Writing, Reflecting, Capturing: Three Less-Discussed Leadership Skills | Leading from the Library; Library Journal, 5/26/16

Steven Bell, Library Journal; Writing, Reflecting, Capturing: Three Less-Discussed Leadership Skills | Leading from the Library:

"JUST GET STARTED

These are good ideas for getting started, but the hardest part for many leaders is deciding what to write about when it’s time for reflection. Adler recommends trying a trigger question. How are you feeling at the end of your day? What made you feel best about being a leader? Did you have a new idea today? What made you happiest—or perhaps angriest. Just let it out. The highest level of reflection is achieving new knowledge as the outcome of a process of inquiry, where conclusions arrived at are based on evidence, thoughtful interpretation, and compelling understanding of an issue. Not everyone will think of reflecting, writing, and capturing as leadership skills, but I do. It’s unlike those skills we use in a more direct way as we practice leadership, such as good listening or coaching. Think of it as a more foundational skill that allows leaders to learn how to improve at those other practices. As Adler puts it, “Using a journal regularly will give you the courage to see the world differently, to understand the world differently, and to lead in new and needed ways.” What more encouragement do you need?"

In dramatic statement, European leaders call for ‘immediate’ open access to all scientific papers by 2020; Science, 5/27/16

Martin Enserink, Science; In dramatic statement, European leaders call for ‘immediate’ open access to all scientific papers by 2020:

"In what European science chief Carlos Moedas calls a "life-changing" move, European Union member states today agreed on an ambitious new open access (OA) target. All scientific papers should be freely available by 2020, the Competitiveness Council—a gathering of ministers of science, innovation, trade, and industry—concluded after a 2-day meeting in Brussels. But some observers are warning that the goal will be difficult to achieve.

The OA goal is part of a broader set of recommendations in support of Open Science, a concept which also includes improved storage of and access to research data. The Dutch government, which currently holds the rotating E.U. presidency, had lobbied hard for Europe-wide support for Open Science, as had Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation.

"We probably don't realize it yet, but what the Dutch presidency has achieved is just unique and huge," Moedas said at a press conference. "The commission is totally committed to help move this forward."

"The time for talking about Open Access is now past. With these agreements, we are going to achieve it in practice," the Dutch State Secretary for Education, Culture, and Science, Sander Dekker, added in a statement."

Moral Blindness at Baylor; New York Times, 5/27/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; Moral Blindness at Baylor:

"Among the most intriguing — and to some people, satisfying — aspects of the sex-abuse scandal at Baylor University was the ouster of Kenneth Starr as university president. Mr. Starr was the special prosecutor who pursued President Bill Clinton’s indiscretions and moral shortcomings with almost preternatural zeal back in 1998. Now here he is, bounced from his job as president for what appears to have been his failure to pay close enough attention to serious moral problems in Baylor’s football program...

The larger point here, however, involves the special status, approaching immunity, that football was accorded at Baylor. The same scathing report by outside investigators that led to Mr. Starr’s demotion asserted that football was treated by administrators as “above the rules” of federal law when it came to the cover-up of sexual abuses and assaults by players.

The investigators described a secretive football culture built around a lucrative, nationally ranked program in which officials concealed charges of sexual abuse against players while female accusers were discouraged “in conduct that could be perceived as victim blaming.”"

WorkZone: Don't let small talk derail a job interview; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/23/16

Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazett; WorkZone: Don't let small talk derail a job interview:

"Whether it’s a summer job or a career launch, job search specialist Cheryl Hyatt has a word of caution for aspiring candidates: Don’t get tripped up by small stuff or, more specifically, small talk...

First, she says, job candidates should assume the evaluation process begins the minute they drive into the parking lot. Be professional with everyone from the security guard to the executive assistant who rides with you on the elevator up to the c-suite...

Also, get familiar with the company’s culture. If it’s a workplace where everyone wears jeans and polo shirts, “You need to come in one step above what you think the company policy is.” In this case, a shirt and tie with khakis would work for men, a pantsuit, skirt or dress for women — “whatever feels most comfortable.”...

