boundaries and Bible websites that I'm comfortable with.  There are folks starting 2026 today with some heavy burdens. Let's pray for their Imani as they go thru this season, knowing that their faith will be stronger on the other side of it. See my blog for more  #Kwanzaa  posts >  https://lnkd.in/eAqb8x-W   #HabariGani   #KwanzaaPrompts

Kwanzaa Day 6 of 7 | #Kuumba  (Creativity): Believe it or not, before I became a super nerd, I used to write poetry. 🤓 I can't explain what caused my season of poetry-writing back then, nor can I explain why I haven't written any more poetry in the many many years since. But, today's principle made me go back and look thru some of my stuff - I found one I'd written called "When Women Sing" that talks about the beautiful melody of the female voice. It's too long to post on this platform, but I'm particularly fond of its ending: "...And I just bet God sits and rests And begins to dream When Women Sing..." Kuumba is about the power of creativity, and how it can inspire and uplift. It can take so many forms, and even now that my work is almost entirely technical, I still find ways to bring creativity to my tasks. (Have you seen some of my old PowerPoints?) :) In 2026 I'm thinking of [re-] trying to learn the guitar. Seems like that might be a good balance after a day of building AI solutions in Azure. LOL How about you - any plans to be more creative in 2026? See my blog for more #Kwanzaa  posts > https://lnkd.in/eAqb8x-W #HabariGani   #KwanzaaPrompts

Kwanzaa Day 5 of 7 |  #Nia  (Purpose): In 2012, I wrote an article called “ The 3 T’s of Giving Back to the IT Community ”. It was a piece about the intentionality behind giving back to the community - in this case, the IT community.  I was reminded of the article when I thought about Purpose. In the article, one of the things I highlighted was the concept of "Teaching", and I mentioned the year I was a volunteer instructor for a high school STEM/computer competition team (we won a national award that year, BTW). Sharing my knowledge with kids from my Community, and watching them succeed, was definitely a purpose-driven initiative for me, and would have been a rewarding experience for me even if we didn't win. (...but we did win. Did I mention that earlier?) 😉 Nia reminds me that our collective vocation is to build and develop our community. For me, that means using my skills and experiences to empower others—whether through speaking engagements, mentoring, or writing. Each “T” in that article (Talk, Teach, Text) represents a way to share knowledge and create opportunities for others to thrive. I'm hoping 2026 is a year we all can gain more clarity and focus regarding our Purpose, so that everything we do contributes to strengthening the Community and inspiring others [especially our Youth] to live out their purpose. See my blog for more  #Kwanzaa  posts >  https://lnkd.in/eAqb8x-W   #HabariGani   #KwanzaaPrompts

[Originally published here on BIT - Blacks In Technology] As IT professionals, we spend many years developing our crafts, and investing in our careers. Along the way, we have all probably been fortunate enough to get help from many sources, including colleagues and mentors who decided to take the time to share their knowledge and experience with us. As a result, we grow in our profession, and for most of us we inevitably ask the question – what can I do to give back, and make the same investment in others that someone made in me? Fortunately, there are many ways in which we can ‘return the favor’ in the IT community, and by doing so, make a positive impact on our industry. Talk For some, the thought of public speaking is frightening. Ironically, the best way to get over that fear is to do more of it. And if you can overcome your hesitations about public speaking, you’ll find that it’s both a great way to share what you know with others, as well as demonstrate your own level of expertise. You can speak at local events relevant to your field, and talk about topics that you’ve dealt with on your job which might resonate with others in your line of work. In addition to sharing your expertise, you can also share your experience. There are many local organizations who would love to have someone come speak to their group about the positive and negative aspects of your career or industry. You could speak to high school groups with students who are considering going into the IT field. Or speak to members of non-profit organizations interested in facilitating knowledge-share session on IT topics. Perhaps even your own religious or social groups would be interested in having you speak on a topic. Teach Giving away your knowledge may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s actually a great way to gain a relevant perspective on what you’ve learned over the years, and helps foster your own credibility as an expert in your field. Not only that, but studies show that your own understanding on a subject increases when you attempt to teach it to someone else. In addition to these benefits, there are many opportunities to teach what you know to others in your local community. Many schools are looking for technical professionals to serve as an instructor for their students, whether in the classroom or online. And youth organizations like TechCorps or BDPA HSCC are always looking for volunteers to teach youth computer skills that they can use to pursue careers in technology. Text No, I don’t mean pull out your phone and mentor someone via SMS. But I do suggest that by sharing our expertise and experience through writing, we can find another avenue in which to give back. In today’s world, one of the easiest ways to do this is by starting a blog . This can come in many forms. You may find that you simply want to keep an online ‘journal’ of your saga as an IT professional. Or you may take the more technical route and share technology-specific information about problems you’ve solved , and how you did it. Both have value to others who may find your blog, and you may soon find your writings being followed by others who are interested in your perspectives. Writing can also come by way of social media – learn to stay involved in social forums like Twitter, LinkedIn Groups, or any other online platform where other IT professionals come together to discuss issues and challenges in your industry. Not only can you learn from these forums, but your participation and contributions can be helpful to others following a career path similar to your own. There’s no limit to the number of creative ways you can find for giving back to the IT community. Pick any one and get started – you’ll find that it not only gives you a better perspective on your own experiences, but helps strengthen and grow our IT community as well.

