Ruth Metz, American Libraries; Coaching in the Library:
A professional coach can help leaders and staff up their game in dealing with an ever-changing environment and shrinking resources:
"The greatest challenge to library organizations is to continuously adapt in an ever-changing, ever-more-complex environment. Library leaders need to direct the continuous redevelopment of libraries. The ability to tackle this and other institutional challenges effectively is fundamental to the success of leaders and the survival of libraries. One way to achieve this is through the use of coaching."
http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/02182010/coaching-library
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Open Letters, Cynthia Richey, Director, Mt. Lebanon Public Library; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/23/10
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Open Letters, Cynthia Richey:
A call to action
"The critical state of library funding, described in Bob Hoover's article about the American Library Association's study of library use and funding, will have long-term, deleterious effects on our communities and residents if not rectified soon. ("Nation's Libraries Get More Use, Less Funding," Nov. 15)
The article highlights the importance of libraries in our communities. Public libraries offer many benefits to residents: providing technology and the shared resources it gives everyone access to; supporting job seekers, small business owners and distance learners; offering crucial curricular support and lifelong learning opportunities; and helping non-English speakers learn a second language or study for citizenship, to list a few. Public libraries are crucial partners with parents in starting a child's education at the very beginning of life. These services support the state's economy and educational system and are freely available to everyone regardless of socio-economic status.
Libraries have adapted to social changes and remain vital and relevant. But libraries face too many challenges as they struggle to reconcile an increasing demand for services with diminishing resources. Adequate funding for public libraries is essential in a democratic society. ALA's study is a call for action.
CYNTHIA K. RICHEY
Director
Mt. Lebanon Public Library
Mt. Lebanon"
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/openletters/archive/2010/02/23/a-call-to-action.aspx
A call to action
"The critical state of library funding, described in Bob Hoover's article about the American Library Association's study of library use and funding, will have long-term, deleterious effects on our communities and residents if not rectified soon. ("Nation's Libraries Get More Use, Less Funding," Nov. 15)
The article highlights the importance of libraries in our communities. Public libraries offer many benefits to residents: providing technology and the shared resources it gives everyone access to; supporting job seekers, small business owners and distance learners; offering crucial curricular support and lifelong learning opportunities; and helping non-English speakers learn a second language or study for citizenship, to list a few. Public libraries are crucial partners with parents in starting a child's education at the very beginning of life. These services support the state's economy and educational system and are freely available to everyone regardless of socio-economic status.
Libraries have adapted to social changes and remain vital and relevant. But libraries face too many challenges as they struggle to reconcile an increasing demand for services with diminishing resources. Adequate funding for public libraries is essential in a democratic society. ALA's study is a call for action.
CYNTHIA K. RICHEY
Director
Mt. Lebanon Public Library
Mt. Lebanon"
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/openletters/archive/2010/02/23/a-call-to-action.aspx
Letters to the editor, Barbara Mistick, Director, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/22/10
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Letters to the editor, Barbara Mistick, Director, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh:
Libraries are a wise investment
"I applaud Bob Hoover for his coverage of the financial plight of our nation's libraries ("Nation's Libraries Get More Use, Less Funding," Feb. 15). The quote from Larra Clark of the American Library Association sums it up best: "If libraries were a private business, people would be investing in them."
Libraries across Pennsylvania play a key role in the educational fabric of the community. Each day, millions of citizens count on their libraries for job-search assistance, educational resources, computer and Internet access, as well as free books and information. Demand for library services has increased dramatically during this recession as libraries serve people looking for work, families on tight budgets and retirees grappling with shrinking savings.
This is a critical time for our libraries. Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed 2010-11 budget for the commonwealth calls for another devastating reduction in funding for public libraries. With this proposed budget, the public library subsidy has decreased from $75.1 million in 2008-09 to $58.8 million in 2010-11. Further cuts put critical library services in jeopardy and threaten long-term funding.
Last year our city pulled together in an unprecedented fashion to save our libraries. But the threat to our library system has not passed. The $600,000 from the city of Pittsburgh is only for 2010. And the projected table games revenue won't fully cover the growing gap between revenues and expenses. We must urge our elected officials to provide long-term dedicated funding. Libraries are worth the investment.
BARBARA K. MISTICK
President and Director
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Oakland"
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10053/1037629-110.stm
Libraries are a wise investment
"I applaud Bob Hoover for his coverage of the financial plight of our nation's libraries ("Nation's Libraries Get More Use, Less Funding," Feb. 15). The quote from Larra Clark of the American Library Association sums it up best: "If libraries were a private business, people would be investing in them."
Libraries across Pennsylvania play a key role in the educational fabric of the community. Each day, millions of citizens count on their libraries for job-search assistance, educational resources, computer and Internet access, as well as free books and information. Demand for library services has increased dramatically during this recession as libraries serve people looking for work, families on tight budgets and retirees grappling with shrinking savings.