Once the formal interview begins, she said the best responses fall in the 2-4 minute range, touching on how you would handle the situation and drawing on a related personal experience...

The objective of the “small talk” phase is to avoid giving them reason to choose someone else.

“You want to make them like you for who you are and what you can bring to the institution.”"

8 Small Things People Use To Judge Your Personality; Huffington Post, 5/28/16

Dr. Travis Bradberry, Huffington Post; 8 Small Things People Use To Judge Your Personality:

"While we tend to think that our judgments are based on the content of conversations and other obvious behaviors, the research says otherwise. In fact, the majority of our judgments are focused on smaller, subtler things, such as handshakes and body language. We often form complete opinions about people based solely on these behaviors.

We are so good at judging other people’s personalities based on small things that, in a University of Kansas study, subjects accurately predicted people’s personality traits, such as extroversion/introversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, simply by looking at pictures of the shoes they wore.

Our unconscious behaviors have a language of their own, and their words aren’t always kind. These behaviors have likely become an integral part of who you are, and if you don’t spend much time thinking about them, now is a good time to start, because they could be sabotaging your career.

1. How you treat waiters and receptionists. How you treat support staff is so indicative of your makeup that it has become a common interview tactic. By gauging how you interact with support staff on your way in and out of the building, interviewers get a sense for how you treat people in general. Most people act the part when they’re speaking to the hiring manager or other “important” people, but some will pull a Jekyll and Hyde act the moment they walk out the door, treating others with disdain or indifference. Business lunches are another place this comes to light. No matter how nice you are to the people you have lunch with, it’s all for naught if those people witness you behaving badly toward others."

In campaign chaos, Donald Trump shows his management style; Washington Post, 5/28/16

Sean Sullivan and Robert Costa, Washington Post; In campaign chaos, Donald Trump shows his management style:

"For the past two months, Donald Trump has presided over a political team riddled with turf wars, staff reshuffling and dueling power centers.

But the tensions are more than typical campaign chaos: They illustrate how Trump likes to run an organization, whether it’s a real estate venture or his presidential bid. Interviews with current and former Trump associates reveal an executive who is fond of promoting rivalries among subordinates, wary of delegating major decisions, scornful of convention and fiercely insistent on a culture of loyalty around him...

Honed over decades in business and now suddenly under the glare of a national contest, Trump’s style offers a glimpse of the polarizing management techniques he would carry into the White House. In fashioning his campaign after his real estate and entertainment projects, the mogul has inspired supporters and alarmed critics with his brazen moves."

Was a Va. firefighter humiliated by co-workers online before she killed herself?; Washington Post, 4/25/16

Petula Dvorak, Washington Post; Was a Va. firefighter humiliated by co-workers online before she killed herself? :

"The trolls were horrid to her while she was alive. And they continued to be awful after her death.

Fairfax County firefighter Nicole Mittendorff, 31, killed herself in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, the state medical examiner concluded. But even after the search for her was over, her body was identified and memorial candles began to burn, the cyberbullies — who claimed they were her fellow firefighters — kept scorching away at Mittendorff online.

If these trolls are actually members of her firehouse family, then Mittendorff becomes another example of a new form of workplace harassment. Instead of happening in the office, it happens publicly online.

There is an investigation at Mittendorff’s firehouse to find out who posted the vicious online attacks and whether they played a role in her suicide."

Baylor Fires Football Coach Art Briles and Demotes President Ken Starr; New York Times, 5/26/16

Marc Tracy, New York Times; Baylor Fires Football Coach Art Briles and Demotes President Ken Starr:

"Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who delivered a report that served as the basis for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, was removed as president of Baylor University on Thursday after an investigation found “fundamental failure” by the university in its handling of accusations of sexual assault against football players.

The university also fired the football coach, Art Briles, whose ascendant program in recent years brought in millions of dollars in revenue but was troubled by accusations of sexual assault against athletes.

