[Video: 48 sec.] Tony Hsieh: 'I Fire Those Who Don't Fit Our Company Culture'; Inc., 11/15/12

[Video: 48 sec.] Inc.; Tony Hsieh: 'I Fire Those Who Don't Fit Our Company Culture' : "Tony Hsieh won't hire stellar candidates if they don't fit the Zappos culture--and he fires those who don't inspire it."

What Great Leaders Have That Good Leaders Don't; Inc., 11/16/12

Brent Gleeson, Inc.; What Great Leaders Have That Good Leaders Don't: "When you think of strong leaders, you probably think of people who are decisive, bold, confident, and fearless. You’re not wrong. Good leaders have all of these qualities. But how many good leaders are also loyal? I don’t know, but I know that every great leader is. Loyalty is one of the core values taught in the Navy SEAL training program. Instructors teach you from the first day that your team is everything to you. You succeed with them, and you fail without them. And you never leave anyone behind... A commitment to loyalty is becoming uncommon in business leaders. I think that’s a shame. As leaders, we have the duty to hire responsibly and then support the people we hire. These are some of the lessons in loyalty that I learned as a SEAL and apply daily to my job as a business owner..."

The New York Public Library: The Turning Point; New York Review of Books, 10/25/12

Robert Darnton, New York Review of Books; The New York Public Library: The Turning Point: "Polemics rarely lead to happy endings. They usually produce hard feelings and a hardening of positions, rather than mutual understanding and mutually acceptable results. The loud debate about the Central Library Plan (CLP) of the New York Public Library may, however, be an exception to this rule—not that it has come to an end, but it has reached a turning point, which should satisfy both sides. Critics of the CLP were especially incensed about its provision to remove books from the seven levels of stacks under the Rose Main Reading Room and ship them to offsite storage in order to make room for a circulating library to be installed on the lower floors. They petitioned, they provoked a debate—some of it conducted in these pages [Letters, NYR, July 12]—and they were heard. After studying the problem further, a committee of the library’s trustees has made the following recommendations, which were accepted by the full board on September 19."

Developing Your Leadership Presence; Library Journal, 11/28/12

Steven Bell, Library Journal; Developing Your Leadership Presence: "It’s hard to say exactly what presence is, but when it comes to leaders, we know it when we see it. How do you learn to boost your presence, especially if your style is more introverted? When I accepted a position as a library director, it marked my first opportunity to take the helm of a library organization. I had full confidence in my ability to lead the library forward into the future, and help it make a successful transition into the digital world. The responsibilities for planning, budgeting, technology, and managing presented few concerns; I believed I was well prepared to lead in all these areas. There was only one matter that truly had me feeling less secure in my abilities, and it was something I could hardly explain myself. For lack of a better way to describe it, I could only say that I was less certain about my capacity for being “directorly.” At the time it was just this vague worry that I would fail at carrying and conducting myself in a manner expected of a library director and academic administrator. Although this sounds rather silly, it was a genuine concern, and when I joined the College Library Directors Mentoring Program, I learned that others felt the same way, and that none of us new library directors knew exactly what to do about it."

Interviewing Across the Generations; Library Journal, 11/28/12

Cheryl LaGuardia, Library Journal; Interviewing Across the Generations: "Job interviewing in libraries has changed over the years I’ve been in the profession. When I started out, interviews tended to last less than a day and you met with one or two folks during the interview. Now, interviews typically last longer than one day and candidates meet with folks from all over a library and institution. Many of the techniques I’ve learned over the years can be applied today, but there are new techniques and interview skills that smart candidates can use to give them an edge in the interview process. At the same time, I’d like to remind interviewers that there are skills they need to employ to make an interview successful. Here are a few suggestions for both interviewees and interviewers across the generations..."

The Quiet Ones; New York Times, 11/17/12

Tim Kreider, New York Times; The Quiet Ones: "In a 2006 interview David Foster Wallace said, “it seems significant that we don’t want things to be quiet, ever, anymore.” Stores and restaurants have their ubiquitous Muzak or satellite radio; bars have anywhere between 1 and 17 TVs blaring Fox and soccer; ads and 30-second news cycles play on screens in cabs, elevators and restrooms. Even some libraries, whose professional shushers were once celebrated in cartoon and sitcom, now have music and special segregated areas designated for “quiet study,” which is what a library used to be...THOSE of us who despise this tendency don’t have a voice, or a side, let alone anything like a lobby...And so the volume has incrementally risen, the imbecilic din encroaching on one place after another — mass transit, waiting rooms, theaters, museums, the library — until this last bastion of civility and calm, the Quiet Car, has become the battlefield where we quiet ones, our backs forced to the wall, finally hold our ground. The Quiet Car is the Thermopylae, the Masada, the Fort McHenry of quiet — which is why the regulars are so quick with prepared reproaches, more than ready to make a Whole Big Thing out of it, and why, when the outsiders invariably sit down and start in with their autonomic blather, they often find themselves surrounded by a shockingly hostile mob of professors, old ladies and four-eyes who look ready to take it outside."

Ex-Windows Chief Seen as Smart but Abrasive; New York Times, 11/13/12

Nick Wingfield, New York Times; Ex-Windows Chief Seen as Smart but Abrasive: "Both cases underscore a quandary that chief executives sometimes face: when do the costs of keeping brilliant leaders who cannot seem to get along with others outweigh the benefits."

Denying employment based on criminal background could lead to suits, feds say; McClatchy Newspapers via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/12/12

Ellen Jean Hirst, McClatchy Newspapers via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Denying employment based on criminal background could lead to suits, feds say: ""The EEOC in April issued enforcement guidance on the matter that is expected to hold significant sway in court. The commission said people cannot be denied employment based solely on criminal histories but it stopped short of banning the use of criminal background checks. To avoid missteps, the EEOC suggests companies consider three things: how long ago the crime was committed, the nature of the crime and how the crime might relate to the job. The agency also said companies should also give ex-offenders a chance during job interviews to explain conviction circumstances as well as rehabilitation efforts. "Employers should record and document the justification for their employment decisions when they are making the decision with someone with a criminal history," said Jeff Nowak, a Chicago labor and employment attorney."

Social Fingerprint gives job seekers a hand with online reputation; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/4/12

Deborah M. Todd, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Social Fingerprint gives job seekers a hand with online reputation: "When the Federal Trade Commission determined last May that Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Internet background screening service Social Intelligence was in compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act guidelines regarding collection and distribution of personal data, the floodgates opened for companies such as SMI to customize software to meet the new demand... With Social Fingerprint -- a free online service that individuals can use to monitor Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and the Internet at large for negative content associated with their name -- much of the technology behind the social media search remains similar to what's used by consumer reporting agencies. The technology conducts a targeted crawl -- a search over several sites -- seeking specific keywords on social media sites and the broader Internet to weed out pages with negative content about clients. Links to pages that show the negative keywords are sent to clients. Reports can be sent daily, weekly or monthly at their discretion. Customers can then take action to have incorrect information removed."

In Sports or Business, Always Prepare for the Next Play; New York Times, 11/10/12

Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; In Sports or Business, Always Prepare for the Next Play: Interview with Jeff Weiner, chief executive of LinkedIn: "Q. Tell me about the culture you’re trying to foster at LinkedIn. A. We take culture very seriously, and we do draw a distinction at LinkedIn between culture and values. Culture is who we are. It’s essentially the personality of our company — who we are and who we aspire to be. Values are the principles upon which we make day-to-day decisions. And of course your values are a subset of your culture, so they’re very much inextricably linked. Getting that right helps with recruiting. It helps with motivating. It helps with inspiring. It helps with productivity."