Don't Fall In To These Leadership Traps In 2014; Forbes, 12/31/13

Scott Edinger, Forbes; Don't Fall In To These Leadership Traps In 2014: "I have been a proponent of the importance of leaders developing strengths as a means to improve toward excellence. After all, the best leaders are characterized by the presence of strengths, not the absence of weakness. That concept is illustrated in the article I coauthored for Harvard Business Review, called Making Yourself Indispensable. While it is clearly the path to developing the traits that allow a leader to stand out as remarkable, there are times when leaders need to address their areas of weakness. Some call these “derailleurs”, others call them “fatal flaws”, and still others, euphemistically, refer to them as “opportunities.” By any name, when those weaknesses overshadow a person’s strength, they have to be dealt with. In my experience reviewing the data in thousands of 360-degree feedback instruments and consulting with senior leaders, these are the biggest traps that render them ineffective... At the end of the day, the saddest part about leaders who routinely exhibit these characteristics is that they are often unaware of them and the impact they are having. These leaders tend to have a very different view of themselves that [sic] others do and that gap creates problems for them. I have had to have very direct conversations with clients about the implications of their behaviors and the consequences of not changing. Frequently, that feedback can be a self-correcting mechanism as few leaders show up each day wanting to do a poor job. Each of us needs to excel by leveraging our natural strengths and abilities. Peter Drucker pointed this out in The Effective Executive over 40 years ago, and that body of work continues to evolve today. But we also need to be mindful of avoiding these leadership traps. Your success will be determined by it!"

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"

The Focused Leader; Harvard Business Review Magazine, December 2013

Daniel Goleman, Harvard Business Review Magazine; The Focused Leader: "A primary task of leadership is to direct attention.To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. When we speak about being focused, we commonly mean thinking about one thing while filtering out distractions. But a wealth of recent research in neuroscience shows that we focus in many ways, for different purposes, drawing on different neural pathways—some of which work in concert, while others tend to stand in opposition. Grouping these modes of attention into three broad buckets—focusing on yourself, focusing on others, and focusing on the wider world—sheds new light on the practice of many essential leadership skills. Focusing inward and focusing constructively on others helps leaders cultivate the primary elements of emotional intelligence. A fuller understanding of how they focus on the wider world can improve their ability to devise strategy, innovate, and manage organizations. Every leader needs to cultivate this triad of awareness, in abundance and in the proper balance, because a failure to focus inward leaves you rudderless, a failure to focus on others renders you clueless, and a failure to focus outward may leave you blindsided."

Pittsburgh Center Honoring Playwright Finds Itself Short on Visitors and Donors; New York Times, 11/23/13

Trip Gabriel, New York Times; Pittsburgh Center Honoring Playwright Finds Itself Short on Visitors and Donors: "Named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who found a street-savvy poetry in the lives of poor Pittsburgh blacks, the culture center’s plight has been especially painful for those who had hoped it would enshrine the music, art and literature of the urban world he knew. Instead, it appears to be a victim of mismanagement by its senior staff and board of directors, who borrowed to build a grand palace of culture, but failed to find a wide enough audience and donor base in the hometown of Wilson, whose plays are mostly set in the Hill District just blocks away... Mark Clayton Southers, a former director of its theater program, said the Wilson center struggled to find an audience among the people Wilson portrayed: working-class blacks, many of whom feel unwelcome downtown with its skyscrapers and largely white-owned businesses, he added. “You can’t build it and they will come,” Mr. Southers said. “Not when you’re trying to work with a community that is not traditional theatergoers or cultural consumers.”... Neither the founders nor a new board of directors that took over in 2010 could come up with a business plan to fund ambitious programs in dance, theater, jazz and art while making the $53,600 monthly loan payments."

After Forcing Rapid Change at U. of Wyoming, President Abruptly Resigns; Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/15/13

Lindsay Ellis, Chronicle of Higher Education; After Forcing Rapid Change at U. of Wyoming, President Abruptly Resigns: "In an interview last week, Mr. Sternberg said that he had not arrived on the campus expecting to change its personnel. Though he received advice from trustees and board members of the UW Foundation about the university's leadership, he said he had made his own decisions. The president also said in the interview that he was not surprised by the criticism of the pace of change at the university. "When someone comes in as a disruptive innovator, metaphorically, it's like an antibody attack," he said. "They attack objects not because they're harmful but because they're foreign. The result is predictable."... Ms. Persichitte, the former education dean, said she thought Mr. Sternberg had not fit into the institution's culture well. She said she hoped Mr. McGinity would move forward carefully, listening to the faculty and staff. "If he does that as we search for a new president," she said, "we have every opportunity to rebuild the leadership gap that now exists.""