Critics claimed that Baylor had sacrificed moral considerations — and the safety of other students — for the sake of its winning football team. The report confirmed as much, describing a culture that flouted federal statutes, including Title IX and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.

“Actions by University administrators directly discouraged some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes and in one instance constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault,” the report said.

Starr was stripped of his title as university president but will remain Baylor’s chancellor."

Weekend Work Emails Are Now Illegal In France; Huffington Post, 5/25/16

Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post; Weekend Work Emails Are Now Illegal In France:

"Checking your work email on a weekend or a holiday? In France, where employees have been granted “the right to disconnect,” that’s now against the law.

Buried inside a recently enacted — and hotly contested — French labor reform bill is an amendment banning companies of 50 or more employees from sending emails after typical work hours. “The right to disconnect” amendment, as it’s so called, is aimed at minimizing the negative impacts of being excessively plugged in...

Under the new law, companies are mandated to negotiate formal policies to limit the spillover of work, specifically as it’s related to “digital technology,” into the private lives of employees. This, according to the BBC, will involve companies establishing “charters of good conduct” specifying hours, typically in the evenings and weekends, when employees aren’t supposed to send or receive email.

“The development of information and communication technologies, if badly managed or regulated, can have an impact on the health of workers,” Article 25 of the bill reads. “Among them, the burden of work and the informational overburden, the blurring of the borders between private life and professional life, are risks associated with the usage of digital technology.”

Some have lauded this clause as a win in the battle against over-connectedness."

Kenneth Starr, Who Tried to Bury Bill Clinton, Now Only Praises Him; New York Times, 5/24/16

Amy Chozick, New York Times; Kenneth Starr, Who Tried to Bury Bill Clinton, Now Only Praises Him:

"Mr. Starr now is contending with criticism of his own leadership over Baylor’s handling of sexual assault charges leveled against several of its football players.

In the panel discussion last week, he reached back to an earlier presidency — that of Lyndon B. Johnson. Saying today’s divisiveness “deeply concerns me,” he recalled Johnson’s appealing for comity before a joint session of Congress.

“I remember this so vividly — he said, ‘Come, let us reason together.’ Can we talk with one another?” Mr. Starr said. “The utter decline and erosion of civility and discourse has, I think, very troubling implications.”

He quoted E. Gordon Gee, the president of West Virginia University, saying, “The world has become a shouting match.”

“There are always places for shouts and strong feelings, but the genius of American democracy and of presidential leadership,” Mr. Starr continued, “is to bring unity out of our diversity. E pluribus unum — out of many, one. And we don’t seem to hear too many voices saying, ‘Let us find common ground.’”"

Why John Deere Measures Employee Morale Every Two Weeks; Harvard Business Review, 5/24/16

Brad Power, Harvard Business Review; Why John Deere Measures Employee Morale Every Two Weeks:

"Here’s an example Tome shared with me: In one cycle, a high-performing employee scored his motivation lower than normal. There were no visible signs of problems: the employee was still highly productive, engaged, and a pleasure to work with. However, in the next cycle his motivational score dropped even more. Although there was still with no visible change in his performance, the survey raised a red flag and prompted a manager to understand the employee’s issue. It turned out the employee had concerns about his career development, which the manager was able to resolve. By paying attention to the motivation metric, the issue was caught quickly before there were any performance problems, and there was no need for any formal corrective actions.

Without regular, frequent updates on the state of morale, most managers become aware of issues only when they show up in employee performance – e.g., a missed deadline or botched effort – or when the employee quits. At that point it is often too late or too difficult to address the motivation problem because then there are actually two problems that must be solved: the performance issue and the motivation issue. The early warning provided by motivation data changes the conversation from, “We need to address your performance issue” to “Help me understand why you are feeling the way you are.”"

