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

I’m reading over Steinberg’s Make Change Work For You and came across his notes on a video game company called Valve,

You really have to read this company’s website to believe how they operate. They succeed with what I call “unstructured collaboration” (i.e. there is no traditional hierarchical structure that issues assignments) that many would find chaotic.

Their website states:

“When you give smart talented people the freedom to create without fear of failure, amazing things happen. We see it every day at Valve. In fact, some of our best insights have come from our biggest mistakes. And we’re ok with that!”

Who are they?

“Just highly motivated peers coming together to make cool stuff.”

Read the website to find out more. Check out the handbook for new employees. Do you think this could work in libraries?

So I’m reading Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start 2.0 (a fantastic book which I can’t wait to write more about!) and I came across a Bruce Lee quote that inspired me. When you feel tempted to take the easy way out or to suffer in silence instead of addressing an issue, let this quote set your priorities straight.

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”

Thanks Bruce!

I am in the midst of reading Scott Steinberg’s book Make Change Work for You (don’t worry I’ll post the book review when I’ve finished!).

Steinberg discusses a company, TrainSignal (now part of PluralSight), that made the leap in early 2013 from selling product via DVD to solely offering streaming video.

Checkout Christina Desmarais article in Inc about how the switch went down.

If libraries are going to consider following TrainSignal they will need to thoroughly research the patron demand for the streaming service, make sure the streaming is of high quality, be prepared to whether the storm of transition, and frequently/clearly communicate with patrons.

Check out the Bloomberg news video with Erik Schatzker interviewing “Bond King” investor Bill Gross. Gross is planning to give his fortune away through a foundation. Gross is obviously a major philanthropist. My question is, are libraries paying attention? What is our industry doing to develop rapport with philanthropists? How might we better inform philanthropists about what we do?

Libraries should be in-sync with what Gross defines as success. What does Gross say about success?

Today, “success becomes a function of what we can do with the rest of the world, to help others.”

(Here I am with Steven Bell and Corinne Hill!)

Got a great opportunity to arrange for Steven Bell (Associate Temple University Librarian/ Library Journal Columnist) and Corinne Hill (Library Journal’s 2014 Librarian of the Year and Chattanooga Public Library Director) to hold an all day workshop/presentation at the 2015 Maryland Library Association/Delaware Library Association (MLA/DLA) Conference in Ocean City, Maryland)!

The title of the program was Remarkable Leadership and Risk Taking in Modern Librarianship!

Steven Bell gave an outstanding workshop in which he highlighted Remarkable Leadership. His workshop finds its genesis in the work of Karol Wasylyshyn and her book Behind the Executive Door.

Which type of leader are you?

You could be a Remarkable Leader (such as Mother Theresa), a Toxic Leader (such as Richard Nixon), or somewhere in between is the Perilous Leader (Steve Jobs).

(Steven Bell in full presentation mode stressing Mother Theresa (on the slide) as a Remarkable Leader)

How to become a Remarkable Leader?

Total Brian Leadership (TBL)  + Emotional Intelligence (EI) + Productive Narcissim (PN)= Remarkable Leadership.

Also, what’s your Personal Mission Statement? You’ll want to read Steven Bell’s Library Journal Articles on Remarkable Leadership and Personal Mission Statement for further information. See Steven Bell’s Diigo Leadership Links for additional resources.

Corinne Hill thoroughly presented on what is happening with the Chattanooga Public Library.

(Corinne Hill presenting on the Chattanooga Public Library)

What are some things Hill is doing to be the best library leader she can be?

Read a lot ! Hill suggests reading WSJ and Harvard Business Review. This is in addition to books on the latest trends in business.

Follow what is going on in the wider profession including internationally! This includes learning what the library world is doing in such innovative countries such as Finland and Denmark.

Support your staff and allow them to soar! This also means assembling the right people and putting them in the right roles!

Get out of the library from time to time and connect with the wider community in non-library venues (i.e going to events at the symphony)!

