Amal Johnson - Challenging the Management Status Quo

What's different about business today? It's Daredevil 101 where risk taking is the norm

and the penalty is not for failure, but for not trying. The old definition of a corporation

included people on the payroll who worked for the company and were managed by the

company. Now it includes the suppliers, distributors and customers.

Fifty years ago corporations were like IBM where the leaders got there by their rank,

age, experience and position. They spent a lot on training and as they progressed to

higher levels they had more access to the leaders and to information. In 1950 they felt

that bureaucracy was the most logical and rational structure for large organizations.

There was a clearly defined career path and written rules and procedures.

Technology changed the ability to access information - now anyone can email the CEO

or get the information they need more easily. When she worked for a company she

logged onto an office-related chat room and read about what had been discussed

confidentially in the board room that morning. Companies can't operate and

communicate they way they did in the past.

"A new generation of business leaders is rewriting the rules of business and a new

breed of companies is challenging the status quo." Profiles of the old and new:

• Old (IBM) = rank, experience, age, position

• New (Napster) = knowledge (they don't know it can't be done), flexibility,

chutzpah.

Three things that leaders must do:
Hire Smarter - hire people who are smarter than you. How do you define "smart?"

Think in terms of content, skills and value added. What skills does this individual bring

to this team? It's not obvious by looking at their resume. "The constraining resource in

the valley is people!"

Lead Better - Create simple, collaborative environments conducive to leadership.

Create moments of leadership where people are able to solve problems on the spot.

Her operating principles are:

• Building a customer-centered organization.

• Mutual respect - don't undermine each other.

• Treat patrons as an extension of our company.

• Risk taking culture - do it with integrity and to benefit the organization.

She doesn't like the term "empower" because it implies giving someone something

when the truth is that they already have it, you just need to let them use it.

Build Stronger Teams - CISCO is a role model. This quote is from one of CISCO'S

management team. "John treats us like peers. If he treated us like employees we'd be

out of here. He asks our advice. He gives us power and resources then sets the sales

targets incredibly high, which keeps us challenged. He is an adhesive force, keeping us

working together and not flying apart." How will you keep your intellectual assets from

walking out the door?

In her work she pulled her team together every 90 days for a one and a half day

meeting to look at what was accomplished and what the goals and objectives were for

the next 90 days. She developed Success Sharing - everyone understood that each of

them was contributing to the goal and if it was met then everyone would get something

tangible for the success. Finding ways to reward and recognize success is important.

Stanford-California State Library Institute on 21st Century Librarianship Summer 2000

Informal Notes by Susan Martimo Choi