Why some people are wired to help strangers, and what their brains reveal; The Washington Post, January 8, 2026

 Cristina Quinn, The Washington Post; Why some people are wired to help strangers, and what their brains reveal

"Abigail Marsh, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Georgetown University, studies extraordinary altruism — people who jump in to rescue strangers in emergencies or donate a kidney to someone they don’t know. Marsh spoke with Cristina Quinn, host of The Washington Post’s podcast “Try This,” about what her work has uncovered, and what brain science reveals about people who habitually engage in selfless acts. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity...

The group you’ve studied most closely is people who donate a kidney to a stranger. What makes them different?

Genuinely altruistic people are very humble and less selfish than other people. And it turns out that humility and being unselfish go hand-in-hand because if you think that you’re the most special person around, why would you want to help less-special people? And so truly altruistic people do not think of themselves as special.

And when we bring them to our lab, we find differences in their MRI scans. One of the most striking is that altruistic kidney donors tend to have a larger amygdala, a part of the brain critical to processing emotions, particularly fear in others. They are especially sensitive to others’ distress and responding empathically.

In your earlier research, you found the opposite pattern in people with psychopathy?

Yes, we found that the amygdala tends to be smaller in individuals with psychopathic traits. They have difficulty recognizing fear and distress in other people. Most people with psychopathic traits report not feeling fear as often as other people do. And what’s interesting about that is that if you don’t really feel an emotion, it’s very difficult to empathize with it in other people.

So we asked, is altruism the inverse of psychopathy? And it turns out that yes, altruistic kidney donors are more reactive than typical people to the sight of others in distress. And they are relatively better at recognizing other people’s fear, as well."

The Rainmaker: What 20 Years In Supreme Court Practice Have Taught Me; Above The Law, September 30, 2025

Neal Katyal  , Above The Law; The Rainmaker: What 20 Years In Supreme Court Practice Have Taught Me

"The Improv Principle

Ed. note: The Rainmaker is a new Above the Law series highlighting attorneys who have built distinguished practices by excelling not only in the courtroom and at the negotiating table, but also in business development, mentorship, and leadership. Each installment will feature candid reflections on what it takes to succeed as a rainmaker in today’s legal industry. Our first featured rainmaker is Neal Katyal...

For years, I’ve been studying improv comedy, and it’s transformed how I think about legal practice. The cardinal rule of improv is “yes, and”—you accept what your scene partners offer and build on it. You don’t say “no” or shut down their contribution. You make your partners look good, and in turn they make you look good.

This sounds soft. It’s not. It’s the hardest discipline I know.

In a meeting, when an associate offers an idea that seems off-base, the instinct is to correct them, to show why you’re the experienced lead counsel. The improv instinct is different: find what’s valuable in their contribution and build on it. “Yes, and we could take that framework and apply it to the jurisdictional question.” Suddenly, the associate isn’t embarrassed—they’re energized. They’ve contributed something real. They’ll work twice as hard for you, and next time, their idea might be the one that wins the case. 

This isn’t artificial, it’s definitely not about giving false praise.  A smart associate, after all, will see through that in a second.  It’s rather about trying to find the diamond in the rough, the insight that the associate has and that can be built upon. I kind of stumbled upon that idea when I did my first case, challenging Guantanamo. At my side were a dozen law students – and they would all have various writing assignments and my duty was to sort through all their insights and build a coherent product out of it. Many were off-the-wall, to be sure, but many were brilliant, too. It just took work to find those flashes of brilliance and to build upon them. That kind of “bottom-up” strategy is one I have taken to heart – so much so that today I routinely take advice on crafting arguments from my Researcher at Milbank. My Researcher is someone who has graduated from college and yet has not attended law school.

This isn’t just about associates or your internal team, it’s just as much about clients. When a client pushes back on your strategy, you could dig in and explain why you’re right. Or you could listen—really listen—to what’s driving their concern. Usually, they’re telling you something important about their business reality, their risk tolerance, or their board dynamics. “Yes, and given that constraint, what if we structured the argument this way?” Now you’re not just their lawyer; you’re their partner.

Why Clients Return

Twenty-three years ago when I wrote that piece, I thought clients hired you for your legal brilliance. They don’t. They hire you because you make their problems smaller, not bigger.

I’ve represented the same clients through multiple Supreme Court cases, not because I won every time (I haven’t), but because they trust that I’ll listen to what they actually need. Sometimes what they need is an aggressive cert petition. Sometimes what they need is someone to tell them that the case isn’t worth the institutional risk of taking to the Court. The clients who keep coming back are the ones who know you’ll give them the second answer when it’s true, even though it costs you a major case and significant fees.