Click here for a video recording of my talk at the University of Maryland

Tonight is my talk at the University of Maryland on the job search process for future librarians. I will say that you need to be insanely passionate about working in a library as this desire will allow setbacks to only increase your resolve to find what you are looking for. If you find a position, not matter what it is, make sure you do the best possible work to bloom where you are planted.

After asking for input from the Linked In INALJ Group here are the main points that librarians on the job hunt should be aware of.

For me it is all a matter of strategy and how you plan to strategize your job search. See below for details. Compiling what I learned from the INALJ Group here are the tips I came up with.

1. Do as much preparation work while in library school as you can. See below for details.
   1. Work in a library setting while you are in school to get valuable work experience
   2. Decide what types of positions you are planning to apply to and study job advertisements for those positions to get an idea as to what skill set you will need
   3. Join and Be Active in Professional Associations
      1. Student memberships are available for a discounted rate
      2. You gain leadership experience
      3. The networking is invaluable and you will need to make contacts
   4. Work on library projects that allow you to make contacts in the field and acquire mentors
   5. Ask the mentors for advice, the earlier you do this the better
   6. If you cannot find a paying job while in school then intern or volunteer at a library
   7. Start applying for positions within about a year of graduation, you will learn from the process and sharpen your skill set.

2. Identify where you plan to be a librarian and what type of library you want to work in.
   1. Find the major communication source amongst the librarians in that state(website, ListServ,FaceBook,etc.)
   2. You’ll need to know who is hiring and what they are looking for
   3. Think about ways to connect with librarians from that place (i.e. webinar, national conference, etc.) The more contacts you have in that area, the better.

3. Be willing to move to a different place to find the job you want. Look not only within the U.S., but internationally as well.

4. Consider a non-traditional library job with a vendor, data management provider, etc.

5. Invest in skills that will make you stand out such as foreign language, technical skills (i.e. Java, Ruby, Python or any current language) , grant writing, etc. I strongly advise developing a strong electronic presence by creating your own website or by getting active in professional social media venues such as Linked In.

6. Make sure your cover letter is informative and that you attach this to your resume/CV. Know if the potential employer wants either a CV or resume. Academic libraries lean toward CVs. You can ask your mentors and contacts for advice on this.

7. Even after you have a job, always be continuously learning. The more you know the more you can do. The more you can do the more valuable you are.

8. Finally, don’t give up on the process even when things look dim. If there is a will there is way.

For additional reading see

http://www.metaman.org/2015/04/10/not-all-sunshine-and-rainbows-reflections-on-the-job-hunt/

enhancing-your-resume-sla-handout-3-20151

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/INALJ-I-need-Library-job-4112382/about

http://www.ala.org/acrl/about/sections/cls/collprogdisc/collegelibrary

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/04/06/the-bohemian-librarian/

In continuing my method of conducting a book review, I am letting the book speak for itself by showcasing some of my favorite quotes.

Thiel on Leadership Compensation:

“A company does better the less it pays the CEO- that’s one of the single clearest patterns I’ve noticed from investing in hundreds of startups. In no case should a CEO of an early-stage, venture-backed startup receive more than $150,000 per year in salary. If a CEO collects $300,000 per year he risks becoming more like a politician than a founder. High pay incentivizes him to defend the status quo along with his salary, not to work with everyone else to surface problems and fix them aggressively. A cash-poor executive, by contrast, will focus on increasing the value of the company as a whole. (Pages 113-114)

Thiel on Leaders Setting the Example:

Low CEO pay also sets the standard for everyone else. Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, was always careful to pay himself less than everyone else in the company-four years after he started Box, he was still living two blocks away from HQ in a one-bedroom apartment with no furniture except a mattress. Every employee noticed his obvious commitment to the company’s mission and emulated it. If a CEO doesn’t set an example by taking the lowest salary in the company, he can do the same by drawing the highest salary. So long as that figure is still modest, it sets an effective ceiling on cash compensation.” (Pages 113-114)

Thiel on Building Teams:

