The 80/20 Librarian: Focusing on the 20% that matters

Adam Bornstein and Jordan Bornstein’s article, “What makes a Great Leader?”, in the March 2016 Entrepreneur Magazine cited these 22 qualities as paramount for leaders. Readers should read the entire Entrepreneur article as each quality is cited with a quote from an important business leader,

1. Focus
2. Confidence
3. Transparency
4. Integrity
5. Inspiration
6. Passion
7. Innovation
8. Patience
9. Stoicism
10. Wonkiness
11. Authenticity
12. Open-Mindedness
13. Decisiveness
14. Personableness
15. Empowerment
16. Positivity
17. Generosity
18. Persistence
19. Insightfulness
20. Communication
21. Accountability
22. Restlessness

My favorite quotes from Give and Take by Adam Grant

Page 50, “The dormant ties provided more novel information than the current contacts. Over the past few years, while they were out of touch, they had been exposed to new ideas and perspectives. The current contacts were more likely to share the knowledge base and viewpoint that the executives already possessed.”

Page 51, “Dormant ties offer the access to novel information that weak ties afford, but without the discomfort. Dormant ties are the neglected value in our networks, and givers have a distinctive edge over takers and matchers in unlocking this value.”

Page 52, “According to networking experts, reconnecting is a totally different experience for givers, especially in a wired world. Givers have a track record of generously sharing their knowledge, teaching us their skills, and helping us find jobs without worrying what’s in it for them, so we’re glad to help them when they get back in touch with us.”
Page 74, “This is a defining feature of how givers collaborate: they take on the tasks that are in the group’s best interest, not necessarily their own personal interests.”

Page 101, “Because they tend to be trusting and optimistic about other people’s intentions, in their roles as leaders, managers, and mentors, givers are inclined to see the potential in everyone.”

Page 105, “In roles as leaders and mentors, givers resist the temptation to search for talent first. By recognizing that anyone can be a bloomer, givers focus their attention on motivation.”

Page 106, “Of course, natural talent also matters, but once you have a pool of candidates above the threshold of necessary potential, grit is a major factor that predicts how close they get to achieving their potential. This is why givers focus on gritty people: it’s where givers have the greatest return on their investment, the most meaningful and lasting impact.”

Page 114, “Other studies show that people actually make more accurate and creative decisions when they’re choosing on behalf of others than themselves.”

Page 116, “Givers focus more on the interpersonal and organizational consequences of their decisions, accepting a blow to their pride and reputations in the short term in order to make better choices in the long term.”

Page 119, “In my own research, I’ve found that because of their dedication to others, givers are willing to work harder and longer than takers and matchers. Even when practice is no longer enjoyable, givers continue exerting effort out of a sense of responsibility to their team.”

Page 121, “Whereas takers often strive to be the smartest people in the room, givers are more receptive to expertise from others, even if it challenges their own beliefs.”

Page 131, “Because they value the perspectives and interests of others, givers are more inclined toward asking questions than offering answers, talking tentatively than boldly, admitting their weaknesses than displaying their strengths, and seeking advice than imposing their views on others.”

Page 133, “Takers tend to worry about revealing weaknesses will compromise their dominance and authority. Givers are much more comfortable expressing vulnerability: they’re interested in helping others, not gaining power over them, so they’re not afraid of exposing chinks in their armor. By making themselves vulnerable, givers can actually build prestige.”

Page 137, “It’s the givers, by virtue of their interest in getting to know us, who ask us the questions that enable us to experience the joy of learning from ourselves. And by giving us the floor, givers are actually learning about us and from us, which helps them figure out how to sell us things we already value.”

Page 140, “By asking questions and getting to know their customers, givers build trust and gain knowledge about their customers’ needs. Over time, this makes them better and better at selling.”

Page 144, “Fragale (Alison Fragale, University of North Carolina professor) shows that when people have to work closely together, such as in teams and service relationships, powerless speech is actually more influential than powerful speech.”

Page 146, “When givers use powerless speech, they show us that they have our best interests at heart.”