T.S.A. Replaces Security Chief as Tension Grows at Airports and Agency; New York Times, 5/23/16

Ron Nixon, New York Times; T.S.A. Replaces Security Chief as Tension Grows at Airports and Agency:

"Facing a backlash over long security lines and management problems, the head of the Transportation Security Administration shook up his leadership team on Monday, replacing the agency’s top security official and adding a new group of administrators at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

In an email to staff members, Peter V. Neffenger, the T.S.A. administrator, announced a series of changes that included the removal of Kelly Hoggan, who had been the assistant administrator for the Office of Security Operations since 2013.

Beginning late that year, Mr. Hoggan received $90,000 in bonuses over a 13-month period, even though a leaked report from the Department of Homeland Security showed that auditors were able to get fake weapons and explosives past security screeners 95 percent of the time in 70 covert tests.

In addition, several employees who say they were punished with reassignments to other airports after filing whistle-blower complaints have alleged that Mr. Hoggan played a role in their forced transfers."

Ethics Trainings Are Even Dumber Than You Think; Slate, 5/19/16

L.V. Anderson, Slate; Ethics Trainings Are Even Dumber Than You Think:

"Research shows that the only thing that actually prevents wrongdoing is a strong company culture that discourages wrongdoing. That 1999 study found that the best approach was “a values-based cultural approach” comprising “leaders’ commitment to ethics, fair treatment of employees, rewards for ethical conduct, concern for external stakeholders, and consistency between policies and actions.” In other words, there’s no quick fix for corporate ethics: “[C]oncerns for ethics and legal compliance must be baked into the culture of the organization.” If executives focused on culture—and if regulators gave it more weight than box-checking when considering corporate malfeasance—we would reduce corporate malfeasance and waste a lot less time on the simplistic ethical dilemmas of fictional characters."

Managing the High-Intensity Workplace; Harvard Business Review, June 2016

Erin Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan, Harvard Business Review; Managing the High-Intensity Workplace:

"Protect employees’ personal lives.

Most organizations leave it to their employees to set boundaries between their work and their nonwork lives—often with the best intentions. When Netflix offered unlimited time off, for example, managers thought they were treating their people like “grown-ups.” But providing complete freedom can heighten employees’ fears that their choices will signal a lack of commitment. Without clear direction, many employees simply default to the ideal-worker expectation, suppressing the need to live more-balanced lives.

Managers have the power to change this by flipping the script and actively protecting employees’ nonwork time and identities. They can, for example, institute required vacations, regular leaves, and reasonable work hours—for all employees, not just some. Making a firm commitment to avoid excessive workloads and extreme and unpredictable hours, rather than simply giving people the option to request downtime, will help them engage with other parts of their selves.

The pressure to be an ideal worker is at an all-time high, but so are the costs to both individuals and their employers. Moreover, the experiences of those who are able to pass as ideal workers suggest that superhuman dedication may not always be necessary for organizational success. By valuing all aspects of people’s identities, rewarding work output instead of work time, and taking steps to protect employees’ personal lives, leaders can begin to unravel the ideal-worker myth that has become woven into the fabric of their organizations. And that will enhance employees’ resilience, their creativity, and their satisfaction on the job."

USPTO Regional Offices Forge Ahead in 2016; USPTO Director' Forum Blog, 5/17/16

Michelle K. Lee, USPTO Director' Forum Blog; USPTO Regional Offices Forge Ahead in 2016:

"Blog by Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee

USPTO regional offices support our core mission of fostering American innovation and competitiveness by offering services to entrepreneurs, inventors, and small businesses, while effectively engaging communities and local industries. All four of our regional offices now have directors, making us well-positioned to fully advance this mission. The establishment of four USPTO regional offices fulfills a commitment dating to September 16, 2011, when President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) into law. All the regional offices have been busy these last few months, including holding events for World IP Day and enabling local innovators to participate virtually in the Patent Quality Community Symposium...

The USPTO regional offices play an important role in supporting the overall mission of our agency, including ensuring easier access by innovators and entrepreneurs to resources and intellectual property protections they need to compete in today’s global economy. To find out more about events in any of our regional offices, visit the events page of the USPTO website, and for employment opportunities, visit USAjobs.gov for openings. I will continue to keep you informed about new updates on our regional offices throughout the year on this blog."