This requires a specific kind of humility: the humility to know that the client understands their business better than you do, and that your legal judgment is in service of their goals, not the other way around. Supreme Court lawyers can struggle with this because we’re trained to think about doctrinal purity and legal architecture. But clients don’t care about your elegant theory of administrative law. They care about whether they can build the project, launch the product, or avoid the devastating liability.

The best piece of advice I ever received came from Eric Holder, who mentored me at the Justice Department in my first stint there, right after my clerkships. He watched me fail to persuade senior officials of a position that I was absolutely certain was right. Afterward, he pulled me aside. “Your analysis was perfect,” he said. “But you didn’t listen to their concerns. You tried to convince them you were right instead of understanding why they were worried. Next time, start by understanding their perspective.”

That lesson echoes through every client relationship, every oral argument, every brief. Start by understanding their perspective."

The Ethics of Commitment; The Signal, June 15, 2025

David Hegg, The Signal; The Ethics of Commitment

"I recently watched the systematic dissolution of several married couples. All of them were good people and there was no infidelity on either side. The reason they failed to keep their marriages together was not some cataclysmic event or circumstance. Instead, it was their failure to live up to the commitments they made as they entered into the covenant of marriage. It boiled down to a gross misunderstanding of what commitment is and what it entails.  

First, commitment is a promise to persevere past the point of convenience, comfort and even common sense. Yes, that’s right. Commitment means staying the course even when it appears that all is lost. It refuses to give up in the face of daunting circumstances simply because what is about to be lost is irreplaceable. 

Think about the commitment of soldiers at war. Those we honor the most are the ones who remained radically committed to their comrades and the mission, even to the point of death. Commitment isn’t wishful thinking. It is a promise sealed with the life of the one who makes it, or at least it is supposed to be."

Humble Francis; Thinking About, April 21, 2025

  Timothy Snyder, Thinking About...; Humble Francis

"Awaiting Francis, I was sitting with the other honorees in a pew towards the front and on the left. The church was very full of people, sitting and standing. I noticed, though, that the people with disabilities were led carefully to the first pew on the right. In this setting, I was reminded of the practices of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, which is dedicated to the "martyrs and the marginalized," including the service of the disabled. I do not know whether Francis would have expected this particular arrangement when he entered the church. I can only report on what he did.

Francis was led down the aisle, resplendent in white, very erect, walking slowly and greeting people along the way. Just before he reached the sanctuary, he halted suddenly and turned to his right, noticing that pew. Then, as the rest of us waited, he walked to its far end, and bent himself to speak. He greeted each person in turn, touching them. As the people with whom he was conversing could not rise, he had to lower himself. So, over and over, Francis knelt down to look someone in the eye and to hold both of their hands in his. This took about fifteen minutes. It was a moment to think about others, and in that sense, for me, a liberation, from my own anxiety and selfishness.

Many words and much grandeur followed. But that moment is what I remember. None of us is perfect. Even Father Omelian Kovch was not perfect. Pope Francis was not perfect. The institution they represented has much to answer for. But imperfection can represent itself as service, in the acknowledgement that we can transcend ourselves when we see others first."

In Memoriam: President Jimmy Carter; Washington National Cathedral, December 29, 2024

 Washington National Cathedral; In Memoriam: President Jimmy Carter

"Washington National Cathedral and the Episcopal Diocese of Washington join the nation in giving thanks for the life of President Jimmy Carter, whose deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ was the foundation of a public life shaped by compassion, humility and care for the least among us.

Our prayers are with President Carter’s children Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy, and the extended Carter family.

President Carter exemplified a life of public service rooted in personal faith. Whether teaching Sunday School, or building houses for the poor, or working through the Carter Center to eradicate diseases in Africa, President Carter exemplified what it means to translate faith into action. 

President Carter’s faith was quiet and humble, fueled by a much-needed sense of generosity. His devotion to God was evidenced by his pursuit of peace and his promotion of human rights, especially for the world’s poor. Indeed, on the global road to Jericho, he was often the Samaritan who stopped to help as others passed by.

Undeterred by age, infirmity or political defeat, President Carter rose again and again to offer an outstretched hand. He embodied St. Paul’s admonition to be “afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

We will leave it to others to judge his political legacy, but his graciousness in victory and defeat, his personal decency, and his dogged commitment to public service demonstrated that one need not hold public office to leave an enduring imprint on the fabric of America. Of all the second acts in our political life, President Carter’s post-White House years were among the most inspiring. 

