How Do You Want to Be Remembered as a Leader? | Leading from the Library

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Leadership | Management | Librarianship

by Steven Bell | June 28, 2018

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What type of leader are you? What is your purpose, and who do you serve? Some new research about leaders’ mindsets examines assumptions and beliefs about the nature and purpose of leadership—and how to make the most of it.

Leaders are like experiences. When they are exceedingly good or bad we remember them passionately. In addition to finding their way into our long-term memory, an exceptionally great or toxic leader or experience can alter or shape our personal paradigm of how the world works. That’s why it’s common to hear from librarians how a truly memorable leader influenced their thinking about leadership, as well as the way in which they go on to practice it. A remarkable leader leaves indelible lessons for how to treat followers, lead with humility, and create a lasting legacy of productive accomplishment. Toxic leaders do the same, but the lesson and legacy is about what not to do. If asked, “How would you like to be remembered as a leader?” would any library leader aspire to anything other than “remarkable,” avoiding being seen as the “what not to do” model at all costs?   Read more…

This Is Why Small Talk Makes Some People So Anxious | Tonic

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Networking | Communication | Career advice

A therapist gave us advice for how to get over it

Jessica Dore | Jun 19, 2018

It can be difficult to know the difference between having social anxiety and being awkward, introverted, or shy. The American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines social anxiety as “a persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations” that involve being “exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others.”

Modern life provides us with constant opportunities to be scrutinized by others, and while few among us wouldn’t be nervous about giving a work presentation or a speech at a wedding, an ongoing fear of saying the wrong thing in casual conversations can become problematic. Conversation anxiety, though not itself a disorder, is an aspect of social anxiety that can make dates, parties, and mixers anywhere from mildly stressful to intolerable.

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Become a More Productive Learner [HBR]

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Self Management | Lifelong Learning | Information

by Matt Plummer and Jo Wilson | June 05, 2018

 

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Today we consume five times more information every day than we did in 1986, an incredible amount that’s equivalent to a 174 newspapers…a day. That probably includes a lot of Instagram posts, but it’s not only social media. The corporate e-learning space has grown by nine times over the last 16 years, such that almost 80% of U.S. companies offer online training for their employees, making more information accessible to them than ever before.

One would think that this would translate into increased knowledge. Yet, unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case. Scores of average American adults on tests of general civic knowledge — the type of information you’d assume people would pick up from scanning through all this information — has remained almost constant for the last 80 years. On the corporate side, working professionals apply only about 15% of what they learn in many corporate training and development programs in many cases.

We’re consuming more information but not learning more. In short, we have become less productive learners. Read more…

How to Keep Networking from Draining You (Harvard Business Review)

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Networking | Conferences | Lifehack

by Jordana Valencia

May 09, 2018

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Whether it’s attending startup events, social gatherings, or happy hours, networking is a necessary part of every entrepreneur’s life. Seventy-eight percent of entrepreneurs agree that networking is crucial to startup success, which is why there are a myriad of articles online about how to master and love the art of networking.

But networking can be extremely draining. Imagine the countless hours entrepreneurs spend talking, traveling, and socializing with contacts and potential investors. Excessive social interaction can be physically and mentally exhausting for anyone — even extroverts. In fact, many of the founders I coach describe networking as draining, saying it sometimes robs them of the energy they need to work on actual business operations. Read more…

Want to discover (or re-discover) your sense of purpose at work? Here’s how

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Career Advice | Life hack | Mentoring

June 1, 2018 | Leah Weiss

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Carilyn Figel

For us to make the greatest impact at our jobs — and also feel the greatest satisfaction — we need to tap into work’s deeper meaning, says Leah Weiss, a compassion expert and researcher.

For humans, purpose can be a matter of life and death. As Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” Purpose is something we do or something we create — not something we buy, inherit or achieve. Purpose could be any direction in which we’re heading with some degree of intention. It’s a far-reaching, steady goal, something personally meaningful and self-transcending that, ideally, shows up in our lives every day. Read more…

People who consider their work to be a calling tend to be more satisfied than those who think of their work as “just” a job.