Leading From The Stacks: Hipster in a headdress

This is the ninth post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

I love TED talks. I know that I have posted or linked to a bunch of them in this series. I'm a visual and auditory learner so they have been a great resource for me. Here is one that I thought would be fascinating, but I actually found that I had some issues with it. Its David Logan, talking about his theories on Tribal Leadership:

Logan discuses his five levels of tribal groups: 
Stage one: Life sucks. These are gangs, criminals and loners who feel that life sucks and life will always suck.
Stage two: My life sucks. His example is a long line at the DMV.
Stage three: My life is great. Emphasis on my.
Stage four: Unify individuals. Looking at tribes of highly desirable corporate jobs, like zappos or google.
Stage five: Life is great. Unifying everyone. Such as the reconciliation of South Africa.

Logan's definition of leadership is nudging your organization towards the fifth stage.

My disappointment lies in the fact that I started watching this video with some pretty high standards. I thought this was going to be coming from the perspective of a anthropologist, looking at actual tribes. Instead, this was a business professor talking about organizational culture. Which is an important conversation to have. But why can't we just call it organizational culture? I guess tribal leadership is a bit sexier, but if feels like cultural appropriation. Kind of like a hipster in a headdress.

I think an actual examination of leader styles would be fascinating. As an undergraduate student, we discussed Ujamaa, which is African Socialism. Ujamaa is a swahili word for extended family. African socialism grew out of the idea that what is good for the tribe is good for the individual. European socialism tends to focus more on the relationship between the worker (proletariat) and the factory owner (capitalist). Comparing the two is a look at industrial tribes versus non-industrial tribes. There is a lot to learn from both, but personally, I like to think of the library organization more of a family setting than a factory. And so ideas of Ujamaa makes more sense. What is good for the individual library worker is good for the organization. 

Leading From The Stacks: Dance dance revolution

This is the eighth post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.

- Emma Goldman

The above video clip is awesome. For many reasons. First, its goofy and makes me laugh. Second, it was filmed at the Sasquatch music festival, which is held in The George Amphitheater, which is the most amazing music venue in the world. Most importantly, it is a video clip of a young man with a lot of courage. It takes a lot of guts to be yourself and, as they say, march to the tune of your own drummer. That is why its so awesome to watch others join in the dance party. The young man is a leader, and he appears to be bringing some joy to a lot of people. 


And I'm glad that I am not the only one who thinks so. Derek Sivers gave a Ted Talk, titled How To Start a Movement. Below is a youtube video, overlaying his theories on the dancing guy video. Check it out: 

Leading From The Stacks: Finding my voice

This is the seventh post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

One of our class readings was the chapter "Find Your Voice" from The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. The reading focused on the fact that authentic leadership is effective leadership. The authors offered many exercises that allowed the readers to "find their voice," and approach their organizations with a strong sense of self. One of the exercises was comprised of a list of questions. I found my self thinking about potential answers I would provide, and thought that a selection of these questions would make an excellent post for this series. Without further ado: 

What do you stand for? Why?


Uninterrupted access to Human Rights. Because every person porn on this planet regardless of nationality, race, gender, beliefs, ability, sexual orientation or economic status deserve dignity, respect and opportunity. And I count the freedom to access information and the right to information privacy as human rights.

What do you believe in? Why?

Sense-Making. Following in the footsteps of Brenda Dervin, I believe that information seeking behavior is an individual attempting to add meaning to their experience.  And I feel that this is the foundation of what librarians do: whether it is finding a good book, writing a term paper or finding services and resources, we assist individuals in their process of adding meaning to their experiences.

What are you discontent about? Why?

I am discontented about how current changes in communication technology are affecting the information management industry. Will google searches leading seekers to "good" information? Will we be able to archive digital communication for posterity?  Will politicians claim the internet is why we no longer need to fund libraries? I also feel that these changes are creating new opportunities for librarians to insert their reliance as an important community resource. 

What brings you suffering? Why?

Powerful people, organizations, institutions and governments denying rights, dignity, opportunity and respect to those who are not as powerful. Because it's not fair. While I recognize that life is not fair, we don't need those on top to make it any less fair for everyone else.  

What makes you weep and wail? Why?

