[Opinion] Addictive Personality? You Might be a Leader; New York Times, 7/23/11

[Opinion] David J. Linden, New York Times; Addictive Personality? You Might be a Leader:

"WHEN we think of the qualities we seek in visionary leaders, we think of intelligence, creativity, wisdom and charisma, but also the drive to succeed, a hunger for innovation, a willingness to challenge established ideas and practices.

But in fact, the psychological profile of a compelling leader — think of tech pioneers like Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Steven P. Jobs — is also that of the compulsive risk-taker, someone with a high degree of novelty-seeking behavior. In short, what we seek in leaders is often the same kind of personality type that is found in addicts, whether they are dependent on gambling, alcohol, sex or drugs."

Cuomo’s Presidential Moment Forms Contrast With Obama; New York Times, 6/25/11

Nate Silver, New York Times; Cuomo’s Presidential Moment Forms Contrast With Obama:

"I’m generally of the view that individual politicians receive both more credit and more blame than they deserve, with legislative and electoral outcomes usually determined by broad cultural, economic and political undercurrents. But the type of leadership that Mr. Cuomo exercised — setting a lofty goal, refusing to take no for an answer and using every tool at his disposal to achieve it — is reminiscent of the stories sometimes told about with President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had perhaps the most impressive record of legislative accomplishment of any recent president."

Social Media History Becomes a New Job Hurdle; New York Times, 7/20/11

Jennifer Preston, New York Times; Social Media History Becomes a New Job Hurdle:

"A year-old start-up, Social Intelligence, scrapes the Internet for everything prospective employees may have said or done online in the past seven years.

Then it assembles a dossier with examples of professional honors and charitable work, along with negative information that meets specific criteria: online evidence of racist remarks; references to drugs; sexually explicit photos, text messages or videos; flagrant displays of weapons or bombs and clearly identifiable violent activity."

Corner Office: Interview with Kathy Button Bell, vice president and chief marketing officer of Emerson; New York Times, 7/2/11

Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Kathy Button Bell, vice president and chief marketing officer of Emerson: Endurance on the Field, and at Work:

"Q. How do you find [people who have empathy] in an interview?

A. I think you can feel empathy pretty fast from people. I think you can also tell by what kind of jobs they’ve had, and what they liked. You get at someone’s personal values a little bit.

I would actually say that most of the time when you have a failed employee, it’s a person who lacks empathy, and they didn’t hear what the organization was telling them. They don’t hear the cues. Lots of very smart people lack empathy. They’re able to test their way through life and get A’s. No one tests you on empathy. You can also learn a lot about somebody from the questions they ask you."

Harvard Business Review; Barnes & Noble's Smart Strategy, 6/29/11

Stephen Wunker, Harvard Business Review; Barnes & Noble's Smart Strategy:

"Faced with an eroding core business, most companies seem to do...nothing...

Barnes & Noble (B&N), America's largest bookseller, is bucking these trends."