Mentoring By Proxy

An excellent leader’s memoir is a valuable gift for other professionals.   Most of us will never have the opportunity to mingle with, much less be mentored by, those who have found themselves at the top of their fields.  These books provide an opportunity to obtain an inside perspective on the personal values and insights that lead to an extraordinary level of success. 

General Colin Powell's My American Journey stands out to me as one of these memoirs.  As he shares about learning to command his troops, much of his advice fully applies to management situations common to any field.  For example, it was a story he shared that broke through to me and gave me confidence when deciding how to handle difficult employees. 


Tony Dungy, coach of the 2007 Super Bowl champions Indianapolis Colts, offers another insightful autobiography with Quiet Strength.  A man heralded for his impeccable character, his mild-mannered style appeals to those who gravitate toward humility, kindness, and respect.   Imagine a tough, trash-talking football coach, and you’ve got the exact opposite in Dungy.  He led HIS way, which landed him with a Super Bowl ring!

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, and President Jimmy Carter also wrote thought-provoking memoirs peppered with anecdotes, advice, and lessons learned throughout their years as high-profile leaders.  All of these books have shaped me and helped me to avoid spending time in the “school of hard knocks”.

Whose memoirs would you recommend?

Next Week's ALA Virtual Conference

The 2011 ALA Annual Virtual Conference takes place July 13-14, with various sessions available throughout the day on both days.  The last session on July 13, "Perceptions of New Professionals", might be of interest to NMRT members:

From http://www.alaannual.org/virtual/schedule.php:
This session explores various scenarios to help new professionals navigating the first stages of their career. Answers to the following, and other questions, will be discussed: How other new professionals found jobs? How other librarians work with their library associations? Presented by very new librarians with jobs at libraries\info centers, seasoned\veteran librarians, and successful professionals working in other fields.
Speakers: Sue Hutley, Executive Director of the Australian Library and Information Association; Jessica Hernandez, Librarian, FDA Biosciences Library at U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Tiffany Mair, Program Assistant, Capitol Impact. LLC; Nathan T. Wright, Founder of Lava Row

Registration costs $69 to attend both days of the conference.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to pay a smaller amount to attend a single session, but since several interesting programs are on the lineup, it would still be a good deal.  Visit http://www.alaannual.org/virtual/register.php to register.

Welcome!

The New Members Round Table is back! 

If you are a librarian, paraprofessional, or library school student who has worked less than 5 years in South Carolina, this group is for you.  Things are brewing behind the scenes and I am looking forward to seeing how we can grow together as we launch our careers in the Palmetto State.

Please allow me to introduce myself, as I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting most of you.  My name is Amber Conger and I have been employed with Richland County Public Library for about a year.  This is my first professional library position, although I have previous experience with Knox County Public Library, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Research Library, and with the Center for Communication and Information Studies at the University of Tennessee.  Prior to this, I worked for several years in geriatric social services.

From what I've been learning about SCLA, the organization is in a time of transition (a.k.a. "opportunity"!).  I found myself spearheading the NMRT effort after several e-mails and phone calls revealed that active leadership in this area was needed.   Adam Haigh and the rest of the Executive Board have been very encouraging, and I can see that there are high hopes for this group taking off.

More is on the way.  As for now, please leave a comment to say hello and introduce yourself.  And do hop on over to our NMRT Linked In group here:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=3976954