This is a critical time for our libraries. Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed 2010-11 budget for the commonwealth calls for another devastating reduction in funding for public libraries. With this proposed budget, the public library subsidy has decreased from $75.1 million in 2008-09 to $58.8 million in 2010-11. Further cuts put critical library services in jeopardy and threaten long-term funding.
Last year our city pulled together in an unprecedented fashion to save our libraries. But the threat to our library system has not passed. The $600,000 from the city of Pittsburgh is only for 2010. And the projected table games revenue won't fully cover the growing gap between revenues and expenses. We must urge our elected officials to provide long-term dedicated funding. Libraries are worth the investment.
BARBARA K. MISTICK
President and Director
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Oakland"
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10053/1037629-110.stm
Corner Office, Interview with Jana Eggers; New York Times, 2/21/10
Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Jana Eggers, chief executive of Spreadshirt: Should I Hire You? I’ll Ask the Receptionist:
"Q. How do you hire?
A. I’m going to ask you a lot about what you did. Of course, I’m interested in why you want to come to Spreadshirt, and those are usually the kind of ice-breaker questions to get people comfortable, because that’s what they’ve been thinking about, and what they’ve prepared for.
But what I really want to know is what they’ve done, because that is the biggest indicator of what they’ll do. I don’t mean specific things like, “Oh, I implemented this e-mail program.” I’ll ask: “Well, how did you do that? Who was involved? What was the biggest challenge you faced in doing that?” I’m interested in seeing how they organized themselves, how they think about projects, how they think about other people around them. There are very few jobs in any company these days where one person goes in and does it alone. They always have to interact with other people.
Q. What else?
A. I’m also going to see how they treat the receptionist. I always get feedback from them. I’ll want to know if someone comes in and if they weren’t polite, if they didn’t say, “Hello,” or ask them how they were. It’s really important to me.
I also check references myself. A lot of times people may leave that to their H.R. people or to someone who works for them. But, to me, it’s really important to talk to the person and build a rapport. I really want to know, what am I going to see? Everybody has challenges. One of the questions I usually ask on references is, “Where should I spend time coaching this person?”
Q. What qualities are you looking for in hires?
A. I’m usually listening for passion. I want that passion, because that passion is what’s going to get you through your failures. It’s when the tough things happen that a person’s real personality comes out.
And I’m looking for whether someone’s aware that business is a team sport. You have to communicate. How do they describe the team, their role on the team? I always like to get their perspectives on the management, too."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21cornerweb.html?scp=1&sq=jana+eggers&st=nyt
"Q. How do you hire?
A. I’m going to ask you a lot about what you did. Of course, I’m interested in why you want to come to Spreadshirt, and those are usually the kind of ice-breaker questions to get people comfortable, because that’s what they’ve been thinking about, and what they’ve prepared for.
But what I really want to know is what they’ve done, because that is the biggest indicator of what they’ll do. I don’t mean specific things like, “Oh, I implemented this e-mail program.” I’ll ask: “Well, how did you do that? Who was involved? What was the biggest challenge you faced in doing that?” I’m interested in seeing how they organized themselves, how they think about projects, how they think about other people around them. There are very few jobs in any company these days where one person goes in and does it alone. They always have to interact with other people.
Q. What else?
A. I’m also going to see how they treat the receptionist. I always get feedback from them. I’ll want to know if someone comes in and if they weren’t polite, if they didn’t say, “Hello,” or ask them how they were. It’s really important to me.
I also check references myself. A lot of times people may leave that to their H.R. people or to someone who works for them. But, to me, it’s really important to talk to the person and build a rapport. I really want to know, what am I going to see? Everybody has challenges. One of the questions I usually ask on references is, “Where should I spend time coaching this person?”
Q. What qualities are you looking for in hires?
A. I’m usually listening for passion. I want that passion, because that passion is what’s going to get you through your failures. It’s when the tough things happen that a person’s real personality comes out.
And I’m looking for whether someone’s aware that business is a team sport. You have to communicate. How do they describe the team, their role on the team? I always like to get their perspectives on the management, too."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21cornerweb.html?scp=1&sq=jana+eggers&st=nyt
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Nation's libraries get more use, less funding; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/15/10
Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Nation's libraries get more use, less funding:
"The community reaction to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's financial problems was one of last year's big stories around here. Drowned out by the local din, however, was the fact that the same story about libraries was repeated across the country.
Preliminary figures from a new American Library Association survey of how libraries fared in 2009 show that nearly 75 percent of them were handed significant government budget cuts, forcing libraries to reduce services. Pennsylvania registered a 27 percent reduction in state library aid.
Only three states -- New Mexico, North Dakota and Texas -- increased funding.
