Speaking Up

"When speaking up becomes a necessity" Grace Notes by Natalie Costanza-Chavez, Denver Post, 9/6/09.

"We all live lives of contradition. A ditch that takes no more than a hop-kick to traverse or a canyon gaping and bottomless divides us from who we strive to be, how we strive to live, the good we know we owe. This is not always easy to attend to.

The need to reconcile our contradictions lives somewhere how and deep inside. There's a voice --cricket-thin and consistent as a bell -- this we know. But, it's not always easy to attend to.

When we ignore it, we shift uncomfortably. We feel the small pings or pangs and shove them away like old lemon peels -- best to avoid the examination, the taste. "

At Neighborhood Libraries team meetings we've talked about our need to continually inform and educate our organization on cultural inclusiveness at all levels.

Natalie continues, "We have an obligation to tend to ourselves...we also have an obligation to tend to our own conscience...when something is wrong, be silent for no one. Speak your piece, even if you have to clear your throat repeatedly, even if you shake while you utter, even if it's the hardest thing you'll ever do...when conscience sounds, we need to speak and then, sometimes, more voices speak, and a chorus begins, builds, rises, into the still air finally breaking it beyond silence."

This article resonates with me as I one day at a time, one person at a time, strive for cultural inclusiveness at all levels.

Cindy McFadden

Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
-->Call#153.9 COLVIN; New York : Portfolio, 2008.

I was very excited to read this book. The title captivated me as did the beginning. The thoughts of what does really separate World-Class performers from everybody else really resonated with me. Not only did I want to find out what separated them, but also how to get there. This book is very thorough with the topic. It covers world class performance, to applying the principles in our lives and organizations, to teamwork, to great performance in the young and old and finally to having the passion of great performance. It starts strong but then I find it tapering, maybe because there was a lot of scientific aspects of the book that I found unrelatable. However middle to end, the books finishes strong like how it started.

Great performers focus not only on the outcome, but also on the process to achieve their goal. World-class performers believe that all of their work will pay off in the end. They are very good at self-observation and will critique themselves on specific areas, systematically judging themselves. After they have critiqued themselves, typically they will adapt and try the task again, this time most likely better than the last time but also continuing a self analysis. Great performers aren’t necessarily good at remembering but at making mental models of what they want to accomplish and how they will accomplish it. The book breaks it down like this, great performance comes from:
· Well designed practice activities
· Coaching
· Repetition
· Feedback
· Self regulation
· Building knowledge
· Mental models.

Applying world class performance in the workplace often means that the workplace needs to seek out those that they think can become exceptional performers. The author gave an example from GE and they could look and tell if someone would be a great performer from their 1st day at work! They looked at how well they interacted with their coworkers whom they did not know or hadn’t met and this one thought made them look at how well they would succeed. I found this fascinating! The author went on to include that even though we value experience, experience is not what makes great performers as sometimes it actually makes some people perform worse. People’s best performance is usually exhibited from the beginning of their work and will continue much like how they started. They also said that typically 10 years of teamwork is what earned the best results. The author also made a point to say that knowledge of one’s domain did not equal their years of schooling on the topic. “Innovation doesn’t strike, it grows.” Too much familiarity with a topic can blind someone to a reasonable solution. Passion develops.

It also went on to talk about parents developing high performers which was very interesting if you are a parent of someone younger.

All in all, a great book. If you read it and the first part doesn’t stir you, it does get better in the middle and stays consistently captivating till the end!

Sheila's notes from Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely which may prompt more discussion -
maybe something on the order of "What does this have to do with library services?"
Most people don’t know what they want unless they see it in context or in comparison with other things. Everything is relative. “…the more we have, the more we want (pg. 21.)”
People respond to free…
…instill a sense of purpose… Emotions influence behavior.
Deadlines and boundaries often need to be dictated authoritatively.
Keeping our options open and obsessing on the “just in case” can be a waste of time, resources, and productive results. Life is about choices, so choose already. Multiple options are burdensome.
We fall in love with what we have.
Presentation matters.
Expectations shape stereotypes. We see what we expect to see. Expectations change the way we perceive and appreciate experiences.
Placebos run on the power of suggestion, which is very powerful.
People cheat when they have a chance but not as much as they could. People do better when reminded of morality at point of temptation. People are less likely to steal cash than stuff.

Predictably Irrational

A recent book recommendation for the Neighborhood Libraries Management team was this book by Dan Ariely:

Predictably irrational : the hidden forces that shape our decisions / Dan Ariely.
-->Author: Ariely, Dan. Call #: 330.01 ARIELYPublisher: New York : Harper, c2008.


This book is about how we make decisions when under stress and how irrationally we behave in those moments. The fun part is that our irrationality can be accurately predicted! Ariely has interesting research to back up his assertions and also talks about how our awareness of our irrationality during times of stress can be mitigated.

I loved this book. I think an interesting companion book to read at the same time would be

Blink : the power of thinking without thinking / Malcolm Gladwell.
-->Author: Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963- Call #: 153.44 GLADWELLPublisher: New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2005.