Page 147, “The paradox comes from people thinking an inclusive leader isn’t strong enough to lead a team, when in fact that leader is stronger, because he engenders the support of the team.”- Batron Hill managing director and global head of marketing at Citi Transaction Services

Page 150, “New research shows that advice seeking is a surprisingly effective strategy for exercising influence when we lack authority.”

Page 151-“Advice seeking is a form of powerless communication that combines expressing vulnerability, asking questions, and talking tentatively. Research shows that people who regularly seek advice and help from knowledgeable colleagues are actually rated more favorably by supervisors than those who never seek advice and help.”

Pages 152-153, “Seeking advice is a subtle way to invite someone to make a commitment to us. When we ask people for advice, we grant them prestige, showing that we respect and admire their insights and expertise. Since most people are matchers, they tend to respond favorably and feel motivated to support us in return.”

Page 153, “Regardless of their reciprocity styles, people love to be asked for advice. When persuading and negotiating, givers speak tentatively and seek advice because they truly value the ideas and viewpoints of others.”

Page 165, “Givers don’t burn out when they devote too much time and energy to giving. They burn out when they’re working with people in need but are unable to help effectively.”

Page 166, “In research with two colleagues, I’ve discovered that the perception of impact serves as a buffer against stress, enabling employees to avoid burnout and maintain their motivation and performance.”

Page 168, “When people know how their work makes a difference, they feel energized to contribute more.”

Page 177, “When they’re on the brink of burnout, otherish givers seek help, which enables them to marshal the advice, assistance, and resources necessary to maintain their motivation and energy. Three decades of research show that receiving support from colleagues is a robust anti-dote to burnout.”

Page 178, “Otherish givers build up a support network that they can access for help when they need it.”

Page 179, “Over time, giving may build willpower like weight lifting builds muscles.”

Page 182, “Surprising as it seems, people who give more go on to earn more.”

Page 183, “It seems that giving adds meaning to our lives, distracts us from our own problems, and helps us feel valued by others.”

Page 190, “Trust is one reason that givers are susceptible to the doormat effect: they tend to see the best in everyone, so they operate on the mistaken assumption that everyone is trustworthy.”

Page 193, “The ability to recognize agreeable takers as fakers is what protects givers against being exploited.”

Page 198, “Once successful givers see the value of sincerity screening and begin to spot agreeable takers as potential fakers, they protect themselves by adjusting their behavior accordingly. It’s wise to start out as a giver, since research shows that trust is hard to build but easy to destroy. But once a counterpart is clearly acting like a taker, it makes sense for givers to flex their reciprocity styles and shift to a matching strategy…”

Page 199, “Being otherish means that givers keep their own interests in the rearview mirror, taking care to trust but verify. When dealing with takers, shifting into matcher mode is a self-protective strategy. But one out of every three times, it may be wise to shift back into giver mode, granting so-called takers the opportunity to redeem themselves.”

Page 206, “And Vanderbilt professors Bruce Barry and Ray Friedman found that in short-term, single issue negotiations, givers do worse than takers, because they’re willing to give larger slices of the pie to their counterparts. But this disadvantage disappears entirely when the givers set high goals and stick to them- which is easier for givers to do when advocating for someone else.”

Page 238, “People often take because they don’t realize that they’re deviating from the norm. In these situations, showing them the norm is often enough to motivate them to give-especially if they have matcher instincts.”

Page 258, “This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them.”

Useful Websites to Explore

http://www.adamgrant.net/

http://www.humaxnetworks.com/default.asp (Check out the Reciprocity Ring)

http://favo.rs/

http://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/cpo-tools/job-crafting-exercise/

http://www.ventureblog.com/

http://www.meetup.com/106miles/

http://jenniferkahnweiler.com/

https://getraised.com/

https://www.freecycle.org/

https://www.servicespace.org/

http://thekindnessoffensive.com/

www.bni.com/

http://thegogiver.com/community/

www.kickstarter.com

www.kiva.org

Just learned about the BizPeake Journal. It is the only business to business publication in the Chesapeake Bay Region.

Just learned about 1871

Definitely worth exploring especially if you are in the Chicago area or planning to be in the Chicago area! I wonder if the American Library Association (also based in Chicago) has any interaction with 1871.