Together with all the saints in glory, we give thanks for the life and legacy of President Jimmy Carter. From his selflessness and humanitarian spirit, we draw inspiration. And from his example of fidelity and generous faith, we find hope that we might yet learn to embody his example of good and faithful service. 

“Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant James. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.” 

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington

The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith
Dean of Washington National Cathedral"

A truck driver's quiet kindness on the highway leads to gratitude and recognition; CBC, December 27, 2024

CBC; A truck driver's quiet kindness on the highway leads to gratitude and recognition

"When trucker Daljit Sohi spotted a woman drop her purse in a B.C. parking lot, he immediately stepped in to help.

What followed was a three-hour drive to return her belongings, a gesture that would later earn him a generous gift and nomination for a prestigious trucking award...

Sohi, who has been with the company since 2021, hadn't told anyone at work about what happened, not even his family. 

Harpreet Sabharwal, HR Manager at Triple Eight Transport, praised Sohi's humility.

"The gentleman is quite humble to not boast about himself but we were quite surprised in a positive way.""

Marriott’s CEO Demonstrates Truly Authentic Leadership In A Remarkably Emotional Video; Forbes, March 21, 2020

Carmine Gallo, Forbes; Marriott’s CEO Demonstrates Truly Authentic Leadership In A Remarkably Emotional Video

"Authentic leadership is, by definition, real and genuine. Authenticity is more than a management buzzword. It’s a way of acting and communicating that inspires loyalty. 

Marriott International CEO, Arne Sorenson, is an authentic leader and he proved it this week with the release of a 6-minute video to Marriott employees, shareholders, and customers. 

“This is what leadership sounds like,” one person said after watching the video on Twitter. Others said Sorenson’s video was “heartfelt and inspiring.” Yet another Twitter said, “a master class in leadership.” 

What, exactly, did Sorenson do that elicited such an outpouring of favorable comments? 

In short, Sorenson lowered the shield. He was candid, vulnerable, humble, emotional and hopeful."

Great Leaders Understand Why Small Gestures Matter; Harvard Business Review, January 13, 2020

Bill Taylor, Harvard Business Review; Great Leaders Understand Why Small Gestures Matter

"Maybe it’s time for all of us to reflect on the wisdom of Getnet Marsha and the performance of Executive Shine. So much of the business culture remains fixated on strategic disruption, digital transformation, and the meteoric rise (and disastrous fall) of venture-backed unicorns. What if we took just a moment to think a little smaller, to act a lot more humbly, to elevate the person-to-person interactions that lead to more meaningful relationships? Sure, successful companies and leaders think differently from everyone else. But they also care more than everyone else—about customers, about colleagues, about how the whole organization conducts itself when there are so many opportunities to cut corners and compromise on values. In a world being utterly reshaped (and often disfigured) by technology, people are hungrier than ever for a deeper and more authentic sense of humanity...

Small gestures—whether signage or speech, body language or handwritten messages—can send big signals about who we are, what we care about, and why we do what we do. Even (maybe especially) in this age of digital disruption and creative destruction, never underestimate the power of a shine with soul or a well-crafted card. Don’t let technology overwhelm your humanity."

How A Cleaning Lady Inspired Awesome Leadership; Forbes, June 2, 2018

Laura Rittenhouse, Forbes; How A Cleaning Lady Inspired Awesome Leadership

"In an interview with Adam Bryant of The New York Times, Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger shared a lesson he learned in college during a business strategy final exam.  Bettinger needed to ace the test so he could graduate with a 4.0.  He spent hours reviewing formulas and case studies.  On the day of the exam, his professor handed out just one sheet of paper and asked the class to turn it over.   It was blank.  He explained, “I’ve taught you everything I can teach you about business in the last 10 weeks, but… the most important question is this: What’s the name of the lady who cleans this building?” Bettinger was stunned.  It was the only test he ever failed.

 He told Bryant, “…I got the B I deserved. Her name was Dottie, and I didn’t know Dottie. I’d seen her, but I’d never taken the time to ask her name. I’ve tried to know every Dottie I’ve worked with ever since.”  The experience taught him “…you should never lose sight of people who do the real work.”  Bettinger’s lesson in humility impressed me.  By revealing his failure to Bryant, he chose to be vulnerable.  Instead of pounding his chest in the interview, he opened his heart...

