... but I am not sure no one ever gets promoted either. Andy IT Guy had a good article up today called "You can use any vendor you want as long as it's Cisco", that talks about people who choose a Cisco solution without really considering if it is the best solution for your own unique needs. Andy was inspired by an article by John Maxwell talking about Henry Ford's reluctance to build any car that was not black. This refusal to change ultimately cost Ford business. Andy has some great quotes in the article, here are a few:

1. Evaluate them and make a choice based on what works best for you. If you don't answer these questions and just pick a solution based on who the vendor is, what it cost, it's the "industry standard", or how easy it is to deploy and maintain then you are not solving a problem, you're just wasting money.

2. It's our job and responsibility to make decisions based on what is best for the company. ... Just because it's considered 'industry standard' or it's made by a big company doesn't mean it's good for us.

and perhaps best of all:

3. So if you've fallen into this trap step back and take a long, hard look at your selection process and refine it to best meet your needs. If it turns out that you still choose Cisco or whoever you would have chosen by "default" then that's great. However, if you discover that there are other vendors who can meet you needs better then you have a feather to put in your hat.

Amen Andy! I wish that more people would have the insight to practice this. But the fact is that picking Cisco or IBM or what have you is the easy no risk choice. However, I also believe that picking the "safe choice" will come back to bite you now and again. I don't think it shows any initiative or concern about doing what is best for your company. I think the fast track to promotion and success is not choosing what the safe bet is, but what is the best bet for your needs.