Act powerful, be powerful; CNN.com, 10/28/12

Amy Cuddy, CNN.com; Act powerful, be powerful: "“Open, expansive postures reflect and signal power (picture Wonder Woman). They are expressed by individuals who already feel powerful. Powerless people do the opposite -- contracting, hunching, and making themselves smaller… Preparatory power posing is taking a few minutes before walking into a stressful interaction or situation to open up, occupy more space, and make yourself big. Stand with your feet apart and your hands on your hips, or with your arms reaching up in a 'V.' Or sit with your legs in front of you, feet propped up on desk or a table, leaning back, with your hands on the back of your head, fingers interlaced, and elbows pointing out."

From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change; New York Times, 10/27/12

Nancy F. Koehn, New York Times; From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change: "RACHEL CARSON’S story offers many leadership lessons, including the importance of persistence in pursuing an objective. When I discuss her with business executives, many are struck by her ability to stay focused on goals in the face of obstacles including severe illness. Another lesson involves the importance of doing thorough research and taking the long view. A sense of context based on hard facts, along with a knowledge of history, is essential to understanding what’s at stake in difficult and uncertain situations. It also confers a sense of authority on the person who has acquired this knowledge. A third insight concerns the juggling of personal demands and professional ambitions."

Napping in the Library—On Purpose; Library Journal, 10/24/12

Meredith Schwartz, Library Journal; Napping in the Library—On Purpose: "They’re designed to provide the perfect environment for a 20 minute nap, from positioning to privacy to white noise and a gentle wake-up call via vibrations and lighting rather than a blaring alarm clock... In 2007, Chowdhury donated an EnergyPod to Carnegie Mellon’s Hunt Library. Gloriana St. Clair, Dean of Libraries at Carnegie Mellon, told LJ the pod is “very heavily used,” particularly around mid-terms and finals. When the pod is in use, Carnegie Mellon’s sleepy library users now have another option. Said St. Clair, “My partner (a champion napper) died last year. Several people gave gifts to the libraries in his honor and I used that money to buy nine recliners for the Sorrells Library… Most of these chairs are used most of the time. It is a very cheap alternative to the napping pod.”"

Romney as a Manager: Unhurried and Socratic; New York Times, 10/19/12

Michael Barbaro, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Michael Wines; New York Times; Romney as a Manager: Unhurried and Socratic: "Mr. Romney’s bid for the White House largely hinges on his own narrowly drawn image of himself as a chief executive: the data-splicing, cost-cutting turnaround expert. But dozens of interviews with those who have worked for him over the past 30 years — in the Mormon Church, business, the Olympics and state government — offer a far more textured portrait of the management style that he might bring to the presidency. A serial chief executive, the Republican presidential nominee is steeped in management theory and eschews gut instincts. He is not so much a micromanager as a microprocessor, wading deeply into the raw data usually left to junior aides. He entrusts advisers with responsibility, but keeps them on a short leash, monitoring them through a flurry of progress reports and review sessions. Mr. Romney is, colleagues said, “conflict-avoidant.” His decision-making process is unhurried and Socratic, his instinct to exhaustively debate and prod."

Wetenhall's tenure as Carnegie Museums president wasn't smooth sailing; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/17/22

Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Wetenhall's tenure as Carnegie Museums president wasn't smooth sailing: "I've been really very busy and engaged with our museum trustees, directors and boards working on our strategic plan, which I'm very pleased with," he said about the five-year plan that he plans to present to the 60-member museum board in November. "I think from this effort our museums have developed their own strategic plans that are, in my judgment, very well aligned to help aim our museums toward a successful future."... One local arts leader concluded that Mr. Wetenhall's tenure would be brief after meeting him for the first time. "There was a lack of self-awareness, a lack of inquisitiveness about this new place he found himself in. He would talk, but he wasn't really listening," the individual said... About nine months ago, Mr. Foster suggested to executive committee members of the main Carnegie board that 360-degree assessments be done of all senior management staff to develop their managerial skills."

Young People Frequent Libraries, Study Finds; New York Times, 10/22/12

Christine Haughney, New York Times; Young People Frequent Libraries, Study Finds: "But in troubling news for tablet makers, the study also found that the subjects under 30 who read electronically were more likely to read books on a cellphone or a computer. In fact, the study found that 41 percent of readers under 30 view books using a cellphone and 55 percent read from a computer. Only 23 percent of Americans under 30 used an e-reader and 16 percent used a tablet."

The Education of Tony Marx; New York Times, 10/10/12

Jacob Bernstein, New York Times; The Education of Tony Marx: "As the dispute over the central library plan dies down, Mr. Marx is choosing to see the sunny side of things. “The good news,” he said after leaving the Doris Duke Foundation event, walking toward the nearby Time Warner Center, “is that people are talking about the library. What they want it to be and what they don’t want it to be, rather than taking it for granted and letting it sink. Right?”"

The Power of Praise; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/7/12

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; The Power of Praise:

Library managers and administrators, part 1: Who would be a middle manager?; Library Journal, 10/3/12

Cheryl LaGuardia, Library Journal; Library managers and administrators, part 1: Who would be a middle manager? : "I’ve been a library middle manager on and off throughout my pretty lengthy career, in access services, instruction, electronic services, and reference, and along the way I’ve collected a number of what I’ll call “impressions” about the role. Those impressions are..."

Men, women on corporate boards split on diversity; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/5/12

Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Men, women on corporate boards split on diversity: "Men and women who serve on corporate boards of directors worldwide frequently agree on political and economic issues that impact business but they have widely divergent ideas on how to improve diversity in their own board rooms. Those are among the findings of a survey that polled more than 1,000 directors on issues ranging from environmental regulations to diversity quotas."