Category Archives: evolution

September 3, 2010 · 12:11 am

Dead? Or Alive?

Have you noticed lately that a lot of things are being called “dead” — as in no longer relevant or meaningful. Here’s some examples of what I’m seeing:

The whole point of this hyperbole is that, whether discussing print, traditional advertising, or our expectations of knowledge management, we need to look at things with fresh eyes against a new backdrop. The economic meltdown of 2008-2009 shifted our expectations of “normal.” Technological advances related to “big data,” social networking, and cloud computing have changed the way we work and play.

I’d like to add another victim to the metaphor: SLA is dead. Long live SLA.

SLA had its 100th anniversary in 2009. It was a pivot point in many ways as we had a robust discussion around the possibility of changing our name. After many emails, twitters and Facebook posts, the vote was to keep the name the same. I would argue that just having had the discussion, we re-evaluated the definition of a the information professional in the 21st century.

Information professionals no longer use the information search tools that we did even five years ago. And, with the rise of the web, the client’s expectations about our deliverables and the value of our products and services have shifted dramatically. Finally, the breadth of what we do is more encompassing, as SLA members move into embedded positions, into knowledge management, competitive intelligence, information technology, and market research.

So with new tools, tougher deliverables, and an engaged, demanding clients, we need to look at ourselves differently. We need to set bolder expectations and take our appropriate place in the new information landscape.

Long live the new SLA.

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February 22, 2010 · 6:04 pm

Get Yourself into the Race

 re·sil·ience

Pronunciation: \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\

Function: noun

Date: 1824

1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

In anticipation of a presentation I will be giving, I talked with Kim Dority about the essential ingredients for a successful information professional. Without hesitation, she said “resilience.”

I nodded to myself and added it to my PowerPoint presentation. But since then, I’ve been thinking: what does resilience really mean? It could mean that, like a punching clown, when you get knocked down, you have the wherewithal to get back up again. Certainly, this is a good trait as it takes character to “get back in the race”, but when you are down, you know there’s got to be a better way. 

Last week I heard a sustainable energy engineer talk about “building resilience into a system.” He was saying that rather than optimizing a system, you could increase strength and increase the possibility of success through building alternative pathways. Alternative pathways to success –now that is very relevant to the information professional right now. 

So, I asked Kim for a little more insight on her version of resilience, and here’s her take on it: 

“The ability to “get back up” is a part of the definition of resiliency, and especially speaks to issues of character and determination and confidence. But I also think that an ability and willingness to learn from our experiences, good and bad, is what turns the “getting back up” into making forward progress toward wisdom, and greater success, however one defines it.”

 Resiliency to Kim means:

  • Ability to get back up when life knocks you for a face-plant
  • Ability to accept setbacks as a natural and welcome part of growth, rather than as a sign of failure – it means you’ve got the courage to try new things, which is requisite to achieving anything in your life
  • Ability to move beyond comfort zones in order to respond to new opportunities
  • Ability to manage our usual reaction to change – i.e., fear or defensiveness – and instead embrace the adventure
  • Ability to see obstacles as momentary delays, for which you will seek alternative solutions. The engineer’s “alternative pathways,” are an on-target analogy

Kim continued with a good metaphor: body surfing, which has passive and active components. “I liken resiliency to body surfing, where your goal is to use the energy of the wave to achieve your goal. Everything I need to know I learned bodysurfing in Southern California… 

  • Anticipate
  • Position for opportunity
  • Paddle like crazy
  • Enjoy the ride, but know it will end
  • Don’t take the sand in your suit personally
  • Know that a new wave is always on the way

 That’s kind of how I think about resiliency! I think its critical issue for information pros!”

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Filed under body surfing, employment, evolution, flexibility, Future Ready, Kim Dority, results, sustainability

October 19, 2009 · 3:56 am

“No puny visions”

There is a big, healthy discussion going on right now about a new name for SLA. The Association has conducted more than two years of research to ascertain how to best align our association with the institutions and clients that we serve now and in the future.

After reading and reflecting on the Alignment Project research, the Board, with input from the membership, concluded that a name change is needed and put the name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals before the membership earlier this month. We’re all trying the new name on for size, and the reactions predictably run the gamut from 0 to 10. For some the name is a tad presumptuous and doesn’t quite fit yet. For others, it’s something we’ve been doing for years and are very comfortable with.

One thing that has influenced my thinking in this discussion is Eugenie Prime’s admonishment: NO PUNY VISIONS! –that is, we need an identity that captures the full gamut of what we can do and what we want to do. And that is not a puny vision.