Awesome leaders who act with integrity are more likely to be smart risk-takers.  To be adaptive, authentic and accountable means to keep one’s eye on the prize and lead with integrity.  The word “integrity” means to be whole.  To be whole means to care about others, even those who may be different from us.  This leads to awesome empathy – the ability to stand in someone else’s shoes and see what their world looks like.

For Walt Bettinger, it meant learning the name of the woman who cleaned his classroom."

Donald Trump’s One Awful Accomplishment; New York Times, April 29, 2017

Frank Bruni, New York Times; Donald Trump’s One Awful Accomplishment

"The other presidents in my lifetime have at least done a pantomime of the qualities that we try to instill in children: humility, honesty, magnanimity, generosity. Even Richard Nixon took his stabs at these. Trump makes a proud and almost ceaseless mockery of them.

And while I worry plenty that he’ll achieve some of his most ill-conceived policy goals, I’m just as fearful that he has already succeeded in changing forever the expected demeanor of someone in public office.

All around me people shrug and yawn at his latest petulant tirade, his newest baseless tweet, his freshest assertion that the numbers that the rest of us see are just optical illusions and he really did win the popular vote. Even outrage grows boring, and it begins to feel pointless: His obnoxiousness isn’t going to get him impeached.

Besides, the mendacity, the grandiosity: That’s just Trump being Trump. It’s old news by now. Many readers will get this far in this column and wonder why I and other naysayers don’t just let it go and cut him a break. As if we’re stuck on piddling things and his bearing is nothing more than peculiar.

But when something no longer provokes remark, it becomes unremarkable, and the road from there to acceptable is a short one."

"Danny Boy"; robrogers.com, April 19, 2017

Rob Rogers, robrogers.com; "Danny Boy"

Uber’s CEO says ‘I need leadership help.’ What should it look like?; Washington Post, March 1, 2017

Jena McGregor, Washington Post; Uber’s CEO says ‘I need leadership help.’ What should it look like?

""When you are seen as somebody who is damaged, you have to find religion" and make substantial changes, said Bob Sutton, a professor at Stanford University who wrote a widely read book on uncivil workplaces called "The No A--hole Rule." He believes Kalanick needs a coach and "he needs to find some humility."...

For Uber, it could take time. "Frankly, fixing the culture of a company is an extremely complex, long-term endeavor, and you usually want to do it with the goose that laid the golden egg," said Nicholas Donatiello, a management lecturer at Stanford University. "It is not unusual for fast-growing, entrepreneurial companies to find themselves with cultures that have been double-edged swords for them. The culture that may help a company get to the point where Uber is may not be the culture to take Uber forward.""

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY; New Yorker, February 19, 2017

Sarah Larson, New Yorker; 

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY

"The new Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, is highly motivated to make this library, and all libraries, a favorite object of the people. Hayden is the first person of color, and the first woman, to lead the Library of Congress; she is also the first actual librarian to lead it since 1974. Her predecessor, Dr. James Billington, a distinguished Russia scholar appointed by Ronald Reagan, was beloved for his intellect but criticized for mismanagement; he neglected, for many years, to appoint a chief information officer, which was required by law, and he also didn’t use e-mail. Hayden, a former head of the American Library Association, revitalized and modernized Baltimore’s twenty-two-branch Enoch Pratt Free Library system. President Obama nominated her, in 2010, to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board, and, last year, to become Librarian of Congress...

Like many librarians, Hayden is a big believer in the rights of all people to educate themselves, and in the importance of open access to information online. (This inclusive spirit has become more urgent nationally in recent weeks: see “Libraries Are for Everyone,” a multilingual meme and poster campaign, created by a Nebraska librarian, Rebecca McCorkindale, to counter the forces of fake news and fearmongering.) In September, Hayden gave a swearing-in speech in which she described how black Americans “were once punished with lashes and worse for learning to read.” She said that, “as a descendent of people who were denied the right to read, to now have the opportunity to serve and lead the institution that is our national symbol of knowledge is a historic moment.”...

I thought of the drafts of Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address that a curator in the Inaugurations exhibit had shown me. Lincoln had originally ended his speech with a challenge to the South: “Shall it be peace or sword?” William Henry Seward had suggested an edit that pushed Lincoln toward a more conciliatory tone, and the phrase “guardian angel of the nation.” Lincoln turned that into the sublime “better angels of our nature,” an appeal to our common humanity. Our greatest President was also, possibly, our greatest reviser—a cutter and paster who questioned his imperfect ideas, accepted input, made them better, and kept all of his drafts, so that history could learn not just from his speeches but from the workings of his mind. The contents of the library, like Hayden herself, often directed my attention to the systems by which progress is made and recorded."