Year in Architecture 2013: Something for Everyone [8 Photo Galleries]; Library Journal, 11/15/13

Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal; Year in Architecture 2013: Something for Everyone [8 Photo Galleries] : "This year’s listing of library building projects completed between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, expands on the concept of all-purpose spaces to suit a variety of patrons and needs."

De Blasio as Manager: Delegating, Yet Keeping a Tight Leash; New York Times, 10/31/13

Michael M. Grynbaum and Kate Taylor, New York Times; De Blasio as Manager: Delegating, Yet Keeping a Tight Leash: "They have staked out positions on taxes and charter schools, pedestrian plazas and a ban on large sugary drinks. But the Democratic and Republican candidates to succeed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have rarely expounded on the biggest day-to-day challenge that awaits them in City Hall: managing a bureaucracy of 300,000 workers. The New York Times asked Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee, and Joseph J. Lhota, the Republican nominee, to explain their approaches to being a boss: making tough choices, recruiting a savvy staff and coping with the crises that inevitably confront the leader of the nation’s largest municipality. Mr. de Blasio spoke with the Times at Bar Toto in Park Slope, Brooklyn. An interview with Mr. Lhota was published in print on Thursday. This interview has been condensed and edited. "How would your management style be different from Mayor Bloomberg? Well, I absolutely oppose the 30,000-feet approach. What do you mean by that? It’s the cursory nature of it. To truly manage that place effectively and the agencies, you have to be, in my opinion, hands-on enough. I think Michael Bloomberg was too cold. To choose the good commissioner, then let them do their thing to the point of distraction, unfortunately led to some of the mistakes in crisis, like the snowstorm or Sandy. I think it led to some commissioners that alienated communities unnecessarily. I think it led to some bad policy decisions... Is there a mayoral model you admire? I think the Giuliani hyper-micromanagement model proved to be very disruptive to agencies and to their leaders. The La Guardia model is where I look in all things, which is a hands-on, very connected-to-the-grass-roots, very present, very communicative with the people. Choosing top-flight people, but also keeping some reins on them, and being able and willing to intervene as needed, I think that’s the right balance... Do you have a favorite management theorist? No."

Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst; Harvard Business Review, 11/13/13

Sarah Green, Harvard Business Review; Research: Cubicles Are the Absolute Worst: "The worst part, according to the data, is that these office workers can’t control what they hear — or who hears them. Lack of sound privacy was far and away the most despised issue in the survey, with 60% of cubicle workers and half of all partitionless people indicating it as a frustration... Make everything modular. Let the collaboration flow. Not so fast. Previous research, cited by Kim and de Dear, has already shown that “the loss of productivity due to noise distraction… was doubled in open-plan offices compared to private offices, and the tasks requiring complex verbal process” — the most important tasks, you might argue — “were more likely to be disturbed than relatively simple or routine tasks.” In this paper, Kim and de Dear show that this loss of productivity is not offset by increased collaboration."

Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them); NPR, 11/11/13

Shankar Vedantam, NPR; Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them) : "Heifetz trained as a psychiatrist, and he describes his view of effective leadership with an analogy from medicine. "When a patient comes to a surgeon, the surgeon's default setting is to say, 'You've got a problem? I'll take the problem off your shoulders and I'll deliver back to you a solution.' In psychiatry, when a person comes to you with a problem, it's not your job actually to solve their problem. It's your job to develop their capacity to solve their own problem." Many intractable political issues, such as civil war, poverty or ethnic tension are complicated, and solving them may require a whole nation of people to change their mindset. As they approach these sorts of "nontechnical" problems, Heifetz says, leaders should think less like surgeons, and more like psychiatrists."

Harvard Business Review summary, "When You Feel Powerful You Talk Too Much, and Your Subordinates Perform Poorly", of forthcoming paper in Academy of Management Journal, 11/5/13

Andrew O'Connell, Harvard Business Review; When You Feel Powerful You Talk Too Much, and Your Subordinates Perform Poorly: [Harvard Business Review summary of paper, When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of Leader Power on Team Performance] "In a computer-based simulation of a Mount Everest expedition, teams whose leaders had been induced to feel powerful (“Think about a time when you had power over someone”) achieved just 59% of their goals, in comparison with 76% by teams whose leaders hadn’t been induced to feel powerful, according Leigh Plunkett Tost of the University of Michigan, Francesca Gino of Harvard, and Richard P. Larrick of Duke. A feeling of power prompts leaders to verbally dominate, which gives the impression that they are less open to others’ ideas; this perception diminishes team performance. Organizations might be able to minimize this effect by maintaining an egalitarian culture, reminding leaders of subordinates’ importance, and encouraging employees to question the legitimacy of leaders who dominate social interactions, the researchers say."