Library closures. Denying marriage rights. Environmental degradation. Obtuse and hypocritical politicians. Animal cruelty. Any and all forms of bullying. Because I am a die-hard liberal. 

What keeps you awake at night? Why?

Fear. Specifically I fear that I will succumb to my shortcomings and  fail. I know that I am not alone in this fear, and it is perhaps more universal than we realize. While this might keep me up at night, I try and use it as a motivating factor during the day.

What's grabbed hold and won't let go? Why?

Social networking, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blogging. Because sharing equals caring. 

Leading From The Stacks: Window and the mirror theory

This is the sixth post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to be involved with the blog Hack Library School as a contributing writer. For my post this week, I thought I would combine efforts, sharing my post on leadership with readers of both blogs.

I love theory. The ideas that disciplines and professions are based off of. The bedrock of our world views. The base of our ideologies.

Some of my favorite courses in library school were the foundation courses. At the time they were frustrating, because I wanted to be working in a library. But now that I am working in the field, I appreciate those theory courses the most.

I find LIS theory to be a fascinating creature. We have our own theorists (like Ranganathan, Dervin and Kuhlthau) but we are also a discipline of adoptive theory. Communication, education, business and management, sociology, gender studies, even engineering theories (HCI and UX principles are starting to take over the profession) are all relevant to LIS.

One of the last required foundation classes I took was Management and Leadership in the Library Industry. While most of the class discussions were focused on Taylorism and Scientific Management versus more current humanist approaches to management, our instructor provided a very interesting recommended reading list. On it were authors whose books are typically found on the shelves of business sections: Stephen R. Covey, John P. Kotter, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel H. Pink and Peter F. Drucker. I’ll admit: at first I scoffed at these books. Having a background in sociology, I want my theorist to be a bit grittier (and a bit more European): Foucault, Durkheim, Marx, Marcuse and Weber. So I pretty much stuck to the required reading and was none the wiser...

...until recently. I had a good friend (and non-librarian) recommend Good to Great by Jim Collins. This was a title that was on that recommended reading list, and one that I normally pass over. But the friend who recommended it was not someone I would think of as reading it: she spent a number of years selling fair-trade organic coffee, has spent a fair amount of time traveling in Africa and Latin America (including Chiapas, land of the Zapatista) and only recently started working for a corporation (Whole Foods) because of the horrible economy. Not exactly your rank-and-file corporate worker. So I had to check this book out.
Much to my surprise, I am really enjoying it, and finding much of Collins’ ideas surrounding leadership 100% applicable to libraries.

The most relevant lesson taken away so far is what Collins calls "the window and the mirror" theory:

"[Top-tier] leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well....At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly. The comparison leaders did just the opposite. They’d look out the window for something or someone outside themselves to blame for poor results, but would preen in front of the mirror and credit themselves when things went well. (Collins, Good to Great, p. 35)"

Collins uses steel producing companies to exemplify this idea. CEOs of mediocre companies would look out the window and see internationally produced cheap steel as the reason why their companies were not reaching their potential. While the CEOs of top steel companies saw the internationally produced cheap steel as an opportunity. The competing companies would have to ship the steel to the US at exorbitant prices, giving the American companies a distinct advantage. Likewise, these top companies look at their own operations for ways to improve their business, rather than blame outside factors for their failures.
I think the window/mirror theory is an excellent mindset not just for individual leaders, but for the library industry as a whole. We could look at declining circulation counts or reference questions as a factor out of our control that is pushing our services to the periphery. Or, we can look at the changing information searching behaviors of our patrons as an opportunity to offer innovative services and resources that exceeds our users expectations.

For example: In 2009, Project Information Literacy released a progress report, with findings that describes course readings, Google and instructors as the first resources students turn to when researching topics for their school work, and librarians as an overlooked resource. Looking for external factors to blame for lack of library use, this study could be a shining example. Instead, we should look at the fact that students are rarely seeking out librarians as an opportunity to create new services (such as embedded librarianship or collaborating with instructors and faculty) to better assist students. And we should be looking at our current services for potential areas of improvement.
It is widely know that we live in a time of change. Libraries of all types are facing major budget cuts, and we are fighting tooth and nail for what resources we do receive. Rather than being Chicken Littles about it, looking out the window to avoid falling pieces of the sky, we should be looking at the changes we face as the new reality and continue to offer excellent services and exceed our users expectations. Now is the time to ensure our place as leaders in the fight for a citizenry who is not just information literate, but information fluent.