New U.N. Leader Sets Goals: Humility, Empathy, Empowering Women; NPR, 10/14/16

Malaka Gharib, NPR; New U.N. Leader Sets Goals: Humility, Empathy, Empowering Women:

"On Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly welcomed Antonio Guterres of Portugal as the new secretary-general of the U.N., replacing Ban Ki-moon.

In a short speech expressing his "gratitude and humility" to the assembly for the five-year term, he highlighted his priorities: humility, empathy for the underprivileged and the "empowerment of women and girls."...

What has made us immune to the plight of those most socially and economically underprivileged? All this makes me feel the acute responsibility to make human dignity the core of my work."

Americans can choose better than Trump; Washington Post, 7/1/16

Marc Racicot, Washington Post; Americans can choose better than Trump:

"It is inescapable that every decision made by every leader reflects the character of the man or woman making the decision. Character is the lens through which a leader perceives the path to be followed. It conceives and shapes every thought and is inextricably interwoven into every word spoken, every policy envisioned and every action taken.

Persistent seriousness, solemn and honest commitment to the interests of others, exhaustive study and detailed proposals, sincerity, humility, empathy, dignity, fairness, patience, genuine respect for all of God’s children, durability, modesty and the absence of self-interest are those qualities of principled leadership absolutely essential to presidential decision-making."

Pure chaos: Donald Trump’s campaign management offers a glimpse into his governing style (spoiler alert: it’s terrible); Salon, 6/1/16

Sean Illing, Salon; Pure chaos: Donald Trump’s campaign management offers a glimpse into his governing style (spoiler alert: it’s terrible) :

"The presumptive Republican nominee has managed his campaign the way he manages his casinos or his realty TV program: haphazardly and with an unearned arrogance. Everything’s about the brand and non-sycophants are cast aside. Getting it right is far less important than being right...

Trump isn’t as stupid as he pretends to be, but his confidence seems to scale with his ignorance, and that’s a dangerous trait in a president, given how consequential each decision can be. As a candidate, a confident idiot can make a lot of noise and fool a lot of voters. But you can’t lead that way. As president, Trump would need the sober advice of serious professionals. Considering how little he understands about the job and the world, this is especially true in his case.

Based on the latest behind-the-scenes reports on Trump’s campaign (as well as his entire history in real estate and television), it’s unlikely he would govern with the humility and self-awareness required...

Trump’s dictatorial approach works well on the campaign trail, but it’d be a disaster in office. A president has to persuade and compromise. The capacity to admit ignorance is equally important. Trump, by all accounts, has no interest in any of these things.

Trump doesn’t know what he needs to know in order to be president, nor does he care that he doesn’t know."

What Leaders Can Learn From Teaching Undergraduates; Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/24/16

Stephen C. Bahls, Chronicle of Higher Education; What Leaders Can Learn From Teaching Undergraduates:

"After the first class I realized that I had forgotten how difficult and time-consuming teaching is. My knowledge of what I taught — mainly Supreme Court cases — was sometimes a mile wide and an inch deep, and other times an inch wide and a mile deep. Experienced teachers need both depth and breadth, and that takes time, as does meeting with students outside the classroom, writing letters of recommendation, and so forth. That’s why we administrators must respect reasonable teaching loads, sabbaticals, and professional-development time. But experienced teachers also know that just because you teach it, doesn’t mean students will learn it. The hard part is cultivating learning...

But my greatest lesson directly relates to my role as president of the college. Just as I learned to encourage deep engagement and thought-provoking conversations with our students, I realized that I also needed to foster deeper and more profound discussion among our faculty, staff, trustees, and administration about how to achieve our goals...

Today’s challenges call for shared governance, which can only be accomplished with an engaged faculty and administration, and such governance cannot be effective without meaningful faculty control of academic programs. Presidents need to be effective teachers when it comes to helping the faculty understand financial realities, as well as the realities of changing demographics and increasing calls for accountability. But at times presidents need to be students, listening to the faculty concerning the academic programs...

A college president does not need to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, I aim to be the best listener in the room and a good teacher. And, just as most often the best teachers are humble, the best presidents should be also. They should be committed to helping the institution’s entire work force develop the habits of mind, heart, and soul to provide the best outcomes to our students."