“When you start something, the first and most crucial decision you make is whom to start it with. Choosing a co-founder is like getting married, and founder conflict is just as ugly as divorce. Now when I consider investing in a startup, I study the founding teams. Technical abilities and complementary skill sets matter, but how well the founders know each other and how well they work together matter just as much. Founders should share a pre-history before they start a company together- otherwise they’re just rolling dice. It’s not just founders who need to get along. Everyone in your company needs to work well together. It’s very hard to go from 0 to 1 without a team.” (Pages 108-109)

Thiel on Founders and Teams:

“Founders are important not because they are the only ones whose work has value, but rather because a great founder can bring out the best work from everybody at his company.” (Page 189)

Thiel on Attracting Recruits to the Team:

“Recruiting is a core competency for any company. It should never be outsourced. You need people who are not just skilled on paper, but who will work together cohesively after they’re hired.” (Page 120)

Thiel on the Importance of Work Relationships:

“If you can’t count durable relationships among the fruits of your time at work, you haven’t invested your time well-even in purely financial terms.” (Page 120)

Thiel on Success:

“In January 2013, Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, tweeted to his followers: “Success is never accidental.”” (Page 60)

Thiel on Choosing Projects:

“The best projects are likely to be overlooked, not trumpeted by a crowd; the best problems to work on are often the ones nobody else even tries to solve.” (Page 166)

Thiel on Computers and People:

“Computers are tools, not rivals.” (Page 144)

“As computers become more and more powerful, they won’t be substitutes for humans: they’ll be compliments.” (Page 144)

“Better technology in law, medicine, and education won’t replace professionals; it will allow them to do even more.” (Page 148)

“Replacement by computers is a worry for the 22^nd century.” (Page 150)

Thiel on the Why Competition is Disadvantageous:

“People lose sight of what matters and focus on their rivals instead.” (Page 38)

“War is costly business.” (Page 39)

“Rivalry causes us to overemphasize old opportunities and slavishly copy what has worked in the past.” (Page 39)

“Competition can make people hallucinate opportunities where none exist.” (Page 40)

“Rivalry is just weird and distracting.” (Page 41)

“If you can recognize competition as a destructive force instead of a sign of value, you’re already more sane than most.” (Page 43)

Thiel’s Four Points of Startup Wisdom:

1. “It is better to risk boldness than triviality.” (Page 21)
2. “A bad plan is better than no plan.” (Page 21)
3. “Competitive markets destroy profits.” (Page 21)
4. “Sales matter just as much as product.” (Page 21)

I’ve been asked to talk at the University of Maryland iSchool, my alma mater, on May 1 about a number of things including job search strategy tips as well as the future of the profession.

Here is a conceptual model I’ve built to address the future of libraries. Simply put you need three things: people in the field, good ideas created or at least formally proposed by people in the field, and resource allocators who are willing to fund/support these good ideas. When you have all three that points to a road-map as to what the future of the industry will look like.

See Futureof LibrariesConceptualModel

Not that long ago I attended an excellent lecture by Loyola Maryland University Engineering professor Robert Bailey in which he laid out before the audience several key points about the emergence of 3D Printing Technologies:

History:

1986: Chuck Hull patents stereolithography

1988: SLA-1 system sold commercially

1990s: Z Corp unveils 3D Printing

2005: RepRap project in the U.K. receives press coverage

2009: MakerBot CNC is available as the first commercially available printer in kit form

2010 to present: 3D Printing takes off in popularity and in media coverage

Design Software:

Solid Works

Auto Desk

Inventor

Catia

Pro/Engineer

Printing Processes:

Stereolithography

Fused Deposition Modeling

Poly Jet 3D Printing

Selective Laser Sintering

Its Use by Engineering Students: The 3D Printing allows students to go beyond mere conceptualization of a prototype to actually building a prototype. This allows them to better assess the accuracy of their prototype as well as their understanding of the design.