According to is website, It is a “a community of designers, coders and entrepreneurs who learn from each other, encourage each other, and share a journey up the steep startup learning curve. Tenants and members of 1871 have priority access to hundreds of classes, lectures, seminars and other programs designed to educate and inspire. From classes specifically designed to empower entrepreneurs, to talks from leading business-builders, technologists and designers, to inspirational sessions from artists and others, 1871 offers a full range of content and programming. Three types of co-working memberships offer choices for entrepreneurs in different stages of building their businesses. Reserved co-working members have their own desks and storage; shared co-working members have round-the-clock access to the space; and night/weekend members have access in the evenings and on weekends.”

Readers may want to check out SBDCNet.

As stated in the About section of its website the SBDCNet is ” the official National Information Clearinghouse of the U.S. Small Business Administration. SBDCNet provides small business research services to the entire 1,100+ member SBDC Network of Small Business Development Centers located in all 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. In partnership with your SBDC, we can produce a broad range of financial, market and demographic research reports customized to your client’s industry and geographic location. In addition to supporting small business entrepreneurs, SBDCNet now offers an array of products and services to support small to mid-size community development.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) SizeUp Tool is worth taking a look at. As, stated on the SBA website, “If you are a small business owner, you need to know how your business stacks up with the competition in order to succeed. SizeUp will help you manage and grow your business by benchmarking it against competitors, mapping your customers, competitors and suppliers, and locating the best places to advertise.”

Favorite Quotes from Vagabonding by Rolf Potts are listed below:

Page 13, “Rather, it’s (vagabonding) a personal act that demands only the realignment of self.”

Page 29, “This notion- that material investment is somehow more important to life than personal investment-is exactly what leads so many of us to believe we could never afford to go vagabonding. Indeed, the freedom to go vagabonding has never been determined by income level; it’s found through simplicity-the conscious decision of how to use what income you have.”

Page 30, “Rather, simplicity merely requires a bit of personal sacrifice: an adjustment of your habits and routine within consumer society itself.”

Page 33, “On a basic level, there are three general methods to simplifying your life: stopping expansion, reining in your routine, and reducing clutter.”

Page 38, “Ultimately, you may well discover that vagabonding on the cheap becomes your favorite way to travel, even if given more expensive options. Indeed, not only does simplicity save you money and buy you time; it also makes you more adventuresome, forces you into sincere contact with locals, and allows you the independence to follow you passions and curiosities down exciting new roads. In this way simplicity-both at home and on the road-affords you the time to seek renewed meaning in an oft-neglected commodity that can’t be bought at any price: life itself.”

Page 46- “Considering all material possessions beyond basic necessities to be an obstacle to true living, Henry David Thoreau espoused the idea that wealth is found not in what you own but in how you spend your time.”

Page 60, “Indeed, the surest way to miss out on the genuine experience of a foreign place-the psychic equivalent of trapping yourself back home-is to obsessively check your email as you travel from place to place.”

Page 63-64, “Vagabonding is not like bulk shopping: The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home-and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries.”

Page 64-“Vagabonding is about setting your own pace and finding your own way, and you can rest assured that everything you see in a glossy brochure in Milwaukee will be just as available (and ten times cheaper) when you arrive independently at your destination.”

Page 89, “If there’s one key concept to remember amid the excitement of your first days on the road, it’s this: Slow down.”

Page 89, “Vagabonding is about not merely reallotting a portion of your life for travel but rediscovering the entire concept of time. At home, you’re conditioned to get to the point and get things done, to favor goals and efficiency over moment by moment distinction. On the road you learn to improvise your days, take a second look at everything you see, and not obsess over your schedule.”

Page 90, “In a certain sense, walking through new places with the instincts of a five-year old is liberating. No longer are you bound to your past. In living so far away from your home, you’ll suddenly find yourself holding a clean slate. There’s no better opportunity to break old habits, face latent fears, and test out repressed facets of your personality. Socially, you’ll find it easier to be gregarious and open-minded. Mentally, you’ll feel engaged and optimistic, newly ready to listen and learn. And as much as anything, you’ll find yourself abuzz with the peculiar feeling that you can choose to go in any direction (literally and figuratively) at any given moment.”