What Happened Before Burlington College Threw In the Towel; Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/16/16

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, Chronicle of Higher Education; What Happened Before Burlington College Threw In the Towel:

"Yves Bradley, chair of the college’s Board of Trustees, spoke to The Chronicle about attempts to save the college — including a last-ditch proposal to merge with another institution — and what it was like to decide that time had finally run out. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity...

"Q. Do you think that part of the college’s problem was that it lacked a large group of alumni or a big endowment?

A. Absolutely. I think that what occurred that was difficult for us as an institution was that the purchase of the diocese’s property was made and there was a big intake of air by the community, saying, "Wow, they are really swinging for the fences for this one. Are they really going to pull it off?"

Unfortunately, that influenced donors and supporters because they may have believed in the college and supported the college, but if you are in doubt about whether the college is really going to be there in the long term, what is the likelihood that you’re going to write a large check or fund an endowment or a scholarship? It’s significantly less so, until you come out and are obviously sustainable, and that’s been the issue. We’ve never really come out of it."

Burlington College Will Close, Citing Longstanding Financial Woes; Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/16/16

Andy Thomason, Chronicle of Higher Education; Burlington College Will Close, Citing Longstanding Financial Woes:

"In a statement quoted by Vermont Public Radio, the college’s dean of operations and advancement, Coralee A. Holm, said the institution had “struggled under the crushing weight of the debt incurred by the purchase of the Archdiocese property on North Avenue.” That purchase was arranged in 2010 by the Vermont college’s president at the time, Jane Sanders, the wife of the U.S. senator and Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders.

In late April, the college’s lender, People’s United Bank, notified the college that it was pulling Burlington’s line of credit, Ms. Holm said during a news conference on Monday.

The institution has been rife with discontent in recent years over the handling of its finances. Opposition became so great in 2014 that the college’s then president suddenly resigned after her car was surrounded by protesting students. The college’s accreditor, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, had put it on probation.

The Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Friday to shut down the college, said the president, Carol A. Moore."

Newfoundland To Shutter More than Half its Libraries; Library Journal, 5/10/16

Bob Warburton, Library Journal; Newfoundland To Shutter More than Half its Libraries:

"Outrage grows across Canada over a plan to close 54 of 95 public libraries in the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador, many of them in rural or sparsely populated areas.

Twenty-seven libraries will be shut this year and 27 more in 2017, leaving only 41 facilities to serve the entire province, under a plan being implemented by the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board (PILRB), which saw its federal funding slashed. Dale Kirby, Newfoundland and Labrador’s minister of education and early childhood development, whose office controls provincial library funds, cut library funding by $1 million to about $10.7 million, PILRB executive director Andrew Hunt told LJ. The 2016 provincial budget originally included a $1.7 million cut for libraries, but Hunt said an additional $700,000 was restored as a “reinvestment” for services. That money, he said, will help improve ebook and books-by-mail programs, ensure that capital programs will stay funded, and protect money for software maintenance and upgrades.

Sixty-four employees will lose their jobs as libraries transition to a regional service model."

3 Dysfunctional Ways We’ve Adapted To The Hell Of The 24/7 Workplace; Huffington Post, 5/16/16

Emily Peck, Huffington Post; 3 Dysfunctional Ways We’ve Adapted To The Hell Of The 24/7 Workplace:

"How do you deal with the “cult of busy”? That’s the term Erin Reid uses to describe today’s work-first culture in which ideal employees are expected to put their jobs first, work all the time and be constantly available to the boss.

In the June cover story of Harvard Business Review, “Managing the High-Intensity Workplace,” Reid and coauthor Lakshmi Ramarajan describe how workers adapt to these demands. It’s not a good look for anyone.

“Our research shows that being always available is actually dysfunctional for everyone at some level,” Reid, an assistant professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, told The Huffington Post."