Donald Trump's Arrogance Is Outdated In Corporate America; Huffington Post, 7/20/15

Emily Peck, Huffington Post; Donald Trump's Arrogance Is Outdated In Corporate America:

"Apple CEO Tim Cook also embodies the new leadership style. Cook’s been outspoken in his support for gay rights, first coming out as gay in an October 2014 essay for Bloomberg Businessweek, then becoming a high-profile advocate for the LGBT community. He even chastised his home state of Alabama over its treatment of poor people and minorities.

“Here’s a guy who seems to stand up for what he thinks is right,” said Kiel. “He’s also open to admitting mistakes.”

Cook’s 2012 apology for a botched rollout of mapping software stood in sharp contrast to the non-apology offered by his predecessor, Steve Jobs, over an iPhone glitch in 2010.

Under Cook, Apple’s financials have soared.

CEOs who display character run companies that perform better financially, according to Kiel’s research -- an exhaustive seven-year study of 84 CEOs across multiple industries.

Kiel defined character using four moral principles: integrity, responsibility, forgiveness and compassion. He also came up with a list of 25 behaviors and attributes that embody these principles, like “telling the truth,” “forgiveness” and “owning up to your mistakes.”

He and his team asked CEOs to assess themselves on these traits, and asked their employees how they would rank their CEOs on the same metrics. They discovered that the CEOs who were graded as having the strongest character brought in five times more for the bottom line than the low-character CEOs.

The CEOs at the bottom, said Kiel, tended to see the world as a dangerous place where people would take advantage of you. They didn’t always tell the truth. They placed their own financial security over the well-being of their company and their employees. Their workers didn’t trust them."

Management Be Nimble; New York Times, 1/4/14

Adam Bryant, New York Times; Management Be Nimble: "One of a leader’s most important roles is to boil down an organization’s many priorities and strategies into a simple plan, so that employees can remember it, internalize it and act on it. With clear goals and metrics, everyone can pull in the same direction, knowing how their work contributes to those goals... Rules of the Road Exercises to develop corporate values have prompted plenty of eye-rolls over the years, and can often yield little more than slick posters in conference rooms. But when developed and enacted in a thoughtful way, guidelines for behavior can help employees concentrate on the work at hand, rather than on navigating the stressful politics that arise when all sorts of bad behaviors are tolerated. Mark Templeton, chief executive of Citrix, a technology company, says its culture is based on three values: respect, integrity and humility... Many C.E.O.’s worked for a poor boss when they were younger, and say the experience deeply influenced their leadership philosophy. They want to create a culture of respect, because they know that people will shut down on the job and simply go through the motions if there is a culture of fear. Richard R. Buery Jr., C.E.O. of the Children’s Aid Society, said a bad experience with a former supervisor provided extra motivation to be in a leadership position so that he could influence culture. “One lesson I learned is the critical importance of being a good person and treating people well,” he said... John Duffy, chief executive of the mobile-technology company 3Cinteractive, has made respect one of the core values of his company. He says a zero-tolerance policy for disrespectful behavior frees up colleagues to challenge one another."

The Best Man for the Job is a Woman | Leading From the Library; Library Journal, 10/23/13

Steven Bell, Library Journal; The Best Man for the Job is a Woman | Leading From the Library: "Self-awareness is key to identifying one’s areas of weakness, whether male or female, and then working to build strength in those areas, according to John Gerzema, author of new book The Athena Doctrine, which argues that traits classically considered feminine are essential to effective leadership today. In his surveys of over 60,000 adults, the qualities most desired in leaders were patience, expressiveness, intuition, flexibility, empathy, and many other traits identified by respondents as feminine. Yet 81 percent of those surveyed said leaders required a balance of male and female traits. Gerzema believes that, while masculine traits are still the ticket to top executive positions, a shift is occurring. He advises leaders to aim for somewhere in between Venus and Mars, and identifies multiple trends that point to workplace changes in which a more feminine leadership will emerge as the preferred style... Does the current debate about whether men and women should be more like the opposite sex apply to the library world? It is a predominantly female profession, so one might think that the observation of feminine qualities among the profession’s leaders would be nothing new. Though the statistical over-representation of men in formal leadership positions, such as dean and directors, might suggest that even in our mostly female workforce, it is the male traits that enable individuals to acquire leadership roles. The real challenge, as I see it, is how leaders learn to morph their leadership styles with traits not typically associated with their gender. This may be where self-awareness, reflection, 360-degree reviews, and other techniques are of use in better understanding our own strengths and weaknesses as leaders. Both men and women can learn from each other as well, to develop the skills that individuals seek in their leaders. Each improvement we make, as we adapt these new skills to our leadership style, will help us to boost the quality of library leadership."