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Margaret Heffernan is a woman who knows her way around information Internet environment organizations. She’s not a noted author, particularly for women entrepreneurs, and is Executive in Residence at Babson College. Continue reading Stop Whining, please – I can’t hear the people who are trying to move things forward over you Library Journal M & S 2010 Congratulations to all Library Journals Movers & Shakers! If you would like to meet and see some of them in action, join us at Information Today’s Computers in Libraries 2010, Apr 12-14 in the DC area. As speakers we have Gretchen Caserotti, Matt Hamilton, Jason Puckett, Maurice Coleman, Lisa Carlucci Thomas. Apologies to others I may have missed but I’m sure there will be lots of other Movers & Shakers from the class of 2010 at Computers in Libraries and I know there will be many from previous years! So come and network with them. Bobbi Newman’s post pointed me to all these wonderful people this morning and provides links to more info about them. I also love the post from one of last year’s Movers & Shakers, Lori Reed, on how to be prepared for this award. Lori and Bobbi will also be at CIL2010. Join us! It’s amazing how fast a year goes by and how much we cram into 365 days. Hope everyone has a great holiday season and a terrific year in 2010! At this time of year, I always look ahead to what’s to come, and 2010 looks like it’s shaping up to be exciting. Here’s a peek – Ontario Library Association SuperConference, Feb 24-27 Rebecca and I are facilitating a pre-conference workshop on Wed Feb 24 — Leadership Renewal: Conversations, Insights & Revitalization (P004) which includes segments with Cindy Ross Pedersen, Strategic Volunteer & Entrepreneur, Ken Haycock, Director, San Jose State University School of Libary & information Science & Senior Partner, Ken Haycock & Associates Inc. and Gordon Vala-Webb, PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada PLC. This interactive workshop should provide lots of wonderful conversations and insights. Rebecca is speaking about Resolving Conflict – Reaching Consensus (317) on Thurs Feb 25 and Service Lifecycle Management: Pruning Gives Other Services Room to Grow (1228) on Friday Feb 26. We have also put together a session on Thurs Feb 25 called Digital Strategies: Practices & Services (1021) which features Aaron Schmidt, District of Columbia Public Library, Amanda Etches Johnson, McMaster University and Daniel Lee, Navigator Ltd. We hope to see lots of our friends and colleagues in Toronto at SuperConference! Computers in Libraries, DC, April 12-14 This vibrant conference is filled sessions on topics of interest to all those in the information business. Check out the program and join us for stimulating discussions, lots of learning and networking, Continue reading Happy Holidays & All the Best in 2010! I’ve been setting aside a pile of blog posts, particularly on leadership, that I’m now ready to write. There’s so much written on leadership, it’s rather daunting to know what to read, or who to read. We can never go wrong with Drucker or Mintzberg or those published with Harvard (you all know by now what a groupie I am of the Harvard Business Review — is there a support group for us?) In fact, HBR has just put out their “10 most read leadership articles” – if you read nothing else, do check these articles out. Even to scan. But I always like to ask senior executives what has made a difference for them in their leadership approaches. A friend who has been a senior executive for the past decade, & who has dealt successfully with unbelievably challenging situations (I say successfully because, #1, he’s still employed &, believe me, the organization he works for doesn’t tolerate incompetence, and #2, employees he works with – LEADS – like & respect him. ) He suggested I read “The Inward Journey of Leadership,” in the Journal of Surgical Research, April 2006. After some digging – & paying – I found it. And now, I pass his suggestion on to any of you who are in a leadership position (even if that means you have 1 person looking to you for leadership), or are considering moving into a team leadership, project leadership or functional leadership role. Written by a surgeon who heads Continue reading Leaders can only lead others when they can lead themselves Too often we associate “leadership” with being in a senior management position, making big decisions & big salaries. Oh, we quote Gandi & Mandela, but in the work context we all too look to the CEO’s of corporations for leadership lessons. Yet the simple truth is that leaders are those who lead people to make a difference – we hope a positive difference! And the other simple truth is that leaders are able to lead others because they can lead themselves. Cindy Ross Pederson Cindy Ross Pederson is a leader who leads herself and others in making a difference – a positive difference. Jane always knows the coolest people; she introduced me to Cindy, whom I met in a coffee shop prior to a client meeting. I was immediately struck by her presence – she conveys presence. Years ago when Mary Corcoran & I interviewed senior executives about the qualities they seek when filling senior positions they cited “presence — an individual has to have presence at senior decision tables & when they walk in the room.” Enter Cindy – with her