Book Bans Harm Kids; Scientific American, November 19, 2024

 THE EDITORS , Scientific American; Book Bans Harm Kids

"Books are a gift, opening a door to the wide world. But not if you live in one of the U.S. communities where local school boards or state officials have cast certain books as scary monsters that harm children with words and ideas.

Organized conservative groups in many communities are censoring books from school and public libraries, claiming that some themes aren’t age-appropriate for children, never mind the context. They target books on health, climate change, psychology, and other science they find distasteful or antithetical to their way of thinking. They try to criminalize teachers and librarians who dare to give kids a chance to indulge their curiosity. Under the guise of protecting children from harm, they vow to defund public libraries and alter school curricula.

But it’s the book bans themselves that cause the most harm, robbing youngsters of opportunities to think critically, explore ideas and learn about experiences different from their own. The people responsible for moving books from classrooms and library shelves are trying to limit the flow of information. Their efforts aim to un­dermine democracy; they would create an electorate of young people who will not question authority, build alliances with people who have less political power, or challenge the status quo. Knowledge is power. Book bans go against the very nature of an open, civil society. Whether through the legal system, the ballot box or our voices, we must uphold educational freedom and support knowledge. We must stop the censoring of books.

Censorship has a shameful history in the U.S. The infamous 1873 Comstock Act made it illegal to mail works considered to be obscene, such as pamphlets about birth control. James Joyce’s Ulysses was banned in the country in the 1920s, and the U.S. Postal Service burned copies. More re­­cent­ly, conservatives have bowdlerized the history and science children learn in schools, altering depictions of slavery, rejecting textbooks that reference climate change and challenging evolution...

Some teachers are keeping canceled books in secret drawers. Some schools in more open districts are introducing the idea of reading clubs focusing on banned books. Librarians are questioning what they are allowed to put on shelves instead of promoting what’s there. Parents who want their kids to have a thorough education are trying to fight back against well-funded and politically motivated advocates of book bans.

The kids who can are speaking up for books and libraries. It is up to us to help them, as well as the ones who can’t. Book bans are antithetical to free speech and free thought. They are antidemocratic, antiscience and antievidence. Reading this editorial with no one looking over your shoulder is your fundamental right. Our children deserve the same."

At Tesla, Elon Musk casts himself as a superhero. But he sweats the details on the factory floor.; The Washington Post, July 5, 2018

Drew Harwell, The Washington Post; At Tesla, Elon Musk casts himself as a superhero. But he sweats the details on the factory floor.

"Musk’s bursts of energy have helped make Tesla one of the country’s most prominent and valuable automakers, a Silicon Valley challenger to Detroit that even its rivals contend has shoved American cars into the 21st century.

Meeting the Model 3 production goal, Musk told employees in a email Sunday, had pushed Tesla closer to its mission of accelerating clean energy and changing the world — even if they had taken some unconventional steps to get there. “Whatever,” he said. “It worked.”

But that same energy has also made Musk one of the most polarizing corporate leaders in America, a brash and demanding captain of industry who risks overshadowing his own creation. As Tesla neared its production target, Musk posted on Instagram what he labeled a “selfie”: an image of the superhero Doctor Strange, who wields mystical powers to change time and reality. “Engineering is magic,” he tweeted to his 22 million followers.

“He has achieved a lot by sheer willpower and is one of the most gifted people I’ve ever met,” said Bob Lutz, who has been a senior executive at each of America’s Big Three automakers, including vice chairman of General Motors. “He’s also one of the most flawed.”"

Soledad O’Brien: Seek Out the Curious and the Fastidious; New York Times, 6/10/16

Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Soledad O’Brien: Seek Out the Curious and the Fastidious:

[Interview with Soledad O'Brien, chief executive of Starfish Media Group, a production company]

"How do you hire?

You hire for character and teach people skills. And environment is very important to me. It’s important to me that people aren’t unpleasant and that they treat each other respectfully. It’s hard to be creative when there’s someone or something that’s really irking you.

So are you a person of integrity who makes the environment a really nice space? I will watch how they treat the person at the front desk versus me. We have people spend time with other people who they think wouldn’t necessarily be assessing them for a job.

I also think there are two qualities you can’t teach people. You have to want to understand something, and I don’t think you can teach people to be curious. You can interest people in a topic and they become curious, but I think you’re born interested in things or you’re not.

And I’m obsessed with attention to detail. I don’t know that you can teach that — either that triggers you to stay for the next two hours to fix something, or you’re the kind of person who will just let it slide.

What advice do you give to new college grads?

It goes back to what my parents always said. I think hard work does get you really far. And treating people well gets you really far — farther than I think it gets credit for in the greater world."

Corner Office, Interview with Robin Domeniconi, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group; New York Times, 1/16/11

Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Robin Domeniconi, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group: Say Anything, but Phrase It the Right Way:

"Q. What would say if you were asked to speak to a group of young entrepreneurs about building a culture at a company?

A. I could boil that down to two words. One is trust. You need to trust everyone you work with — and it goes into personal relationships, too — because the only thing that creates jealousy, the only thing that creates fear, is that you’re not trusting or understanding something.

Communication is the second one. If you can communicate what your fears are, your challenges are, and if you trust that the people you work with all want the right outcome, then the environment is going to create itself. It really does. If you have complete and utter trust in somebody, you’re going to really be able to be vulnerable.

It all comes down to that. It all comes down to trusting that you’re going to be O.K. with what I’m going to say, and me trusting that you’re going to be O.K. that I made a mistake, as in: “You know that risk we took? We failed. We lost money here. But this is what we learned, and you’re going to be O.K.” You’ve got to trust me, and I’ve got to trust you."

