discover the leader within

The 2009 Eureka! Leadership Institute is underway, and we have some links to share. The keynote address by Mary Catherine Bateson is available in MP3 format, and we have photos of the Institute on Flickr (more are being added).

Congratulations to the folks selected to participate in the 2009 Eureka! Leadership Institute. They are:

• Susan Baier, Santa Clara City
• Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego County
• Martha Camacho, Pasadena
• Crista Cannariato, Yolo County
• Mara Cota, Newport Beach
• Jenny Davis, Redwood City
• Jamie Finley, Roseville
• Carey Gross, Butte County
• Brian Guenther, Fresno
• Angelica Guerrero Fortin, San Diego County
• Heather Hart, Newport Beach
• Lia Hernandez, Huntington Beach
• Pui-Ching Ho, LA County
• Karye Hood, Rancho Cucamonga
• Amanda Jacobs Foust, Marin County
• Yuri Kenney, LA County
• Diane Lai, San Jose
• Jennifer Lawson, San Diego County
• Katherine Loeser, Glendale
• Amparo Madera, San Diego County
• Karen (Casey) Marcarello, Rancho Cucamonga
• Kathy Middleton, Contra Costa County
• Katharine Miller, Eldorado County
• Kaye Moore, San Jose
• Petra Morris, Pasadena
• Shawna Sherman, Hayward
• Hala Shonouda, Glendale
• Kristine Tardiff, San Luis Obispo
• Lyda Truick, Glendale
• Jessica Ulrich, Roseville
• Thomas Vose, Riverside County
• Wen Wen Zhang, LA County

The 2009 mentors will be: Stacey Aldrich, State Library; Kathy Gould, Palos Verdes; Gail McPartland, Contra Costa County; George Needham, OCLC/Library Consultant; Jan Sanders, Pasadena; Joan Frye Williams, Consultant; Derek Wolfgram, Santa Clara County; Karen Bosch Cobb, Fresno County; Valerie Maginnis, Mission Viejo.

Find out about the next Eureka! Leadership Institute and download the application documents here: http://eurekaleadership.org/institute/2009/index.html.

I’ll let Polly and Genesis go into more detail on these sites, but here are links to the free online project management tools they mentioned:

• Basecamp – http://www.basecamphq.com/
  
• Campfire – http://campfire.com/
• Zoho – http://zoho.com/
  
• PBwiki – http://pbwiki.com/
  
• Ta-da List – http://www.tadalist.com/
• Vyew.com – http://vyew.com/
  

Use the Comments section to provide links to your favorites! Here is a link to the archived webinar, in case you missed the live event.

Recently, a colleague recommended the following book to me First Break All the Rules.  She had listened to the audiobook and said the book had such an impact on her, she listened to it several times and ended up buying the book.

After listening to the book, myself, (and now having recently bought the book, too), I can understand why.  It’s not a new book (c. 1999).  However, the issues discussed and the evidence it is based upon (25 years of interviews/surveys by the Gallup organization), though, are still relevant.  The premise, basically, is that successful managers do not follow the conventional wisdom of the workplace.  For example, “conventional wisdom” says that in order to be successful in their careers, one should work to improve his/her weaknesses.

In actuality, though, the authors say that successful managers focus instead, on thier strengths.  Then, they surround themselves with teammembers who are able to complement the managers by making up for the manager’s weaknesses.

According to the authors, a problem with focusing on your weaknesses is that these are not your natural talents.  These aren’t the areas where you will shine.  The time and effort expended to “improve” one’s weaknesses, ultimately, won’t have the successes and results that focusing on one’s strenghths will.

I’ve found that much of what is discussed in this book relates very directly to what we’ve been discussing in Eureka.  Have you read this book?  What did you think of it?  Were there certain topics you found specifically interesting?

Polly

Those of you attending the Eureka! Encore meeting yesterday got to hear cultural anthropologist Jennifer James live yesterday. for everyone else, a podcast version is now available. Feel free to share the link with others: it was fascinating, an hour and a half full of talk about transformation and change.

The Eureka! Institute Encore is scheduled for Monday, October 20, 2008, in San Jose, California, from 9 AM to 4 PM. We are pleased to have Institute leaders Becky Schreiber and John Shannon of Schreiber Shannon Associates back to lead the event. And we are especially pleased that Jennifer James will return to give another fascinating and inspiring talk.

Date: Monday, October 20, 2008

Time: 9 AM – 4 PM

Location: Clarion San Jose Hotel, 1355 North Fourth St, San Jose, California 95112 (Google Maps directions: http://tinyurl.com/5mdebt). Free shuttle service is available from the San Jose Airport to the Clarion.

The Eureka! Leadership Institute Encore will be a true follow-up workshop. You will be sharing your progress on commitments you made to leadership development in your learning groups, and progress on your projects. Your projects may have been the forum for you to apply the strategies you learned at Eureka! You may have implemented leadership strategies beyond your project. Remember that implementation of both your Personal Action Plan and your project are requirements of Eureka! In preparation for Encore, we suggest you review your entire workbook, and particularly you Personal Action Plan. Please bring your workbook with you, as well as any materials you developed as you have worked on your Projects. We will be supporting your implementation progress by looking at both successes and challenges as learning opportunities.

Registration is now pen for several of the new Buidling Leadrship Skills workshops! You can read about them and register here: http://infopeople.org/workshop/category/1

Nelson Mandela is a remarkable man and, without doubt, an inspirational leader. In celebration of his recent 90th birthday, a Time magazine writer looks at Mandela’s eight lessons of leadership. The number one lesson: “Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.”

• If you’re not confused you’re not paying attention. — Thomas J. Peters
• Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. — Thomas J. Peters
• Test fast fail fast adjust fast. — Thomas J. Peters
• Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire.– T. Boone Pickens
• It is the responsibility of leadership to provide opportunity and the responsibility of individuals to contribute. — William Pollard
• Leadership should be more participative than directive more enabling than performing. — Mary D. Poole
• No organization is stronger than the quality of its leadership or ever extends its constituency far beyond the degree to which its leadership is representative. — Edgar Powell