presence, her ability to communicate clearly, succinctly, & in the language of the listener. Having built a highly successful technology company Cindy sold it for a profit that allows her to shift her focus to being a “strategic volunteer.” In her former role as entreprenuer CEO Cindy dealt successfully with investors, bankers, employees at all levels, clients, partners & stakeholders. She had a clear focus, & used Continue reading Leaders making a difference & laughing – yeah, laughing The HBR Management Tip of the Day today is from Marshall Goldsmith (author of What Got you Here Won’t Get You There — must reading) about succession planning – a hot topic in the information profession. I’ve always referred to the need for succession “management”, but Goldsmith refers to succession “development”, & he’s right. Managing an organization’s succession does have to be a whole process which must be managed, & the emphasis really is on people’s development to enable them to “succeed” in every sense of the word. Here’s an inter-mingling of Goldsmith’s & our tips for succession development & management; much of our experience has been guided by Rothwell’s Effective Succession Planning. 1. Determine Future Requirements: Recognize that strategic planning, staff planning, & succession management are all inter-related & highly dependent; you can’t move forward (strategic plan) without the right capabilities, competencies (staff planning) & management (succession management). PLUS – how can you determine staffing & leadership needs Call it what it is: succession management or succession development – it doesn’t matter which, just don’t call it succession planning, since the focus shouldn’t be on the plan, it should be on how the organization is ensuring ongoing leadership, management, capabilities & success. 2. Commit: Senior management or the board must buy in to the overall process be supportive of it as on-going, not a one-time “here’s the slide deck” event. 3. Assess Current Requirements & Skills: As with anything, start with where you are – know what you have Continue reading “Succession” is developing to succeed Change is not easy and it’s definitely not a fast process. It requires a lot of communication and transparency. Transparency first came on my radar in 2003 with Don Tapscott and his book, The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business. We have been talking to our clients about transparency a fair bit lately, and so has Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy, Office of the CIO, Smithsonian Institution SI). Michael was a keynote speaker in April at Computers in Libraries 2009 and just spoke to the Potomoc Forum about the transparency strategy process. The first number of slides are similar to those he used for CIL2009, but this new presentation has a lot more about the actually process that the Smithsonian is using. The SI has now developed three themes in their strategy: update the Smithsonian digital experience, update the Smithsonian learning model, balance autonomy & contrl at SI. Interesting and probably something that many libraries should be thinking about. They have eight goals: mission, brand, learning, experience, interpretation, business model, technology & governance. And, they have 54 tactical recommendations with 5 “do next” items: post doc to wiki, synchronize with other strategy efforts, appoint a leader, develop a tactical road map, & embrace the Smithsonian Commons, the centerpiece of the strategy, “facilitate learning, creativity, innovation through open access to Smithsonian collections, resources & communities.” Libraries have a lot to learn from Michael. I first heard him speak in Dec 08 and Continue reading Transparency, Strategy & Success I have the incredible privilege of giving a session with Mary Lee Kennedy and Deb Wallace of Harvard Business School on critical thinking at SLA 2009 tomorrow. Unfortunately, Mary Lee won’t be there in person, but she certainly will be there in content and in spirit. Mary Lee embodies critical thinking — viewing “what is” and asking “why” and then doing something about it. Just ask anyone that’s worked with her at Harvard, or, before that, Microsoft and, before that, Digital Equipment. I’d ask “huh?” but Mary Lee would definitely ask “how can we frame this?” The presentation is up here, but, in a nutshell critical thinking is really about unveiling and questioning assumptions and information that may not be valid. Sounds easy, right? sounds reasonable. Especially since so many decisions and problems we face are complex. There’s often no obvious or even one right decision or solution. BUT, it’s not easy or even reasonable in many circumstances to keep raising questions about people’s base “starting points” as they discuss potential options. It can be downright risky to suggest to those making decisions that they “re-frame” how they see the situation, or that they set the “sunk costs” of a service or project aside as they examine options. After all, very often we continue to ‘sink costs’ into a service/project even though it’s obviously past its prime or no longer working. As Warren Buffet said, “When you find yourself in a hole, the best thing you can do is stop digging.” So Continue reading Critical thinking: more than for decision-making, it’s how digital natives engage |
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