At the same time, demand for services was growing, fueled in part by rising unemployment. The jobless were flocking to their public libraries to use their Internet services to look for work.
The Carnegie reported a steady increase in visits and circulation between 2004 and 2008 despite Pittsburgh's ongoing drop in population.
The ALA study said that 76 percent of respondents reported increases in usage at computer work stations last year, while only 3 percent said usage was down.
The American Library Association teamed with the Center for Library and Information Innovation at the University of Maryland on the survey that collected data from 46 states in November. Four didn't respond -- Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire.
"It's our first opportunity to take a look at what's happening at libraries around the nation," said Larra Clark, the ALA's project manager on the research.
"A lot of libraries depend on local funding, so it's been hard to track the trends from state to state. Basically, what we're releasing now is a snapshot of the overall library situation."
The complete study will be available this summer, she said.
"Libraries have been first responders in this financial crisis," Ms. Clark said, "providing job hunting services including free Internet access. But 21st century libraries can't meet demands with 20th century funding," she added.
"I'm sorry to say that some people don't understand the role libraries play in advancing technology, including free classes on how to use the Internet," Ms. Clark continued. "Circulation is up, usage is up, computer use is up. If libraries were a private business, people would be investing in them."
What stirred the Pittsburgh community to act was the Carnegie Library's proposal to close four neighborhood branches and merge two others this year. It shelved the plan when Pittsburgh City Council promised a temporary increase of $600,000 in aid this year.
The library also is due an estimated $850,000 from a tax on Rivers Casino revenues once the casino is offering table games following the go-ahead from the state last month. Allegheny County's 44 municipal libraries are due about $100,000 less if revenue projections hold.
The ALA study discovered, however, that libraries were being closed across the country last year. Thirteen states, including Pennsylvania, reported shutdowns, with Indiana listing the most, more than five. (Specifics will be in the final report.)
The commonwealth budget also slashed statewide programs that allow community libraries to share information and connect their users to sources around Pennsylvania.
One service, the Electronic Library Catalog, called Ask Here PA, was eliminated. Cuts of 57 percent were made on the POWER Library (which provides access to full-text periodical articles, newspapers, major encyclopedia, photographs, charts, etc. for people of all ages), interlibrary delivery of materials and a statewide library card.
"These actions are penny wise, but pound foolish," Ms. Clark said. "By cutting off shared services, Pennsylvania has increased the gap between affluent and less affluent resources."
She pointed out that libraries in poorer communities depend on state resources while the state can provide all libraries with significant resources at less cost.
"Pennsylvania is very clear example of the ripple effect. By cutting services that link libraries and other institutions, students on all levels are hit hard, especially those doing research," Ms. Clark said.
Also slashed by the new budget was the appropriation to operate the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, including the State Library operations in Harrisburg. It was cut $2.1 million, a 47.8 percent reduction from the last fiscal year.
In local library news, the New Hazlett Theater, headquartered in the former Allegheny Regional Library building on the North Side, is spearheading an effort to find new uses for the space that the Carnegie will abandon by the end of the year.
Representatives from the Warhol and the Children's museums, the city and the library are also involved. The Pittsburgh Public Theater formerly occupied the theater space, once a music hall.
The 120-year-old structure was badly damaged by lightning in 2006, forcing the shutdown of library services to the public. The building is now called the Allegheny Repository and holds the Carnegie Library's Heritage Collection of 150,000 historical artifacts, some dating to 1617. The collection will move to the East Liberty Branch when that building's renovation is completed at the end of the year.
A new Allegheny branch building, designed by Loysen and Kreuthmeier Architects, opened last year on Federal Street. Now, the group has hired that firm to review the structure and propose ways to renovate the building for new uses.
The Community Design Center and the Hazlett raised $20,000 for the study. Sara Radelet, theater executive director, said she hopes the report will be ready by March 3.
At a meeting at the theater Feb. 4, architect Karen Loysen reported that the building was in a deteriorating condition due to "significant water damage" and termed the cost of utilities "exorbitant."
Although the city owns the building and uses a basement area for a senior citizens' center, the library and the theater share the utility bills for the entire structure, with the library's share $250,000 annually.
Ms. Radelet said the study has two goals -- a "nuts-and-bolts" survey of the building and ways to best use the enormous space, more than 45,000 square feet.
"I don't think anybody wants to mothball the library space and just walk away from it," she said, "but to come up with imaginative ways to make the best use of it."
More public meetings on reusing the building are planned, she added, but are yet to be scheduled.
The original building is Andrew Carnegie's first library given to an American municipality (others were open only to workers at his factories at first) and marks its 120th birthday this month."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10046/1036006-84.stm
"The community reaction to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's financial problems was one of last year's big stories around here. Drowned out by the local din, however, was the fact that the same story about libraries was repeated across the country.
