The 80/20 Librarian: Focusing on the 20% that matters

The word initiative is used extensively throughout the book and will be most important to reflect upon. Leading by articulating your intent as a commander and letting subordinates take the initiative sums up what I learned from reading the book. My favorite quotes from Call Sign Chaos by General Mattis and Bing West are these:

p.12, “Value initiative and aggressiveness above all. It’s easier to pull the reins back than to push a timid soul forward.”

p.21, “Because a unit adopts the personality of its commander, just as a sports team adopts the personality of its coach, I made my expectations clear: I wanted a bias for action, and to bring out the initiative in all hands.”

p.42, “If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you.”

p. 45, “Installation of personal initiative, aggressiveness, and risk-taking doesn’t spring forward spontaneously on the battlefield. It must be cultivated for years and inculcated, even rewarded, in an organization’s culture. If a commander expects subordinates to seize fleeting opportunities under stress, his organization must reward this behavior in all facets of training, promoting, and commending. More important, he must be tolerant of mistakes. If the risk takers are punished, then you will retain in your ranks only the risk averse.”

Page. 59, “Business management books often stress “centralized planning and decentralized execution.” That is too top down for my taste. I believe in a centralized vision, coupled with decentralized planning and execution. In general, there are two kinds of executives: those who simply respond to their staffs and those who direct their staffs and give them latitude, coaching them as needed to carry out the directions. I needed to focus on the big issues and leave the staff to flesh out how to get there.”

Page 88. “Note to all executives over the age of thirty: always keep close to you youngsters who are smarter than you.”

Page 96, “When things go wrong, a leader must stand by those who made the decision under extreme pressure and with incomplete information. Initiative and audacity must be supported, whether or not successful.”

Page 151, “Regardless of rank or occupation, I believe that all leaders should be coaches at heart. For me, “player-coach” aptly describes the role of a combat leader, or any real leader.”

Page 158, “If you don’t like problems, stay out of leadership.”

Page 175, “Every few months, a leader has to step back and question what he and his organization are doing.”

Page 179, “When asked how he would order his thoughts if he had one hour to save the world, Einstein sagely responded that he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and save the world in five minutes.”

Page 184, “Commanders must encourage intellectual risk taking to preclude a lethargic environment. Leaders must shelter those challenging nonconformists and mavericks who make institutions uncomfortable; otherwise you wash out innovation.”

Page 202, “In keeping with George Washington’s approach to leadership I would listen, learn, and help, then lead.”

Page 237, “If you can’t be additive as a leader, you’re just like a potted plant in the corner of a hotel lobby: you look pretty, but you’re not adding substance to the organization’s mission.”

Page 238, “You must unleash initiative rather than suffocate it.”

Page 238, “Strategy is hard, unless you’re a dilettante. You must think until your head hurts.”

Page 240, “Resourceful leaders do not lose touch with their troops. A leader’s job is to inculcate high-spirited, amiable self-discipline. Leaders must always generate options by surrounding themselves with bright subordinates and being catalysts for new ideas.” 

Page 242, “Allowing bad processes to stump good people is intolerable.”

Page 243, “Because maverick thinkers are so important to an organization’s adaptability, high ranking leaders need to be assigned the job of guiding and even protecting them, much as one would do for any endangered species.”

Page 243, “Leaders at all ranks, but especially at high ranks, must keep in their inner circle people who will unhesitatingly point out when a leader’s personal behavior or decisions are not appropriate.”

A little over 18 months ago in the first half of June 2018, I blogged about my prediction that the Pratt Library (Baltimore, MD) would take on passport services based on information contained in a Baltimore Sun article.

For the full blog post see http://www.danramirezlibrarian.com/2018/06/

Back then I was 95% certain that passport services would be implemented. I allotted the remaining 5% for a chance of error.

My timing gave a six to twelve month window for implementation.

How did I do?

I give myself an A minus. My prediction turned out to be true. See https://www.prattlibrary.org/passport/ for details.

I was off on my timing. I was six months short. It would have been difficult to be precise on the start date for the service, but I gave it a good attempt.

Flipping through a publication citing the celebrity deaths this year, I saw a reference to Lee Iacocca. He died at the start of July 2019.

The New York Times obituary by Robert McFadden cited Iacocca as “a visionary automaker who ran the Ford Motor Company and then the Chrysler Corporation.” 

Although I never studied Iacocca’s management style in great detail, my first boss would often repeat one of Iacocca’s mantras; Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

A 1992 Chrysler commercial with Iacocca ends with this way of thinking.

See the video below

Let’s take a quick shot at breaking these three actions down:

1) Lead- What can I do to instill and inspire confidence in people to accomplish an audacious goal? How am I acting and communicating like a leader? What can I do so that people’s performance can improve? What support do I bring to the table?

2) Follow- If I am not the formal leader, what skill set can I provide to help people implement the leader’s goal? Where might I speak up to alert the leader to concern or important milestones?

3) Get Out of the Way- If you don’t have a thorough understanding of what is happening and you are not able to positively contribute to reaching the goal, it is best to let people do their jobs without your interference. Refrain from creating potential obstacles if you find yourself in this arena. There are times when things just need to take their course.

Those interested in Iacocca’s leadership philosophy may want to read his book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Check out this video clip below of Iacocca’s 9Cs of leadership. It’s very direct and at times funny!

