Book Reviews

Ever have a hard time motivating colleagues? Experienced difficulties getting along with a supervisor? Demanded more of yourself in your new position, hoping your leadership skills would inspire colleagues to great heights? We all have. Anyone, from a new professional to a seasoned librarian, can benefit from Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright’s Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization.

Most often, innovation is not a sudden strike of insight, but rather a process where an idea is nurtured, evolved, and matured. Steven Johnson identifies seven key patterns behind innovation and expounds on each of these concepts in separate chapters is his book, Where Good Ideas Come From:  the Adjacent Possible, Liquid Networks, the Slow Hunch, Serendipity, Error, Exaptation, and Platforms.
 

Do not let the title or cover art fool you into thinking this is another book about pigeon-holing people into categories.  Kelly’s “ten faces” are not inherent personality traits, but personas or roles that individuals and teams take on in an innovative culture.
 
The focus of the book is in defining the personas which the author has grouped into three aspects of the innovation process.

This book is essentially a treatise on the vast Internet domains known collectively as social media.  The target market is basically anyone wishing to better understand and cope with the increasingly complex online world, which would include most librarians and their clientele. 
 

The libraries of the 21st century are looking for new ways to engage patrons, to stir their curiosity, and to give them a relevant library experience. Libraries are no longer just a place for books and information. They are a place for community involvement, collaboration, and creativity, and they seek to create more opportunities for participation within the library. Library staff may find it challenging to learn the most effective methods for involving patrons in a meaningful way.

In his tenth book, Enchantment:  The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, Guy Kawasaki’s inspiring philosophy shines as he guides readers through the risks and rewards of enchanting others through business practices and personal interactions.  Kawasaki sits well qualified to promote delighting and inspiring as tactics for the workplace, his experience doing just that stems from work with Apple, Alltop.com, and Garage Technology Ventures.  Guy’s approach to enchantment is outlined in twelve clear and easy to understand chapters whose titles all begi

In her newest book, Think Sideways: A Game-Changing Playbook for Disruptive Thinking, Tamara Kleinberg ­– founder and chief imaginator of imaginibbles, an organization dedicated to helping people and organizations think sideways and ignite disruptive ideas – weaves storytelling with practical tips on how to embrace disruption and creative thinking. This “playbook” provides numerous tools for readers to tap into their own creativity to help look at challenges from a fresh perspective.

According to Daniel H. Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, just about every common sense thing we think we know about motivation is wrong. Our rewards-based culture (once your basic needs are met) isn’t very motivating—in fact, rewards are often demotivating.  Pink, himself a former Democratic speech writer and motivational speaker, uses a large array of experts and studies to skillfully build his argument that we need to throw out all our current thinking about motivation, from the classroom to the workplace.

Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business."                 
 
Mark Sanborn
 

Innovation challenges library managers across the United States. Administrators, managers, and library staff can identify the skills they need to move from an innovative idea through successful implementation. Mastering the five competencies for innovators enables them to generate ideas, collaborate with colleagues, and build innovation skills. The authors identify behaviors of well-known, successful corporate innovators and outline the five discovery skills that distinguish them.