Preliminary figures from a new American Library Association survey of how libraries fared in 2009 show that nearly 75 percent of them were handed significant government budget cuts, forcing libraries to reduce services. Pennsylvania registered a 27 percent reduction in state library aid.
Only three states -- New Mexico, North Dakota and Texas -- increased funding.
At the same time, demand for services was growing, fueled in part by rising unemployment. The jobless were flocking to their public libraries to use their Internet services to look for work.
The Carnegie reported a steady increase in visits and circulation between 2004 and 2008 despite Pittsburgh's ongoing drop in population.
The ALA study said that 76 percent of respondents reported increases in usage at computer work stations last year, while only 3 percent said usage was down.
The American Library Association teamed with the Center for Library and Information Innovation at the University of Maryland on the survey that collected data from 46 states in November. Four didn't respond -- Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire.
"It's our first opportunity to take a look at what's happening at libraries around the nation," said Larra Clark, the ALA's project manager on the research.
"A lot of libraries depend on local funding, so it's been hard to track the trends from state to state. Basically, what we're releasing now is a snapshot of the overall library situation."
The complete study will be available this summer, she said.
"Libraries have been first responders in this financial crisis," Ms. Clark said, "providing job hunting services including free Internet access. But 21st century libraries can't meet demands with 20th century funding," she added.
"I'm sorry to say that some people don't understand the role libraries play in advancing technology, including free classes on how to use the Internet," Ms. Clark continued. "Circulation is up, usage is up, computer use is up. If libraries were a private business, people would be investing in them."
What stirred the Pittsburgh community to act was the Carnegie Library's proposal to close four neighborhood branches and merge two others this year. It shelved the plan when Pittsburgh City Council promised a temporary increase of $600,000 in aid this year.
The library also is due an estimated $850,000 from a tax on Rivers Casino revenues once the casino is offering table games following the go-ahead from the state last month. Allegheny County's 44 municipal libraries are due about $100,000 less if revenue projections hold.
The ALA study discovered, however, that libraries were being closed across the country last year. Thirteen states, including Pennsylvania, reported shutdowns, with Indiana listing the most, more than five. (Specifics will be in the final report.)
The commonwealth budget also slashed statewide programs that allow community libraries to share information and connect their users to sources around Pennsylvania.
One service, the Electronic Library Catalog, called Ask Here PA, was eliminated. Cuts of 57 percent were made on the POWER Library (which provides access to full-text periodical articles, newspapers, major encyclopedia, photographs, charts, etc. for people of all ages), interlibrary delivery of materials and a statewide library card.
"These actions are penny wise, but pound foolish," Ms. Clark said. "By cutting off shared services, Pennsylvania has increased the gap between affluent and less affluent resources."
She pointed out that libraries in poorer communities depend on state resources while the state can provide all libraries with significant resources at less cost.
"Pennsylvania is very clear example of the ripple effect. By cutting services that link libraries and other institutions, students on all levels are hit hard, especially those doing research," Ms. Clark said.
Also slashed by the new budget was the appropriation to operate the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, including the State Library operations in Harrisburg. It was cut $2.1 million, a 47.8 percent reduction from the last fiscal year.
In local library news, the New Hazlett Theater, headquartered in the former Allegheny Regional Library building on the North Side, is spearheading an effort to find new uses for the space that the Carnegie will abandon by the end of the year.
Representatives from the Warhol and the Children's museums, the city and the library are also involved. The Pittsburgh Public Theater formerly occupied the theater space, once a music hall.
The 120-year-old structure was badly damaged by lightning in 2006, forcing the shutdown of library services to the public. The building is now called the Allegheny Repository and holds the Carnegie Library's Heritage Collection of 150,000 historical artifacts, some dating to 1617. The collection will move to the East Liberty Branch when that building's renovation is completed at the end of the year.
A new Allegheny branch building, designed by Loysen and Kreuthmeier Architects, opened last year on Federal Street. Now, the group has hired that firm to review the structure and propose ways to renovate the building for new uses.
The Community Design Center and the Hazlett raised $20,000 for the study. Sara Radelet, theater executive director, said she hopes the report will be ready by March 3.
At a meeting at the theater Feb. 4, architect Karen Loysen reported that the building was in a deteriorating condition due to "significant water damage" and termed the cost of utilities "exorbitant."
Although the city owns the building and uses a basement area for a senior citizens' center, the library and the theater share the utility bills for the entire structure, with the library's share $250,000 annually.
Ms. Radelet said the study has two goals -- a "nuts-and-bolts" survey of the building and ways to best use the enormous space, more than 45,000 square feet.
"I don't think anybody wants to mothball the library space and just walk away from it," she said, "but to come up with imaginative ways to make the best use of it."
More public meetings on reusing the building are planned, she added, but are yet to be scheduled.