Cost:

Hobbyist Level: $500-$1500

Enthusiast Level: $2000-$3000

Small Business: $5000-$15000 or more

(The three levels above assume that you use plastics for printing, if you use metal it is more expensive see below)

Print Metal: $100,000 or more

Costs for Plastics: Using Fused Deposition Modeling it costs $1.00 to $10.00 per cubic inch, using PolyJet it costs $5.00 to $20.00 per cubic inch

Currently economies of scale are such that the cost prohibits large scale manufacturing and only allows for creation of prototypes

Important Developments that can shape the future:

Note: Private Enterprise is leading the way with 3D Printing, but academia is quickly following

Columbia University Medical Center: Meniscus Regenerated with 3D Printed Implant

GE using 3D Printers to make parts

Contour Crafting: Using 3D Printers to build physical structures

Local Motors is using 3D Printers to build cars

Housing in China built with 3D Printers

Building structures with 3D Printing technology will prove complex as it raises questions as to structural integrity, leaking, and whether such structures can pass building codes

Bottom Line: This technology will revolutionize manufacturing, product design, and engineering instruction. Bailey foresees the technology taking off at the personal use level.

Continuing my trend of allowing a book to speak for itself instead of me presenting a formal book review, I am sharing my favorite quotes from Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek.

“When the people have to manage dangers from inside the organization, the organization itself becomes less able to face the dangers from the outside.” (p. 14)

“The strength and endurance of a company does not come from products or services but from how well their people pull together. By creating a Circle of Safety around the people in the organization, leadership reduces the threats people feel inside the group, which frees them up to focus more time and energy to protect the organization from the constant dangers outside and seize big opportunities. Without a Circle of Safety, people are forced to spend too much time and energy protecting themselves from each other.”(p. 22)

“We’re built to work together. We are, at a deeply ingrained and biological level, social machines. And when we work to help each other, our bodies reward us for our effort so that we will continue to do it.”(p. 36)

“The cost of leadership explains Lieutenant General George Flynn of the United States Marine Corps, is “self-interest.” We wouldn’t give them (leaders) all those perks for nothing. That wouldn’t be fair. This is the reason we are so offended by the exorbitant and disproportionate compensation of some of the leaders of the investment banks. If our leaders are to enjoy the trappings of their position in the hierarchy, then we expect them to offer us protection.”(p.65)

“We don’t just trust people to obey the rules, we also trust that they know when to break them.”(p.74)

“Trust is like lubrication. It reduces friction and creates conditions much more conducive to performance.”(p.77)

“When we divorce ourselves from humanity through numerical abstraction, we are, like Milgram’s volunteers, capable of inhuman behavior.”(p.101)

“The goal of the leader is to give no orders,” Captain Marquet explains. “Leaders are to provide direction and intent and allow others to figure out what to do and how to get there.”(p.146)

“Building trust requires nothing more than telling the truth.”(p. 154)

“Cooperation doesn’t mean agreement, it means working together to advance the greater good, to serve those who rely on our protection, not to rack up wins to serve the party or ourselves.”(p. 164)

“There’s a growing body of evidence that the companies that are most successful at maximizing shareholder value over time are those that aim toward goals other than maximizing shareholder value.” (p.171 Justin Fox and Jay Lorsch wrote this in Harvard Business Review in July-August 2012)

“Leadership is about taking responsibility for lives and not numbers. Managers look after our numbers and our results and leaders look after us. All managers of metrics have an opportunity to become leaders of people. Just as every doctor in our country learned the importance of sterilizing their instruments, so too must every leader of every organization do the little things necessary to protect their people.” (p.183)

“It is not the work we remember with fondness, but the camaraderie, how the group came together to get things done.” (p.208)

“Human beings have thrived for fifty thousand years not because we are driven to serve ourselves, but because we are inspired to serve others.” (p. 213)

Readers will also want to pay attention to Next Jump as Sinek points out its lifetime employment policy.

Which major company approved a $1.50 per hour wage increase in April 2009 during the heart of the recession? You’ll have to read the book to find out!