Libraries in the Time of MOOCs; Educause Review, 11/4/13

Curtis Kendrick and Irene Gashurov, Educause Review; Libraries in the Time of MOOCs: "At the City University of New York Curtis Kendrick is university dean for Libraries and Information Resources and Irene Gashurov is a communications writer and a trained librarian. A wave of disruptive technological changes has hit higher education, forcing us to rethink the way we teach, learn, and provide educational resources. For libraries, the growing reach and sheer numbers of massive open online courses (MOOCs) raise unprecedented challenges and opportunities. As we try to see our role within this new market, it might be worth reflecting on our readiness to operate in the increasingly complex online landscape. Soon, librarians might be asked to provide access to copyrighted, licensed electronic resources for MOOC students around the world. Will we be equipped with the technology to accommodate unprecedented numbers of students inside and outside the university? We will also have to deal with legal issues related to MOOCs, such as intellectual property rights, privacy issues, and state regulations. After exhausting the many ways of saying no to difficult change, perhaps we can find a way to work with all the stakeholders and help shape the rapidly changing MOOC model in concert with our own needs while we still can... Libraries should not miss out on a chance to get involved in the future of MOOCs on campus; as Michalko noted, "At the times that libraries were slow to help, slow to reconfigure their resources, and waited to see what might develop, they lost chances to renew their importance to their home institution." The MOOC frontier offers new opportunities for librarians to provide leadership and guidance in advising administration, faculty, and students about changes in higher education. But first, we must study and analyze the MOOCs landscape so that we can shape the conversation about MOOCs and their successors in a more purposeful and organized way."

Emerging Leader participants for Class of 2014 announced; ALA News, 11/6/13

Beatrice Calvin, ALA News; [Press Release] Emerging Leader participants for Class of 2014 announced: For Immediate Release Wed, 11/06/2013 Contact: Beatrice Calvin Program Officer Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment 280-4280 bcalvin@ala.org CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) has selected 56 people to participate in its 2014 class of Emerging Leaders. The program is designed to enable library staff and information workers to participate in project planning workgroups; network with peers; gain an inside look into ALA structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. The program kicks off with a day-long session during the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Following the kickoff session, which includes orientation and training, the program will continue in an online learning and networking environment for six months, culminating with a poster session with the 2014 Emerging Leaders showcasing the results of their project planning work at the ALA 2014 Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Participants commit to taking part in all aspects of the program and may have an opportunity to serve on an ALA, division, chapter, round table or affiliate committee or workgroup upon completion of program. ALA Past-President, program facilitator and subcommittee Co-Chair, Maureen Sullivan, stated: “This very successful program has enabled a number of very talented new professionals to assume leadership positions in ALA at earlier career stage. These individuals have brought fresh ideas, new approaches and significant energy to the association. I welcome this next class and look forward to working with them.” Nearly 70 percent of this year’s participants have received sponsorships. The sponsors included ALA divisions, roundtables, state chapters, ALA affiliate groups and other organizations. Each sponsor commits to financial support of an Emerging Leader in order to help defray costs for attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting and the Annual Conference. Co-Chair of the Emerging Leaders subcommittee, Audra Caplan, said, “I am very pleased to welcome the 2014 class of Emerging Leaders. The success of past participants of the program attest to the value of the program. Many past participants are now in leadership positions in ALA and its Divisions and Roundtables. In addition many of the projects completed by past groups have been implemented successfully by the sponsoring organizations. I am gratified to know that the Emerging Leader program is stronger than ever." Read the complete list of 2014 Class of Emerging Leader Participants (PDF). (http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2013/11/emerging-leader-participants-class-2014-announced)

How the Redskins Could Ditch Their Name – But Keep Their Fans; Harvard Business Review, 11/4/13

Tim Halloran, Harvard Business Review; How the Redskins Could Ditch Their Name – But Keep Their Fans: "AdAge estimates that a rebrand could cost $15 million. According to Forbes, the organization is worth $1.7 billion. What Snyder, and the team name’s defenders, need to acknowledge – if they can peek up from their foxholes – is that over time, the controversy over the name will erode the brand’s value. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, originally a supporter of Snyder’s, has been careful to back down from a strong position of support. Influential sports journalists like Peter King and Christine Brennan have said they’ll no longer use the name. Members of Congress have weighed in. Snyder should act, now, before the controversy gets worse. But how do you change a brand that isn’t working for you any more without alienating your most loyal customers? Here are some thoughts on how I would seek to resolve this extremely difficult branding problem."