Zappos Gives Job Titles the Boot; Reuters, 12/30/13

Reuters; Zappos Gives Job Titles the Boot: "Like most companies, Zappos has a vernacular all its own. And the online shoe and apparel retailer will soon have a corporate structure to match its distinctive vocabulary. The Amazon-owned company, which refers to its executives as "monkeys" and executive assistants as "Time Ninjas," will likely be doing away with job titles altogether over the course of the next year as it transitions from a hierarchy to a "Holacracy." Developed by serial entrepreneur Brian Robertson, a Holacracy is a system of governance that takes things like managers, job titles and bureaucratic red tape out of the equation, distributing leadership and power evenly across an organization. Instead of a standard hierarchy, companies in a Holacracy are comprised of different "circles" and employees can have any range of roles and responsibilities within those circles, according to a report in Quartz."

Leadership books to watch for in 2014; Washington Post, 12/26/13

Jena McGregor, Washington Post; Leadership books to watch for in 2014: "WITH THE HOLIDAY CRAZINESS OVER, there’s finally free time in the schedule to read again. But with a crowded shelf of warmed-over management advice and self-help guides, it’s hard to know what’s actually worth the time. Here, we scanned publishers’ lists for the books coming out in early 2014 that are worth checking out. Quick and Nimble, by Adam Bryant (Jan. 7) Bryant writes the Corner Office column for the New York Times, where he interviews CEOs every week for their insights about managing people and leading companies. Their wisdom on building innovative cultures is collected here. Far too many leadership books rely on the knowledge of consultants or on years-old stories to build their case; this book gets its ideas from the people actually running companies today... What Works for Women at Work, by Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey (Feb. 4) Called a “guide for mastering office politics as a woman,” Williams’ and Dempsey’s book combines years of research with interviews with 127 successful women about the specific challenges women face in the workplace and how to combat them. Williams, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, is one of the foremost researchers dealing with issues of gender discrimination at work. Yet by the looks of it, this book isn’t merely an analysis of the unfairness women face, but of strategies to help them succeed in spite of it."

7 Things You Should Expect From Your Leaders In 2014; Forbes, 12/27/13

Glenn Llopis, Forbes; 7 Things You Should Expect From Your Leaders In 2014: "Employees expect a lot from their leaders and when they don’t get what they expect they begin to lose trust and respect for their leader. As the workplace continues to transition from a knowledge to a wisdom-based environment, the requirements for great leadership are changing. For example, leaders must have greater emotional intelligence so they can connect more intuitively with their employees. They must become better listeners, opportunity enablers and exceptional coaches. Because employees are in search for high-trust relationships, leaders must be more instinctually connected with their employees and this requires them to be more self-aware about how their overall behavior and the example they set impacts the performance of others. It’s easy for leaders to get lost in the spotlight of their leadership roles and lose sight of the increased performance demands and political pressures that go with the responsibility. Leadership is all about people and if leaders begin to lose touch with those they lead – they will become disconnected with the requirements of the business and the marketplace in which they compete. In the process, they begin to lose their leadership momentum and weaken their personal brand identity... Great leadership requires an understanding of oneself before you can effectively comprehend, appreciate and leverage the unique skill-sets and competencies of others. Unfortunately, many people throughout their careers don’t have enough leaders who can best identify and enable their full potential. This is why so many employees feel stuck and experience regret in their careers. They find themselves feeling trapped at work with leaders that only care about themselves – or who have never taken the time to get to know them well enough to guide their career growth and potential. Leadership is a serious responsibility and if you don’t have the executive presence and other intangibles to manage the spotlight, or the time to understand the people that you serve and the ability to balance and prioritize multiple agendas, your tenure will be short-lived. As you head into the new year, you should have great expectations for your workplace leaders and play a more active role in holding them accountable to step-up their game."