Corner Office, Interview with Aaron Levie, co-founder and C.E.O. of Box.net, an online file storage company; New York Times, 7/25/10

Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Aaron Levie, co-founder and C.E.O. of Box.net, an online file storage company: Always Keep a Few Tricks Up Your Sleeve:

"Q. Talk about the culture of your company.

A. Everyone has a start-up mentality still, and we’re small enough where you get the right kind of energy and dedication, so everyone feels really a part of what we’re doing. People are able to question each other about strategies, whether they’re in marketing, engineering or product.

We try to keep it fairly low on hierarchy. Everyone is encouraged to be entrepreneurial and people tend to be extremely passionate, but it’s not about taking credit or being arrogant about what we’re doing.

We’ve been able to do away with just a lot of the corporate kind of things that I think slow down organizations and don’t result in productive behavior, and instead we’ve been able to get a lot of people focused on really having a good time, which helps us stay fast and innovative. And I think that ultimately is the only reason that people even want to go to work or want to stay in business — to have a good time while collaborating to accomplish a big vision.

Q. So what are some specifics?

A. We had our first ever “hackathon” at Box a few months ago. The engineering team pulled an all-nighter, from 8 p.m. until noon the next day, on projects outside their daily job description.

We then had a judging panel at lunch, and the entire company got to watch the engineers present some amazing new features. It was fun and people goofed off but it was also really inspiring, and I think it brought the whole group together.

Q. What were some important leadership lessons for you?

A. In middle school, I did magic shows. It actually applies to what I’m doing now because it’s all about getting in front of people and telling a story, something that people buy into that is hopefully entertaining. It’s all about capturing people’s imaginations and getting them excited about what’s possible.

Q. What about as a C.E.O.?

A. I think a big jump was to managing or helping the managers of the people doing most of the hands-on work on projects — being one degree away from the action and figuring out and understanding what that means in terms of leadership.

Q. And what does that mean?

A. As much as I would love to be involved in every single decision that gets made in the organization, not only is that not scalable, it’s also not leveraging or capitalizing on the amazing experience of the people that we have on the team. It’s really hard to let the details go. Every sort of decision is really interesting. So you come up with a big goal, and hopefully everyone comes together to figure out how to accomplish it.

Q. Talk more about that process.

A. I’ve made some mistakes in terms of getting involved at the wrong level of the problem or the wrong time. I’ll think I’m speeding things up by saying, “Oh, let’s just solve it that way,” but then it turns out I’m slowing things down because I’m breaking a healthy system that’s emerging.

Q. Let’s talk about hiring.

A. One thing that’s really important is understanding what they’ve done in their career. Just walk me through how you got to where you are today. What are the factors that led to specific decisions — that can give you a level of insight into behavior and how they make decisions. One thing that I’m asking now is to talk about a project or job — “What could you have done differently to do that bigger or get more revenue or execute better?” You see if they can look back on their decisions and find out where they could have improved.

Energy and persistence are the two most important factors, in addition to just having a clean résumé where there’s nothing crazy going on. In a business like ours, we have to be super, super competitive, and we have to be able to get people who are going to be persistent and relentless and have a level of energy that gets them through challenging things.

Curiosity is another big thing and a way to identify who’s going to be energetic and have the right attitude. Sometimes the best people are the ones who are very curious about our business model, how we’re going to grow. They actually care a lot about us as a company; that’s actually been a pretty good way to find people who are going to be really dedicated to the business.

And ultimately, we’re looking to hire people who can adapt to what a role might become, not just what it is today. When you’re at a start-up, things move and scale very quickly, and you want to hire people who can grow with the company and into roles that expand beyond the job description they were hired for.

Q. If you could ask a job candidate just a few questions, what would they be?

A. “What questions do you have for me?” That will help you see how they’re thinking about the challenges. A lot of times I’ll say, “When you’re thinking about Box as an opportunity, how do you compare it to other organizations? What do we have that you want to be a part of?” Getting them to articulate the values back to you about what kind of organization they want to be a part of can actually be very useful.

Q. What advice would you give to somebody who’s about to become a C.E.O.?

A. I think people are always able to achieve more than they think they can. While that’s cliché, I don’t know if managers think about that enough. You have to set your sights extremely high.
We often go through a process of thinking about the best way to execute on something, whether it’s a product launch or a sales strategy, then come back again after a day or two and figure out how can we do this even bigger or better. It often leads to better decisions and ideas.

It’s also important to know where your gaps are and what resources you need. So, one thing that I often do with my co-founder is to look at the organization and figure out what we’re missing, where our gaps are, where our weaknesses are, and then how do we solve for those things. We know our strengths, and sometimes it’s important to look at your strengths. That way, you sort of continue to push on those and invest in those areas. But it’s really important that you constantly know why you wouldn’t succeed, and what you need to do to change that.

Feedback is really critical, too. The day you notice there are challenges or issues, you get involved — don’t let things boil up.

I think bad politics are incredibly dangerous, so it’s important to make sure that people are communicating well. Culture and morale are super important. It’s best to not force it, but let it happen organically and genuinely. It certainly helps if you know a couple magic tricks, but if you don’t, then there are other things you can do.

Q. Given your experience with magic, I take it you’re comfortable in front of a crowd. What was the biggest crowd you played to?

A. Probably about 400 people. It was a corporate event. I did corporate parties and stuff when I was 11 or 12 years old.

Q. How much did you charge?

A. About $300. We’re making more money now, so I’m very happy about that."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/business/25corner.html?pagewanted=2