The original building is Andrew Carnegie's first library given to an American municipality (others were open only to workers at his factories at first) and marks its 120th birthday this month."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10046/1036006-84.stm
Schottlaender named 2010 Melvil Dewey Medal Award winner; ALA Press Release, 2/10/10
ALA Press Release; Schottlaender named 2010 Melvil Dewey Medal Award winner:
"Brian E. C. Schottlaender, The Audrey Geisel University Librarian at the University of California, San Diego, has been chosen to receive the American Library Association’s 2010 Melvil Dewey Medal Award, sponsored by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). This prestigious professional honor, given in recognition of creative leadership of high order, is named after Melvil Dewey, who was actively interested in library management, library training, cataloging and classification and the tools and techniques of librarianship. Schottlaender has excelled in each of these areas."
http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/february2010/dewey_gov.cfm
"Brian E. C. Schottlaender, The Audrey Geisel University Librarian at the University of California, San Diego, has been chosen to receive the American Library Association’s 2010 Melvil Dewey Medal Award, sponsored by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). This prestigious professional honor, given in recognition of creative leadership of high order, is named after Melvil Dewey, who was actively interested in library management, library training, cataloging and classification and the tools and techniques of librarianship. Schottlaender has excelled in each of these areas."
http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/february2010/dewey_gov.cfm
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Corner Office, Interview with Vineet Nayar; New York Times, 2/14/10
Corner Office, Interview with Vineet Nayar, chief executive HCL Technologies [http://www.hcltech.com/]; New York Times, He’s Not Bill Gates, or Fred Astaire:
"A. Most C.E.O.’s are not as great as they’re believed to be. There are exceptions. There is Bill Gates. There is Steve Jobs. There is Larry Page. But I’m not one of them, and so many of us are not them.
So, if you see your job not as chief strategy officer and the guy who has all the ideas, but rather the guy who is obsessed with enabling employees to create value, I think you will succeed. That’s a leadership style that evolved from my own understanding of the fact that I’m not the greatest and brightest leader born. My job is to make sure everybody is enabled to do what they do well. This is part of our “Employees First” philosophy.
Q. Talk more about how you create that culture.
A. You have to create a culture of pushing the envelope of trust. How do we push the envelope of trust? By creating transparency.
Q. Give me an example.
A. All HCL’s financial performance information is on our internal Web. We are completely open. We put all the dirty linen on the table, and we answer everyone’s questions on our internal Web site. We inverted the pyramid of the organization and made reverse accountability a reality.
So my 360-degree feedback is open to 50,000 employees — the results are published on the internal Web for everybody to see. And 3,800 managers participate in an open 360-degree and the results — they’re anonymous so that people are candid — are available on the internal Web for those who gave feedback to see. So, that’s reverse accountability.
The other thing we did was make sure everybody understands that the C.E.O. is the most incompetent person to answer questions, and I say this to all my employees very openly.
Q. How do you communicate that?
A. One thing I learned was to communicate in extremes. So I asked myself, how do I communicate to employees to not look up to me, but to look within, to communicate that I’m one of you, to destroy that hierarchy? So I decided I’m going to go into this big gathering of employees dancing to a very famous Bollywood song. And I can’t dance for nuts, right? I was dancing in the aisles with these employees and making lots of noises. What happened? It completely destroyed the gap.
I’ll give you one more example with the way we handle business planning. So, what is the absolute power of the C.E.O? You come and make a presentation to me about what you’re going to do, and I will sit in this chair God has given to me and tell you if I like the plan or not. The power of the hierarchy flows from the fact that I will comment on what you write.
As my kids became teenagers, I started looking at Facebook a little more closely. It was a significant amount of collaboration. There was open understanding. They didn’t have a problem sharing their status. Nothing seemed to be secret, and they were living their lives very openly, and friends were commenting on each other and it was working.
Here is my generation, which is very security-conscious and privacy-conscious, and I thought, what are the differences? This is the generation coming to work for us. It’s not my generation.
So we started having people make their presentations and record them for our internal Web site. We open that for review to a 360-degree workshop, which means your subordinates will review it. Your managers will read it. Your peers will read it, and everybody will comment on it. I will be, or your manager will be, one of the many who read it. So, every presentation was reviewed by 300, 400 people.
What happened? There were two very interesting lessons that I learned. One, because your subordinates are going to see the plan, you cannot lie. You have to be honest. Two, because your peers are going to see it, you are going to put your best work into it.
Third, you didn’t learn from me. You learned by reviewing somebody else’s presentation. You learned from the comments somebody else gave you. For the 8,000 people who participated, there was a massive collaborative learning that took place.