The High Price Of Aloof Leadership; Forbes, 12/27/13

Jack Zenger, Forbes; The High Price Of Aloof Leadership: "There’s a common belief about leaders’ necessity to maintain a distance between themselves and the rest of the organization. The idea traces back to the military, where an officer might be called upon to send subordinates into grave danger; and the assumption was that being too psychologically close could make that responsibility extremely difficult. From data we’ve collected from more than 50,000 leaders and roughly a quarter million of their subordinates, we’ve seen a very clear pattern. Leaders with warm, close relationships with their subordinates are consistently seen in a much more positive light by all of their colleagues. Where we’ve been able to match that behavior with business outcomes, they are also the consistent winners. They produce high customer satisfaction, superior employee commitment and engagement, higher sales revenue and ultimately higher profits for their organization... Why does that happen? One way to view this phenomenon is the large psychological distance that had been created between the top executives and the staff... It is virtually a “Wizard of Oz” phenomenon in which the lack of easy interaction creates images of the senior leaders being unapproachable and frightening and causes senior people to be uncomfortable with those at lower levels of the organization... The leaders who roll up their sleeves and mix with their people are significantly better leaders. Employees have a great deal of discretionary effort that they can tap or can hold in reserve. There’s something about the leader with sleeves rolled up that brings sanity and comfort to the organization and tends to put things back into perspective. Indra Nooyi, Chairwoman of Pepsico, was recently asked about her predictions regarding corporate leaders of the future. Her conclusions in a nutshell, were this: great leaders will become “more human, less distance, and more accessible to others.”"

The Ideas that Shaped Management in 2013; Harvard Business Review, 12/24/13

Katherine Bell, Harvard Business Review; The Ideas that Shaped Management in 2013: "It’s always tempting at this time of year to try to make a definitive list of the best ideas from the past 12 months. But then we end up debating what counts as best — important? useful? original? all three? — and compiling extremely long lists, struggling to shorten them, and over-thinking it all, when the point should just be to gather some really good reading for you for any free time you happen to find over the holiday. So this year, instead, we thought about the pieces that most surprised us or provoked us to think differently about an intractable problem or perennial question in management, we reviewed the whole year of data to remind ourselves what our readers found most compelling, and we looked for patterns in the subjects our authors raised most frequently and independently of our editorial urging. The result, I think, is a set of ideas that together are important, useful, and original, and that feel like quite an accurate account of the management concerns many of us shared in 2013. Here’s the list. See what you think... 6. Being nice makes you a better leader and your company more profitable – new research proves it. Amy Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger answered Machiavelli’s question: is it better to be loved or feared? The best way to influence and lead others, they say, is to begin with warmth. And that’s not all: Generous behavior is associated with higher unit profitability, productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction, along with lower costs and turnover rates."

The 10 worst leadership moments of 2013; Washington Post, 12/23/13

Jena McGregor, Washington Post; The 10 worst leadership moments of 2013: "Could 2013 have been any worse for President Obama? The president’s fifth year in office was filled with crisis after crisis. Some of them, such as the gridlock in Congress or the I.R.S. scandal, were not entirely under his control. But far too many were the result of mismanagement (Healthcare.gov), misspeaking (the red line on Syria) or misleading (“if you like your plan, you can keep it“). These blunders were enough to prompt some to call 2013 the president’s “lost year“—one that could have lasting damage on his legacy. But the White House wasn’t the only one this year to provide notable examples of leadership fumbles or management missteps. From Canada to Italy, Washington to San Diego, there were plenty of places where we expected much more from people in power. Here, in no particular order, are my picks for the worst leadership moments of 2013."

When You Criticize Someone, You Make It Harder for that Person to Change; Harvard Business Review, 12/19/13

Daniel Goleman, Harvard Business Review; When You Criticize Someone, You Make It Harder for that Person to Change: "“If everything worked out perfectly in your life, what would you be doing in ten years?”...That question about your perfect life in ten years comes from Richard Boyatzis, a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western, and an old friend and colleague. His recent research on the best approach to coaching has used brain imaging to analyze how coaching affects the brain differently when you focus on dreams instead of failings. These findings have great implications for how to best help someone – or yourself — improve... Of course a manager needs to help people face what’s not working. As Boyatzis put it, “You need the negative focus to survive, but a positive one to thrive. You need both, but in the right ratio.”... Managers and coaches can keep this in mind. Boyatzis makes the case that understanding a person’s dreams can open a conversation about what it would take to fulfill those hopes. And that can lead to concrete learning goals. Often those goals are improving capacities like conscientiousness, listening, collaboration and the like – which can yield better performance... Bottom line: don’t focus on only on weaknesses, but on hopes and dreams. It’s what our brains are wired to do."