So I have been thinking about when to classify certain information as authoritative or official. I have come up with an acronym to describe the best way I think about this.

DCPASA is what I came up with. Which stands for Decisively, Conclusive, Publicly, Available, Statement, that’s Accurate.

D-Decisively. There is no ongoing discussion here, a decision has been reached.

C- Conclusive- The decision has ended possibilities of returning to the matter so arrangements are finalized.

P- Publicly- The information is no longer confidential, it enters the public domain.

A- Available- The information can be shared with others and made accessible in a variety of formats.

S- Statement- The information is found in written form.

A- Accurate- The information is factual.

I have come up with the following tips when I speak to the press about library services. I use the acronym LIPS as a guide.

You’ll want to keep things:

L- Light as you will not need nor want to expound on a weighty philosophical concept.

I- Informative as you will want to have accurate information to share.

P-Positive as you will want to speak to the advantage, the benefits, or the good of what your organization or operation is doing.

S-Short as you will want to be concise with your message. Keeping things succinct also allows for greater clarity to come through.

I’m working on a project for the Maryland Library Leadership Institute with an eye towards seeing how my library system might create an internal management training program for interested staff aspiring to supervisory leadership roles.

From my point of view such a program can be successful should it create a pathway for interested staff to obtain some hands-on supervisory experience under the guidance of a current manager. This type of hands -on supervisory experience could possibly make one eligible for an interview for a managerial position at some point down the road. Clearly, it also assists with succession planning.

This program obviously will involve more discussion with various key stakeholders within the organization, but I believe that the idea is well worth pursuing.

If anyone out there has some information on existing internal library management training programs, let me know.

I just came across a quote by Winston Churchill which is, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

Persistence does pay off. Are we able to get back up after a challenge knocks us down? We ought to look at strengthening our own resilience. A positive attitude to keep at it despite the obstacles in our way, will be an indicator of future success.

I’ve been pondering what I would say to an audience about library middle management (which I refer to as branch management) and the remarkable thing is that there is not much talk out there about some general guidelines to measure success. Sure, text books will explain what management is all about in great detail. Of course, great industry conference presentations will show how management guided or supported the creation of a specific program or service that is doing wonderful things. No doubt, statistics can be rolled out to create a narrative about key numbers such as gate counts, program attendance, and item (books, DVDs, etc.) check outs.

That being said, the success metrics I use are more of a “feel it in your bones” instinctive pulse checking for the middle manager. These metrics force the middle manager to give themselves either a pass or fail grade. Are you doing well or not in certain areas? About once a week it is good to reflect on the following:

Metric #1 Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the hardware keeps the library physically existing. I’m referring to the facility (building) itself, the collection of materials, and the technical equipment. For technical equipment we should also include by extension the technological software.

The key question on infrastructure is simply, does all of it work as intended?

If not, is the middle manager taking the proper action to ensure that it all does work? Is the building being maintained enough that is a welcoming space? Is the collection being reasonably well used by customers? Does the technology allow staff and customers to do what they want or expect to do?

Metric # 2 Community

This is the customer base of the library without which the library would have no serviceable purpose.

The key question on community is simply, does enough of the community positively identify with the library that it would support the library in a crisis situation in such a way that the library would emerge victorious?

If a middle manager cannot answer this question, it is time for them to truly engage with their community.

Middle managers should not only be reading up about their communities, but they need to put in the face to face time with the customer community both inside the library building and outside of it. Only by knowing the community can you assess the community’s perception of the library and what the community values about the library. That information is critical also for how the library organizes its daily operations.

Metric # 3 Staff

The Staff form the important inter-face system which brings the customer community and the library’s infrastructure together. Staff assist customers and connect them to the appropriate resources. Staff offer programs and events for the community.

For me the key question on staff is, can the staff successfully carry out operations when the middle manager is absent?

The middle manager should, at the very least, offer enough support and guidance so that the staff feel empowered to create the appropriate operational rhythm that best serves customers.

These top three metrics are the core metrics for everyday success in my book.

A fourth metric for success, more geared toward upper management, but something the middle manager ought to keep in mind is:

Metric #4: Identifying Trends (that you need to adopt since they will make a lasting impact)

Trends can be technological or cultural/societal.

The key question for this metric is, before spending too much energy/resources to implement a trend into library operations, can a manager identify which trends will have a long- lasting impact and which ones will only have their proverbial 15 minutes of fame?

I walked into a few different establishments (one a small business and the other an educational institution) in the past few weeks and both of them had this sign displayed.

Before you speak, THINK…

T – is it True?
H – is it Helpful?
I – is it Inspiring? (In one sign this was listed as Important)
N – is it Necessary?
K – is it Kind?

This is a good acronym to focus on before engaging people. Being a bit reflective in our interactions can go a long way. Emotions should be in check so we can concentrate on the best communication possible.

Lee Colan wrote an article on this THINK topic for Inc. a few years back. It’s still good advice. Feel free to read it.

This coming week, I’ll be presenting on my work launching the Anne Arundel County Public Library’s Spanish Language Facebook page at the Maryland Library Association’s annual conference on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. An excellent presentation and slide show are prepared. That being said the platform speaks volumes by itself, so I’ve shared the link above for folks to take a look at. Not many public library systems in the United States currently have something like this.