Q. You’ve done a lot of tinkering with how the organization operates. Have all the initiatives worked?
A. The failures are far in excess of successes.
Q. Give me an example of what didn’t work.
A. I used to write a blog every week because I thought people wanted to know what was going through my head. But one employee told me that, “Actually, we want to participate in solving a problem.” So, the blog got converted into me asking a question: “This is a problem I’m having. How will you solve it?” This is one example of how we started going in one direction, and the direction completely changed to another."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/14cornerweb.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business
"A. Most C.E.O.’s are not as great as they’re believed to be. There are exceptions. There is Bill Gates. There is Steve Jobs. There is Larry Page. But I’m not one of them, and so many of us are not them.
So, if you see your job not as chief strategy officer and the guy who has all the ideas, but rather the guy who is obsessed with enabling employees to create value, I think you will succeed. That’s a leadership style that evolved from my own understanding of the fact that I’m not the greatest and brightest leader born. My job is to make sure everybody is enabled to do what they do well. This is part of our “Employees First” philosophy.
Q. Talk more about how you create that culture.
A. You have to create a culture of pushing the envelope of trust. How do we push the envelope of trust? By creating transparency.
Q. Give me an example.
A. All HCL’s financial performance information is on our internal Web. We are completely open. We put all the dirty linen on the table, and we answer everyone’s questions on our internal Web site. We inverted the pyramid of the organization and made reverse accountability a reality.
So my 360-degree feedback is open to 50,000 employees — the results are published on the internal Web for everybody to see. And 3,800 managers participate in an open 360-degree and the results — they’re anonymous so that people are candid — are available on the internal Web for those who gave feedback to see. So, that’s reverse accountability.
The other thing we did was make sure everybody understands that the C.E.O. is the most incompetent person to answer questions, and I say this to all my employees very openly.
Q. How do you communicate that?
A. One thing I learned was to communicate in extremes. So I asked myself, how do I communicate to employees to not look up to me, but to look within, to communicate that I’m one of you, to destroy that hierarchy? So I decided I’m going to go into this big gathering of employees dancing to a very famous Bollywood song. And I can’t dance for nuts, right? I was dancing in the aisles with these employees and making lots of noises. What happened? It completely destroyed the gap.
I’ll give you one more example with the way we handle business planning. So, what is the absolute power of the C.E.O? You come and make a presentation to me about what you’re going to do, and I will sit in this chair God has given to me and tell you if I like the plan or not. The power of the hierarchy flows from the fact that I will comment on what you write.
As my kids became teenagers, I started looking at Facebook a little more closely. It was a significant amount of collaboration. There was open understanding. They didn’t have a problem sharing their status. Nothing seemed to be secret, and they were living their lives very openly, and friends were commenting on each other and it was working.
Here is my generation, which is very security-conscious and privacy-conscious, and I thought, what are the differences? This is the generation coming to work for us. It’s not my generation.
So we started having people make their presentations and record them for our internal Web site. We open that for review to a 360-degree workshop, which means your subordinates will review it. Your managers will read it. Your peers will read it, and everybody will comment on it. I will be, or your manager will be, one of the many who read it. So, every presentation was reviewed by 300, 400 people.
What happened? There were two very interesting lessons that I learned. One, because your subordinates are going to see the plan, you cannot lie. You have to be honest. Two, because your peers are going to see it, you are going to put your best work into it.
Third, you didn’t learn from me. You learned by reviewing somebody else’s presentation. You learned from the comments somebody else gave you. For the 8,000 people who participated, there was a massive collaborative learning that took place.
Q. You’ve done a lot of tinkering with how the organization operates. Have all the initiatives worked?
A. The failures are far in excess of successes.
Q. Give me an example of what didn’t work.
A. I used to write a blog every week because I thought people wanted to know what was going through my head. But one employee told me that, “Actually, we want to participate in solving a problem.” So, the blog got converted into me asking a question: “This is a problem I’m having. How will you solve it?” This is one example of how we started going in one direction, and the direction completely changed to another."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/14cornerweb.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Corner Office; Interview with Susan Docherty, General Motors; New York Times, 2/7/10
Corner Office, Interview with Susan Docherty, who leads United States sales, service and marketing team at General Motors; New York Times, Now, Put Yourself In My Shoes:
"Q. How do you hire?
A. I like building teams with people who come from very different backgrounds and have very different experiences. I don’t just mean diverse teams, in terms of men and women or people of different color or origin. I like people who have worked in different places in the world than I have because they bring a lot more context to the discussion. That’s something that I value a tremendous amount.
I make sure that when I’m looking at people for my team, it’s not just what’s on their résumé — their strengths or weaknesses or what they’ve accomplished — but it’s the way they think. I can learn twice as much, twice as quickly, if I’ve got people who think differently than I do around the table.
Q. Can you talk more about how you hire?
A. I’m always in hiring mode. Always. When someone comes in for an interview, and they’re polished, and they’re practiced, and they’ve honed their résumé — everybody can give a great first impression. But what’s most important is seeing how people handle interactions on a day-to-day basis, when you’ve got days that are good, bad and ugly. It’s about how you handle the day-to-day interactions with your peers. It’s about how you treat the people on your team.