Page 96, “Rather the secret to staying intrigued on the road-the secret to truly being different from the frustrated masses is this: Don’t set limits. Don’t set limits on what you can or can’t do. Don’t set limits on what is or isn’t worthy of your time. Dare yourself to “play games” with your day: watch, wait, listen; allow things to happen.”

Page 161, “Interestingly, one of the initial impediments to open-mindedness is not ignorance but ideology.”

Page 174, “On a broader and more mythical level, however, walkabout acts as a kind of remedy when the duties and obligations of life cause one to lose track of his or her true self. To correct this, one merely leaves behind all possessions (except for survival essentials) and starts walking. What’s intriguing about walkabout is that there’s no physical goal: It simply continues until one becomes whole again.”

Page 187, “What we know as personal travel, after all, is the historical legacy not of exploration or commerce but of pilgrimage-the nonpolitical, non-material quest for private discovery and growth. Indeed, regardless of whether or not you consider your vagabonding journey to be “spiritual”, self-motivated travel has always been intertwined with the personal workings of the soul.”

Page 190, “Moreover, spirituality is an ongoing process that deepens with the seasons-and those who travel the world hoping to get “blinded by the light” are often blind to the light that’s all around them.”

Page 201, “If travel truly is in the journey and not the destination, if travel really is an attitude of awareness and openness to new things, then any moment can be considered travel.”

Page 202, “Explore your hometown as if it were a foreign land, and take an interest in your neighbors as if they were exotic tribesmen. Keep things real, and keep on learning. Be creative, and get into adventures. Keep things simple, and let your spirit grow. But most of all, keep living your life in such a way that allows your dreams room to breathe.”

Jeff Davis and Charlie Birney have a great podcast at https://soundcloud.com/launch-podcast where they are interviewing start-up entrepreneurs and learning more about their ideas and products. The start-ups are based in the Baltimore and DC areas.

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

Page 14, “Yamada Roshi told me several times that he did not want to make me a Buddhist but rather he wanted to empty me in imitation of “Christ your Lord” who emptied himself, poured himself out, and clung to nothing.”

Page 33, “True contemplation entails detachment from our most basic need: the need to know, to reason, to have concepts and images. True contemplation especially demands detachment from our images and concepts of God.”

Page 35, “Dom Aelred Graham, the Catholic Benedictine and author of Zen Catholicism, asserts that the chief source of our distress is that we identify our true selves with our assertive, separate egos, the often all too demanding “me” in each of us. This separate conscious ego sees itself as the center and interprets everything in terms of itself; thus it can block a direct contact with reality and union with God more effectively than vice.”

Page 37, “Finally, Zen reminds us that Christian contemplation is not a looking at Christ, or a following of Christ, but a transformation into Christ. The contemplative reaches fulfillment when his ego is lost and is replaced by the fullness of Christ. We all know that for Christ to come to fullness within the Christian something must die.”

Page 40, “Merit, which conventional religion upholds, is a child’s game; gratitude to God, which orthodox tradition upholds, is all that is left to us when we grow up.”

Pages 41-42, “The Zen spirit is one of self-reliance and self-confidence. What talent we have is enough to accomplish the work before us. In fact, what talent we have is all we are going to get. No one can sit for us. No one can come to save us. Zen warns us to avoid becoming a torn-rice-bag-of-a-man who spills out his energy fruitlessly and then cries he can do no better.”

Page 53, “Suffering in frost and snow refers to childish reliance on others for approval, acceptance, affection, guidance, insight, or validation. There is a time of childhood for such dependence; the Zen spirit leads us to experience the reality to “be startled at pussy willows falling.”

Page 63, “If in prayer and in life, moment by moment, we turn from self preoccupation to the Kingdom of God, we will have the joy promised to those for whom Christ grows greater and greater, and the “self” less and less.”

Page 72, “Specifically, Thomas Merton explains that to fully hear the word of the cross is more than a simple assent to the teaching that Christ died for our sins. It means to be nailed to the Cross with Christ so that the ego-self is no longer the principle of our deepest actions which now proceed from Christ living in us. It is central to Christian life to experience the fact of this self-emptying crucifixion with Christ.”