Kwanzaa Day 4 of 7 | #Ujamaa  (Cooperative Economics): This principle is about the importance of building together. This year, we ventured forward on a commercial real estate investment with partners that we've been collaborating with over the last few years. For us, it wasn't just about a simple ROI calculation. It was also about creating networking opportunities & generating legacy wealth. Ujamaa reminds us that economic strength comes from shared effort and mutual support. So, we partnered with others who share our same vision for growth. Our belief that when we pool our resources and work together, we can create something bigger than any one of us could achieve alone. I’m excited to see how this partnership develops and how we can continue to model cooperative economics in ways that strengthen our community.

Kwanzaa Day 3 of 7 | #Ujima  (Collective Work and Responsibility): In 2025 we became sports parents, as our daughter played on her season-winning school volleyball team, and went on to play Club volleyball as well. When I think about collective work & responsibility, the idea of parents working together to manage the responsibilities and logistics of raising a kid comes to mind. We take our marriage and our parenting seriously. And when it comes to managing schedules and activities, or nurturing her academic growth and personal character, we’ve learned that collaboration is key. Ujima calls us to solve problems collectively, and in our home, that means leaning on each other’s strengths and working as a team. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. When I extend these principles outside my home (the little Village), it takes the form of mentoring youth in the Community (the big Village) through my service org (see Day 1 post). I stand side-by-side with others who believe in civic responsibility and shared cooperation. I've got a feeling we'll continue to need that collective work ethic in 2026.

Kwanzaa Day 2 of 7 | #Kujichagulia  (Self-Determination): In 2025 I put some thought into how I wanted to "define my path". Spending time thinking about what kind of man and leader and mentor and husband and father I want to be, both in personal and professional spaces. Years ago, I wrote this article: “Everything I Learned About Self-Promotion I Learned from The Princess Bride" (link below). I tried to share light-hearted lessons on confidently owning your narrative and building your brand. It speaks to how self-determination isn’t just about ambition—it’s about having clarity and unapologetic focus as you decide how you want to show up in the world. My article can be found here: Everything I Know | Teamwork Cowbell [Remembering this article was also bitter-sweet, as The Princess Bride is of course one of the masterpieces of the late Rob Reiner. I pray for the strength of his family during their current tragedy.] As I move into 2026, I’m committed to continuing this journey of self-definition. Looking forward to seeing how I develop. What kind of self-journey are you hoping for in this coming year? See more of my posts on #Kwanzaa  > https://lnkd.in/ez4_jXG5   #HabariGani   #KwanzaaPrompts

Kwanzaa Day 1 of 7 | #Umoja  (Unity): As I reflected on how I've lived out Umoja in 2025, I think back to my trip to New Orleans to attend this year's national conference for the 100 Black Men of America, Inc.   It was such an overwhelming feeling seeing representatives from different chapters across the country come together to share successes from the year and collaborate on ways to make the organization, and our Community, stronger and more unified. Each of our chapters have their own local agendas regarding how they can best impact young lives in the specific cities and towns they live in. But we also understand that convening each year at the national level is about leveraging our collective strength and remembering that we all share a unified vision about how to strengthen the community through mentoring. I'm looking forward to continuing to support the 100 Black Men of Central Ohio, Inc.  in 2026. See my blog for more #Kwanzaa  posts > https://lnkd.in/g7eEQArZ   #KwanzaaPrompts   #HabariGani

After over 4 years of weekly, then monthly, live webinars where Teams enthusiasts like myself joined to geek out on Microsoft Teams features and best practices.... it's time to retire the CUTE4Teams show. Why? Among other reasons, I've had several role changes since starting the show so many years ago. At this point, as a Microsoft Copilot specialist, and now an Azure OpenAI developer, I'm several degrees removed from my days when I specialized in helping customers adopt Microsoft Teams. While I'm still a Teams lover (I'm obsessed with the productivity gains of the new combined chat/channels UI!), my time and efforts are spent in the AI development space these days. You may still see some random Teams goodness from me in some future video or blog post, but the regularly scheduled CUTE4Teams (Champions Using Teams Effectively) for now is signing off. To all of you Teams enthusiasts out there - stay CUTE! :)

Starting in Dec 2025, the Microsoft Teams plugin for Stream Deck will be removed . I am sad. :( I get it - not too many geeks like me are using this integration among the millions of Microsoft Teams users. But, for those geeks that are using it... man, we use it every day, all day! But, as I've said before, all good things come to an end . At least we have the memories of all the good times... let's take a look:

https://aka.ms/cap4copilot In this episode, we explain what Copilot is, how to use it in different applications like Microsoft Teams, Edge, and Outlook, and its benefits like summarizing documents and emails, generating images, and more. We also discuss the different versions of Copilot, including the free version and the Microsoft 365 version, and the future of Copilot, including upcoming features and enhancements.