I have these little cardboard cards. And if I have an open position, and I’m considering a certain person, I grab one of these cards, and I write 1 through 10 on it. And I always try to get input about that person from other people. I don’t tell people necessarily, “Hey, I’m thinking about hiring so-and-so. What do you think about them?”
I might say, “Give me two great things that you like about this person, and two areas where you think they have a developmental opportunity.” And when you ask people like that, off the cuff, when you’re in an elevator or waiting for a meeting to start, you get some really candid feedback. So I get input from 10 different people — from the person’s supervisor to people who are on their team, and also from someone completely outside of the organization, like an ad agency or a supplier...
Q. So you’ve got your input and you’ve decided to interview someone for a job. What are you asking them?
A. One of the first questions I ask is, “Can you describe a decision that you made, or a situation that you were involved in that was a failure?” And I don’t need to know how they got to the failure. But I need to know what they did about it. How they handled that is the best illustration of whether or not they’re an innovative thinker and are comfortable taking some risk.
Q. Any other acid-test question?
A. I always ask people, “If you could be in my shoes today, what would be the top three things you’d do?” When most people prepare for an interview, they’re very focused on their prior experiences and examples of what they’ve done. And I think that you really do get some very candid, on-the-spot thinking when you ask them what they would do if they had my job. It demonstrates to me how they think on their feet without being prepared.
Sometimes I get answers back that are very in-the-moment, tactical answers. Sometimes I get very leader-like questions about vision, about things that are way beyond stuff that we’re currently thinking about. I love that question, because it’s very telling about how people think. And then there are other people who give a very balanced view, with thoughts on the short-, medium- and long-term. So I get a real quick read on strategic versus tactical thinking.
And it’s nice to get an outside perspective of how these people view me as a leader and what I really am focusing on, versus what they think I should be focusing on. I love that question. And by the way, I ask that question not just when I’m getting ready to hire somebody; I ask that question of people who are in a lot of lower levels within the organization.
Q. What other leadership lessons have you learned?
A. Whether you have a really small team or a really big team, communication needs to be at the forefront. It needs to be simple. It needs to be consistent. And even when you’re tired of what the message is, you need to do it again and again and again. Because everybody listens at different levels, and everybody comes to the table with a different perspective and a different experience. And the same words mean different things to different people.
On some very key things, people need to internalize it, and they need to own it. And when they do, you’ll know that you’re effective as a leader, because you hear them saying it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/business/07corner.html
"Q. How do you hire?
A. I like building teams with people who come from very different backgrounds and have very different experiences. I don’t just mean diverse teams, in terms of men and women or people of different color or origin. I like people who have worked in different places in the world than I have because they bring a lot more context to the discussion. That’s something that I value a tremendous amount.
I make sure that when I’m looking at people for my team, it’s not just what’s on their résumé — their strengths or weaknesses or what they’ve accomplished — but it’s the way they think. I can learn twice as much, twice as quickly, if I’ve got people who think differently than I do around the table.
Q. Can you talk more about how you hire?
A. I’m always in hiring mode. Always. When someone comes in for an interview, and they’re polished, and they’re practiced, and they’ve honed their résumé — everybody can give a great first impression. But what’s most important is seeing how people handle interactions on a day-to-day basis, when you’ve got days that are good, bad and ugly. It’s about how you handle the day-to-day interactions with your peers. It’s about how you treat the people on your team.
I have these little cardboard cards. And if I have an open position, and I’m considering a certain person, I grab one of these cards, and I write 1 through 10 on it. And I always try to get input about that person from other people. I don’t tell people necessarily, “Hey, I’m thinking about hiring so-and-so. What do you think about them?”
I might say, “Give me two great things that you like about this person, and two areas where you think they have a developmental opportunity.” And when you ask people like that, off the cuff, when you’re in an elevator or waiting for a meeting to start, you get some really candid feedback. So I get input from 10 different people — from the person’s supervisor to people who are on their team, and also from someone completely outside of the organization, like an ad agency or a supplier...
Q. So you’ve got your input and you’ve decided to interview someone for a job. What are you asking them?
A. One of the first questions I ask is, “Can you describe a decision that you made, or a situation that you were involved in that was a failure?” And I don’t need to know how they got to the failure. But I need to know what they did about it. How they handled that is the best illustration of whether or not they’re an innovative thinker and are comfortable taking some risk.
Q. Any other acid-test question?
A. I always ask people, “If you could be in my shoes today, what would be the top three things you’d do?” When most people prepare for an interview, they’re very focused on their prior experiences and examples of what they’ve done. And I think that you really do get some very candid, on-the-spot thinking when you ask them what they would do if they had my job. It demonstrates to me how they think on their feet without being prepared.