Page 75, “Because Zen is life itself, the teacher turns the student away from any answer to life. The teacher is aware that the student is often looking for an answer, a safe harbor, a package he can wrap up and take home and put on a closet shelf.”

Page 87, “Zen, however, teaches us the vital importance of educating our own vision. There is no one to imitate, there is no time but now, there is no path but our own. It may not be sin at all that keeps us from self-awareness; it may be imitation and the pious repetition of routine and ritual that leave us ignorant of who we are.”

Page 90, “Christians are not urged to copy or repeat the words or gestures of Christ, but to have his mind and to be one with his spirit. Both Unmon and Christ encourage their disciples to act freely in the unique and unrepeatable moment by moment of their lives.”

Page 93, “In his introduction to The Way of Chuang-Tzu, Thomas Merton warns against reasoning about what cannot be understood and trying to attain what is never attained. He says that unless we learn to wait, watch, and grow without any appetite for self-improvement, we will destroy ourselves.”

Page 97, “I suggest that nature is teaching us that we are saved by that which ignores us, and that nature’s indifference to our designs can be a source of our joy.”

Page 101, “Margaret Miles of the Harvard Divinity School has discussed the original meaning of Christian holiness. She points out that before Christian faith was thought of as knowledge or commitment or community, it was lived as an orientation to the source of life; it was lived as a conversion to full vitality from the deadness of secular culture.” Miles claims that being truly alive for the first Christians was not the opposite of physical death, but the opposite of death of the human heart: coldness, dullness, failure to respond, an obtuse spirit.”

Page 108, “The true practice of Zen is the complete accomplishment of our whole nature. We are to live with the simplicity and unselfconsciousness of the little child Master Echu held in his arms.”

Page 109, “God asks that we be silent, that we listen closely, and that we say “yes.”

Page 112, “I would define poverty as purity of heart: the ability not to project the self onto the other. Jesus said the pure of heart will see God. Indeed the pure of heart-those who do not project- are the only ones who ever see anything.”

Page 113, “We are to be so poor that we do not know the matter of our pilgrimage, so poor that we have nothing to cling to, so poor that we have nothing to project on to others, so poor that we have no shelters in the storm, and so poor that we have no parallel life to escape to.”

Page 116, “According to Buddhist Scripture, all suffering springs from attachment; true joy arises from detachment. This noble truth so easily falls from the lips, yet it is a life long struggle to see things clearly and to free ourselves from deluded and possessive love.”

Page 120, “To insist on one truth that we do see is to block other truths from coming into focus.”

Page 122, “The conventional wisdom of this world is folly, and the Christian response to it is death and rebirth now.”

Page 124, “The risen Christ is not another being somewhere else, but rather the risen Christ is the being right in front of me, the same Christ that I am.”

Page 125, “With all my limitations, I am Jesus in this world. I have been given all that I need to live out the spirit of Jesus in all the circumstances of my life. Salvation is given here and now.”

Page 128, “We must base our interfaith dialogue upon practical action for justice and for the development of marginalized peoples. The partners in dialogue must look beyond themselves and reach out in compassionate service.”

DIALOGUE OF A ZEN TEACHER AND NONCOMMITTAL CHRISTIAN from Page 55

“If a not-too-determined Christian were to ask a Zen teacher to teach her to meditate, the conversation might go like this:

CHRISTIAN: Sensei, I hear you are skilled in meditation. I am interested in meditation and wonder if we could talk about it sometime?

ZEN TEACHER: Of course! Let us sit and meditate together.

CHRISTIAN: That would be wonderful. When can we do this?

ZEN TEACHER: Right now! Let’s begin.

CHRISTIAN: Right now? But where?

ZEN TEACHER: Right here! On this cushion.

CHRISTIAN: Here? For how long?

ZEN TEACHER: All day, let’s begin.

CHRISTIAN: Here? Now? All day? On this cushion?

ZEN TEACHER: Of course, you said that you were interested.

CHRISTIAN: Well, yes, but I hadn’t planned to do it just now. I thought that we could talk about it and I could hear about your experience.

ZEN TEACHER: Let’s begin. Do it! Do it now!