Loretta Lynch’s Enlightened Defense of Transgender People; New York Times, 5/9/16

Ernesto Londono, New York Times; Loretta Lynch’s Enlightened Defense of Transgender People:

"In her remarks on Monday, Ms. Lynch, a native of North Carolina, seemed to go further than other administration officials in casting the quest for transgender equality as a civil rights movement. She did so with grace and conviction.

“This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we, as a people and as a country, have enacted to protect them – indeed, to protect all of us,” the attorney general said. “And it’s about the founding ideals that have led this country – haltingly but inexorably – in the direction of fairness, inclusion and equality for all Americans.”

Ms. Lynch acknowledged that the support for bathroom bills and other discriminatory measures “reflect a recognizably human fear of the unknown.” But, she added: “This is a time to summon our national virtues of inclusivity, diversity, compassion and open-mindedness. What we must not do – what we must never do – is turn on our neighbors, our family members, our fellow Americans, for something they cannot control, and deny what makes them human.”

Ms. Lynch concluded her remarks with comforting words for transgender people who are unsettled and frightened by a political debate that has included plenty of crude, hateful and even violent messages.

“This country was founded on a promise of equal rights for all, and we have always managed to move closer to that promise, little by little, one day at a time,” Ms. Lynch said. “It may not be easy – but we’ll get there together.”"

Sheryl Sandberg Admits Leaning In Is Harder Than She Originally Thought; Slate, 5/9/16

Elissa Strauss, Slate; Sheryl Sandberg Admits Leaning In Is Harder Than She Originally Thought:

"In honor of Mother’s Day, Sheryl Sandberg wrote a long post on Facebook that is part expression of support for single parents and part mea culpa for previously failing to recognize how difficult it is to raise children on one’s own.

“Before, I did not quite get it. I did not really get how hard it is to succeed at work when you are overwhelmed at home,” Sandberg writes.

The Facebook COO goes on to enumerate the emotional obstacles of raising children without her husband, who died last year, and prudently acknowledges how “extremely fortunate I am not to face the financial burdens so many single mothers and widows face.”...

The post also demonstrates Sandberg's fitness as a leader for women, something that was frequently challenged when Lean In, the book and the movement, first emerged. Many questioned whether a wealthy, white Harvard grad, dripping in privilege and pep—or a “Power Point Pied Piper in Prada ankle boots” as Maureen Dowd put it—had any business presenting herself as a voice for women. But Sandberg’s Mother’s Day note shows that she is, in fact, well-qualified, and not nearly as myopic as many presumed. The most striking aspect of her post is the way it reveals a willingness to publicly evolve, and a prioritization of the integrity of her ideas over their consistency. Sandberg gets it. She’s living her life in the shades of gray that make leaning in much more complicated, and she wants to talk about it. Now that she’s renewed our confidence in her as a leader, let’s hope she keeps her vow."

Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance; Harvard Business Review, 4/29/16

Peter Rea, Alan Kolp, Wendy Ritz, Michelle D. Steward, Harvard Business Review; Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance:

"So what can a company do to excel ethically? Instead of focusing on the poor choices you want employees to avoid, focus on the positive virtues you want them to exhibit.

Plato emphasized a virtue-based system of ethics 2,400 years ago in his Academy. The philosopher believed that virtues were best encouraged through questions and discussions rather than through statements and proclamations. In other words, we learn ethics in conversation with others.

So rather than getting together with senior managers to craft a “values statement,” corporate leaders should instead foster a series of structured conversations between leaders at all levels and their teams. The goal of these conversations should be to develop a common language to help frame examples of how people live out the organization’s values or classical virtues. This is inherently a social process — virtue is learned, not inherited. Leaders are already teachers of their culture, whether they are aware of it or not, so they should ask themselves how they can teach it better.

Here are questions for each of the seven classical virtues that companies can use to shape these conversations and shift their focus from complying with the rules to excelling ethically."