Roundup: NYPL Central Library Plan Gains City, State Nod; Stacks Demolition On Hold; Library Journal, 12/18/13

Gary Price, Library Journal; Roundup: NYPL Central Library Plan Gains City, State Nod; Stacks Demolition On Hold: "Two New York Public Library renovation (aka Central Library Plan) stories in this roundup. First, city and state reviews of the project have cleared it to move forward if conditions are met."

This Is What It Looks Like When a Google Manager Gets Feedback; Harvard Business Review, 12/4/13

David A. Garvin, Harvard Business Review; This Is What It Looks Like When a Google Manager Gets Feedback: "The thing is, many of those who make the cut are engineers, who typically view management as a distraction from “real” work, not as a useful activity. And that presents a challenge: If your highly skilled, handpicked hires don’t value management in the traditional sense, how can you run the place effectively? How do you turn doubters into believers, persuading them to spend time managing others? By applying the same analytical rigor and tools that you used to hire them in the first place. For Google, that has meant using its own data to prove the importance of management, as well as surveying employees and conducting double-blind interviews to identify key behaviors of effective managers — and then providing individuals with concrete, useful feedback in those areas."

Using Data to Shape a Library’s Direction | Data-Driven Academic Libraries; Library Journal, 12/5/13

Matt Ennis, Library Journal; Using Data to Shape a Library’s Direction | Data-Driven Academic Libraries: "Access to good data on key metrics such as circulation and student visits always helps make a better case for the important role libraries play on campus. But using data proactively to address emerging trends and challenges is “what it really means to be a data-driven organization” said Sarah Tudesco, Assessment Librarian, Yale University, during yesterday’s “What Is a Data-Driven Academic Library?” webcast. The webcast was the first of a free, three-part LJ series developed partnership with Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) and sponsored by ProQuest, Springer, and Innovative Interfaces. The series is moderated by Bonnie Tijerina, Head of E-Resources and Serials for Harvard Library, and founder of ER&L. Tudesco suggested a five-part process for libraries interested in making data central to strategic decision making: (1) identify questions, (2) develop a plan to collect the necessary data to answer those questions, (3) collect data, (4) analyze the data, and (5) generate actionable recommendations... The three-part webcast series will continue next Wednesday, December 11 with The Evolution of Usage and Impact: Analyzing and Benchmarking Use..[and the] series will conclude on December 18 with Measuring Impact: Redefining Scholarly Value Through New Data."

CMU study finds employer discrimination via social media sites; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/27/13

Kim Lyons, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; CMU study finds employer discrimination via social media sites: "Employers trying to screen a job candidate based on Facebook or Twitter or even LinkedIn run the risk of discovering information they're not allowed to have. And a new study suggests that practice could lead to hiring discrimination. Employers acknowledge using social networking sites to find potentially unprofessional behaviors in job candidates, according to a new study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers Christina Fong and Alessandro Acquisti... And, if employers or would-be employers think their extra online research is off the record, they could be in for a rude surprise, Mr. Murphy said. "Computers don't forget," he said. "There's almost always evidence.""

How to Start Thinking Like a Data Scientist; Harvard Business Review, 11/29/13

Thomas C. Redman, Harvard Business Review; How to Start Thinking Like a Data Scientist: "Slowly but steadily, data are forcing their way into every nook and cranny of every industry, company, and job. Managers who aren’t data savvy, who can’t conduct basic analyses, interpret more complex ones, and interact with data scientists are already at a disadvantage. Companies without a large and growing cadre of data-savvy managers are similarly disadvantaged. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a data scientist or a Bayesian statistician to tease useful insights from data. This post explores an exercise I’ve used for 20 years to help those with an open mind (and a pencil, paper, and calculator) get started. One post won’t make you data savvy, but it will help you become data literate, open your eyes to the millions of small data opportunities, and enable you work a bit more effectively with data scientists, analytics, and all things quantitative."

3 Diversity Strategies To Help Companies Thrive; Forbes, 12/4/13

Richard Levychin, Forbes; 3 Diversity Strategies To Help Companies Thrive: "Diversity is one of the core growth principals of entrepreneurship with the concept of ROI-Based Diversity following a simple proposition: the more audiences you market your services or products to, the more opportunities you create to generate revenue. Accordingly, the more diverse potential customers that you have in your pipeline, the more opportunities you have to increase your revenue... In the most basic of terms, Diversity = Revenue. Here’s how to implement it in your company: 1. Expand Your Scope... 2. Mirror your Desired Demographic... 3. Communicate Your Diversity Plan"