JESUS AS ZEN MASTER AND DIALOGUE WITH DISCIPLE TO “PUT OUT INTO DEEP WATER” from Page 76:

“In some ways, the history of Zen teachers nudging their students from safe harbors into the mainstream of life reminds me of Jesus. When Jesus called his disciples he said, “Put out into deep water and pay our your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4).

These words of Jesus are addressed to us today.

“Put out into deep water…”

“Thank you, Lord, for your invitation. I really appreciate it, but, you see, I’m a shallow water type of person. I enjoy the familiar, things close to home. I’m a creature of habit, I guess. But I’m grateful you thought of me.”

“Put out into deep water…”

“Lord, you’re not listening. I explained to you that deep water is not for me. You see, I tried it once, all young and idealistic, and it was awful. I can’t take any more failure. Please ask someone else.”

“Put out into deep water…”

“Stop it. Stop tormenting me. Don’t you see I can’t do it. I’m not good enough. Leave me alone.”

“Put out into deep water…”

And so all great teachers of all traditions will not give us a packaged answer or an easeful harbor.”

I am delighted and grateful to have my old college cross country teammate James daSilva, senior editor at SmartBrief, write a great guest column on how to discern which business books are worth our time and attention.

There is no shortage of books on business, including those on leadership and management, innovation, strategy, productivity, technology and entrepreneurship. The question is: Which books are most worth reading, and how can I determine this?

There’s no one answer, but as someone who receives dozens of books from authors and publishing houses each year, I can offer my own experience. Let’s start with the conclusion: A good business book goes beyond boilerplate language and big promises; it is focused; and it seeks to inspire the reader to find his or her own solutions.

My conclusion rests on these premises:

• “Business” is a general term for an endless variety of situations. No book can cover all of them, and those that claim to are suspect.
• 7-step systems and buzzwords are not bad, but they must be examined for what they contain. Are they simply a good way to advertise the author, or do they perform in the real world?
• Great business books inspire more than they prescribe. That’s why the idea of potential is so important – does a business book give a framework that is grounded yet flexible?

Why do I think these qualities matter for a good business book? One is simply time. We’re all busy, and there’s a wealth of reading we’d like to tackle. Also, depending on our jobs, we might already be reading at work; tackling a business book can feel like work, so we’d better choose wisely.

Given that, I look at a book’s focus. I don’t know what I’m necessarily getting with something like (the hypothetical) “Being a 21st-Century Leader,” but something like Scott Eblin’s “Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative” is clear – busy executives who wish to prioritize their health and well-being but don’t know how. Similarly, a book on “strategy” had better be a comprehensive textbook; otherwise, I’d prefer a book specifically about, say, zero-based budgeting or operating as a multinational in highly regulated industries.

Focus can also be theme-based. David Burkus’ new book “Under New Management” is a collection of chapters on ways to rethink long-held business and operational practices. If you’re seeking inspiration on doing things differently and smarter, this type of book might help. Notably, though, it won’t guarantee success or prescribe a specific solution for your organization – that hard work is up to you.

I also look at what’s behind the book’s theme, its catchphrases and the formula it recommends. The publishing world, of course, has experienced considerable change. In just the past 4-5 years, I’ve seen a marked increase in authors doing their own marketing and PR, and the workload of promoting a book can seem greater than the writing. Given that, it’s tempting for an author to “invent” a new system of thinking, or a theory of business, and attach the proper catchphrase and gravitas to it.

Such branding is understandable. But does the book go deeper? The messy truth of the world is that principles cannot be applied in every situation or in the same way. We need to be discerning, curious and inquisitive, and books that help us find the basis for those inquiries are helpful. Those that say, “Do these 3 things and all will be well,” will be popular but ultimately empty.

Finally, does a business book inspire? Does it dictate, or does it offer a framework for the reader to apply as needed? Andy Grove’s “High Output Management” remains a classic in its fourth decade in large part because, while the then-Intel CEO will share how he structures his day, makes decisions and manages direct reports, he does not pretend that the semiconductor industry’s examples are universal. You’ll learn how he decided where to site a new overseas factory, but more importantly, you’ll learn the process.

All this said, don’t be afraid to try out a book. You can always stop, but you might also be pleasantly surprised.