I know that this book has been out for over a decade, and some of the companies that Collins have listed as "great" companies have been the most affected by our current recession (such as the now defunct Circuit City), but Good to Great is still an excellent read. It's worth checking out. But, as my hero Levar Burton often said: "You don't have to take my word for it..."

You can read more of my writing over at Hack Library School by clicking here.

Leading From The Stacks: Getting infront of the puck

This is the fifth post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

Go in peace, Mr. Jobs.

We recently lost a great man, a visionary and a global leader when Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, passed away on October 5th.

There has been much that has already been said about him. Examining how Apple is in many ways the model for the personal computer industry, how Jobs as a major player in revolutionizing cinematic animation and the music industry. Steve Job was a very public figure, and his passing is global news. As a library student writing a series of blog posts on leadership, it would be remiss to not say a few words on Steve Job as a leader.

 "I skate where the puck is going to be, not where it has been." - Wayne Gretzky

Steve Jobs said the the above Gretzky quotes has always been on of his favorites, and his success seems to support philosophy. When Jobs rejoined Apple in the late 90s, after decade long schism with the company he co-founded,  it was struggling. With a few short years the iMac and the iPod were released and the company was once again a global leader in the technology industry. Today, many companies seem to be constantly chasing Apple's tail coats, while Apple always seems to be right where the puck is going to be.

Much of this success is attributed to Jobs, who was a very hands-on CEO of the company. He was known for design excellence. As new products were developed, he was know for demanding simplicity and that all excess be cut out. Apple is also famous for creating experiences that exceeds their customers experiences. Jobs certainly offers a lot that anyone, but especially librarians, could learn from.

Jobs was not a perfect leader. He was known for demanding perfection, being an aggressive manager and even controlling. But he ways also heralded as today's Henry Ford. The world would be a different place with his influence, and his presence will be missed.

I have found his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address inspiring. I hope you do to: 

Leading From The Stacks: LIAL

This is the fourth post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

I recently read about Harvard Graduate School of Education's Leadership Institute for Academic Libraries (LIAL), reading about is on the blogs of K. D. Schneider and  John Dupruis. It sounds like an amazing experience, bringing together leaders from across North America for a week for an in-depth conversation about the management of academic libraries.

For a week during the summer, participants gathering in Boston, where they are encouraged to unplug from their computers and dive into in-depth readings and discussion focusing on leadership development in academia and libraries. LIAL creates a safe space for the group to examine both what is happening in their own institutions as well as wider trends that effect all of them From Schneider and Dupruis's descriptions it seems that a lot of introspection and excitement is generated during the week.

Reading their posts, what I come away with most in the notion that leadership development is an ongoing process. While most directors and managers of academic libraries are certainly hired for their leadership skills, it is understood the continued development is necessary to be an effective leader. This seems to be a common element of organizational culture for institutions who focus on learning and information sharing. Theories and best practices are always evolving and reacting to outside influences. I think this is an element that draws me to a career in libraries: lifelong learning is not just expected but celebrated.

Leading From The Stacks: Words from McChrystal

This is the third post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

If you are a leader, the people you've counted on will help you out. And if you are a leader the people who count on you need you on your feet.

- Stanley McChrystal

As I mentioned in the last post in this series, I think it is always important to look to leaders who inspired. you. I count Andy Woodworth as a leader in the library community. His many awards and accolades are certainly well deserved. I was not surprised to find posts on his blog about leadership, but my curiosity was piqued when I noticed that he had a Ted Talk by Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. While undeniably a leader, I don't always expect to see the intersection of military interests within the sphere of librarianship. However, watching the video and reading Andy's comments, I found that the intersection made perfect sense.

Many of McChrystal's comments struck a cord with me. There were some that were expected, along the lines of never leaving a falling soldier behind and good leaders let you fail without being a failure. But I was really impressed with what McChrystal had to say about being a leader in a rapidly changing time in history. Which makes sense, both the type of warfare that we are engaged in and the makeup of our troops are constantly changing. And, of course, the technology used to communicate is evolving as well.