Sometimes I get answers back that are very in-the-moment, tactical answers. Sometimes I get very leader-like questions about vision, about things that are way beyond stuff that we’re currently thinking about. I love that question, because it’s very telling about how people think. And then there are other people who give a very balanced view, with thoughts on the short-, medium- and long-term. So I get a real quick read on strategic versus tactical thinking.
And it’s nice to get an outside perspective of how these people view me as a leader and what I really am focusing on, versus what they think I should be focusing on. I love that question. And by the way, I ask that question not just when I’m getting ready to hire somebody; I ask that question of people who are in a lot of lower levels within the organization.
Q. What other leadership lessons have you learned?
A. Whether you have a really small team or a really big team, communication needs to be at the forefront. It needs to be simple. It needs to be consistent. And even when you’re tired of what the message is, you need to do it again and again and again. Because everybody listens at different levels, and everybody comes to the table with a different perspective and a different experience. And the same words mean different things to different people.
On some very key things, people need to internalize it, and they need to own it. And when they do, you’ll know that you’re effective as a leader, because you hear them saying it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/business/07corner.html
Thursday, February 4, 2010
To CC or BCC — In Job Searches, There's Little Question; Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/17/10
Don Troop, Chronicle of Higher Education; To CC or BCC — In Job Searches, There's Little Question:
"Career-minded academics know there are certain key moments to go on the job market: Straight out of grad school. Immediately after publishing a talked-about book. And, as a safety net, the year that one goes up for tenure. Regardless of when they do it, most job seekers expect their flirtations to stay more or less private—at least until the campus visit.
So the apology was swift and to the point last month after a new history-department employee at the Johns Hopkins University accidentally identified 106 job applicants to one another in a mortifying mass-e-mail blunder.
William Rowe, the history-department chairman, says he told the outed academics in his bcc'd message that a clerical error was to blame, "and we apologize for any embarrassment we may have caused you."
Three days after Mr. Rowe's mea culpa, the University of South Carolina similarly identified 46 applicants who had responded to an advertisement for "multiple tenure-track positions" in the School of Library and Information Science. The mass e-mail message invited applicants to sign up for one of 20 interview slots at the annual conference of Alise, the Association for Library and Information Science Education, which took place last week in Boston.
This time, however, the apology never came.
Samantha Hastings, director of South Carolina's library school, says that the group message, with addresses visible, was deliberate and was part of "an experiment" to efficiently schedule interviews in a limited time. "We had determined that everyone that we contacted had given us permission to use their names," she says. "The step prior to that mass e-mail was that, 'We're going to send a mass e-mail. Are you all right with that?'"
As it turned out, some were not all right with it, and none of the roughly half-dozen applicants who responded to an e-mail inquiry from The Chronicle remembered being asked...
Privacy breaches can also have legal implications, though no one interviewed for this article could recall an instance in which a college was penalized for revealing a candidate's name. Nonetheless, Mr. Rowe says, the e-mail incident at Johns Hopkins raised the antennae of the university's legal department."
http://chronicle.com/article/To-CC-or-BCC-In-Job/63543/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
"Career-minded academics know there are certain key moments to go on the job market: Straight out of grad school. Immediately after publishing a talked-about book. And, as a safety net, the year that one goes up for tenure. Regardless of when they do it, most job seekers expect their flirtations to stay more or less private—at least until the campus visit.
So the apology was swift and to the point last month after a new history-department employee at the Johns Hopkins University accidentally identified 106 job applicants to one another in a mortifying mass-e-mail blunder.
William Rowe, the history-department chairman, says he told the outed academics in his bcc'd message that a clerical error was to blame, "and we apologize for any embarrassment we may have caused you."
Three days after Mr. Rowe's mea culpa, the University of South Carolina similarly identified 46 applicants who had responded to an advertisement for "multiple tenure-track positions" in the School of Library and Information Science. The mass e-mail message invited applicants to sign up for one of 20 interview slots at the annual conference of Alise, the Association for Library and Information Science Education, which took place last week in Boston.
This time, however, the apology never came.
Samantha Hastings, director of South Carolina's library school, says that the group message, with addresses visible, was deliberate and was part of "an experiment" to efficiently schedule interviews in a limited time. "We had determined that everyone that we contacted had given us permission to use their names," she says. "The step prior to that mass e-mail was that, 'We're going to send a mass e-mail. Are you all right with that?'"
As it turned out, some were not all right with it, and none of the roughly half-dozen applicants who responded to an e-mail inquiry from The Chronicle remembered being asked...
Privacy breaches can also have legal implications, though no one interviewed for this article could recall an instance in which a college was penalized for revealing a candidate's name. Nonetheless, Mr. Rowe says, the e-mail incident at Johns Hopkins raised the antennae of the university's legal department."
http://chronicle.com/article/To-CC-or-BCC-In-Job/63543/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)