Andy picked up on this as well, succinctly summarizing the talk as the need of leaders to use our technological innovations to build trust and a consensus of a common purpose. Andy specifically related this to the dialog that librarians are creating with publishers on the best way to lend ebooks in libraries, which is a difficult conversation to have.

But the idea of leveraging technology to build a common goal within an organization or institution is an important lesson in 21st century leadership. Although librarians don't all work together in a physical space, we have tools to allow us to engage in conversations regardless of location and work towards the common goals of efficient information access, effective information literacy instruction and protecting basic freedoms.

Leading From The Stacks: Looking to others

This is the second post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

I think it an important source for developing your own leadership philosophy is to look to those who've come before you. I have always been a great fan of In The Library With The Lead Pipe, a collaborative, peer reviewed library blog whose contributors always seem to have their fingers on the pulse of what is happening in library-land. Recently, Eric Frierson had an excellent post on leadership. Frierson wrote about the importance of authentic leadership, and I couldn't agree more. As I mentioned in my first LFTS post, I developed my leadership abilities at summer camp, where our biggest critics were the campers themselves. They were the first ones to detect when a cabin leader was not being themselves, giving that leader a difficult time getting his cabin to fall in line. On the flip side, campers would follow a self-confident leader to the ends of the earth and back.

Frierson also prompts a great discussion on vision. I think having a vision or a mission statement is key for effective library leaders. It's something bigger than the organization that gives it a sense of direction: a point in the distance to mark their compass and point the prow of their ship. As Frierson mentions, the vision must be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, flexible and focused.

I really appreciated this post, not only for it's discussion on leadership but the fact that its published by leaders in the library community.

Leading From The Stacks: An introduction

This is the first post in the series Leading From The Stacks, an examination of leadership in the library industry. It was initiated by my course Leading From Any Position.

When I saw that Cindy Romain was teaching a course on leadership, I got pretty excited. Cindy was an internationally-recognized Library with Nike "where she was responsible for the strategic global collections for a world-class design community." She is the founder of Romainiacs, a consulting firm that offers companies intelligent research services. And she is the current President of the Special Library Association. If there is any instructor who know a thing or two about leadership, it is certainly going to be her.

We were asked to keep a blog, reflecting on our thoughts about leadership throughout the term. I thought that it would be great to complete this assignment here. It'll be a great opportunity to share with my readers my perspectives of leadership and share what's going on inside the mind of a library student in his final semester of library school. This is my first post, and I hope to keep posing once a week or so throughout the semester.

Campers enjoying Lake Winnipesaukee, Copyrighted by YMCA Camp Belknap

I thought I would share where I have developed my perspective of what it means to be a leader going into this class. It all started at summer camp. I attended YMCA Camp Belknap in New Hampshire for 7 years as a camper, and then 6 years as a staff member. Belknap is a leadership based camp, promoting staff members directly out of the camper ranks. The values that Belknap promoted were apparent in all aspects of camp life, most notably  our motto: 'God First, the Other fellow Second, Myself Last.' While this may seem creepy and cult-ish, I should note that this was the camp motto since it's founding: in 1903. But it should also be examined with a wide angle lens. To us, 'God First' meant putting something larger than yourself first. And the rest of the motto communicated a commitment to promoting the benefit of all and appreciating serving others. Although, to most campers, the motto really only translated to not taking the biggest brownie at desert.

The leadership model that the staff utilized most was Leadership By Example, what we called LBE. We believed exhibiting personal behavior we wanted to see in others was the most effective form of leadership. And it worked very well for us.

Fellow camp alumni and I joke that our years at Belknap was horrible for the resume, but excellent for the interview. Other staff members have gone on to become leaders of education, business and medicine. And while it may not be instinctual for most to see how years at summer camp prepares you for almost anything, it is certainly the truth. I know that I am constantly seeing correlations between lessons learned as a cabin leader ans lessons I am learning in library school. Being able to adapt, the need for creative and the importance of collaboration. I am excited as my career as a librarian develops to see how else I can incorporate my experience from Belknap.