In the discussion of a new name, we must look at the cost of staying the same, that is, the lost opportunity cost of relinquishing information and knowledge management to another discipline. Thomas Friedman, when referring to the read/write web, states, “Anything that can be done will be done. The only question is will it be done to you or by you.” It’s a tough statement, and points out that, in our case, we need to take ownership of the information landscape or others will.

Recently, I spoke with Eugenie and asked her for her opinion. Here’s how the exchange went:

Cindy: SLA is in the midst of re-aligning itself, and there is a name-change possibility in the works. What is your take on these developments?

Eugenie: I am not opposed to a name change. It may be necessary, but it will never be sufficient on its own. If we change our name and change nothing else, it will be simply cosmetics. We need an attitudinal change that results in changes in the way we perceive our profession and our role.

I worked at Nike for 16 years and from that experience, I saw that Nike was at its most compelling when it was highlighting human potential through athletic endeavor. Nike sells fitness apparel, but its real strength is when its message challenges us to maximize our potential and be all that we can be as individuals. That’s the power of branding, and it serves as a guidepost as we position ourselves for the future.

Whatever we call ourselves, be it librarians, consultants, knowledge managers, or information wranglers, the mission is the same. We provide answers, we organize, disseminate, and analyze information. We need to look at our aspirations. We are strategic to the business and the client. We facilitate smart business decisions and inspire world-class research. We are a valuable link in the chain of execution in an organization.

The name the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals is a step forward. You can still be a special librarian, an information professional, or one of the more than 2000 other titles that we call ourselves. The new name will help us capture the growth areas of our industry, and sit in that sweet spot where our work is valued and not just a commodity. So don’t get hung up on just the name change – there’s more to it than that. This is our chance to change our name, change our attitude, and our future.

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July 24, 2009 · 3:13 pm

Future Ready Begins Today

Ever since I started running for president-elect of SLA, I’ve been:

  • Listening more closely to member’s concerns
  • Scanning SLA listservs, websites, blogs, newsletters, and wikis
  • Talking to members, staff, and thought leaders, and
  • Reading, reading, reading!

One common thread I’ve noticed, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out, is that there’s a lot of anxiety in our profession coming from the economic tremors, but also from the sea change of new technologies which are escalating user expectations. Dr. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, told us in June that the biggest challenge we have is to embrace the profound changes in our profession. 

Could you have imagined the tools we are using now when you started your career? I recently watched the movie “I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal”  a documentary of Wiesenthal’s life bringing Nazi war criminals to trial. In several scenes, in the background, there is row upon row of files, archives and notebooks. It was a very intense way to track and document people, places, and things. I imagine all that information is now in a database that takes just milliseconds to search. 

Fast-forward 60 years and we have Goggle maps, librarians embedded in organizations without books, the World Digital Library, and Kindle with thousands of books available for a 12-second download. 

How are we going to make sense out of the profound changes in our profession? 

We need to create a shared vision of our future. Or to put it another way—and I’m borrowing wholesale from the Comcast ad—we need to become Future ready.

We have to look at the concepts and constructs that will propel us forward. We need to determine the positioning that will be the most effective. We need to assess the competencies that will carry us through the next decade. We need to paint a rosy picture of how our skills, core values, and resources will be used in 2019 and draw a road map to it.

There are a lot of blanks to fill in. One management method is to build three different scenarios for the future:

  1. stretch goals you would like to attain
  2. probable outcomes you can expect no matter what
  3. an entrenched version with minimal change

Nobody has the answer right now, but it’s worthwhile to ask questions: What will the workplace and economy likely be?  What is the impact of various converging/diverging forces on the information professional of the future?

The Price Waterhouse Coopers’ report Managing tomorrow’s people: the future of work to 2020 describes a work force that will be more complicated and move faster, where people are expected to have up to five jobs in their career and to have mobility across borders. The authors predict that business models will change with less reliance on command and control.

 “We identified a number of global forces that will have significant influence, and of those we felt that individualism versus collectivism and corporate integration versus fragmentation would be the most significant. From this axis we identified three worlds and business models for the future.” [page 4] 

EBIC’s 2008 report Knowledge and Information Management to 2020  uses the PWC report to pose questions directly related to the information industry: 

  • What is the Knowledge Information Management proposition for this world?
  • What Knowledge Information Management activity would ensure success in this world?
  • What role should Knowledge Information Management professionals play in this world?

One conclusion which ran through the various scenarios was this:

“Creativity and innovation will continue to lie at the heart of business success. Developing and managing relationships to support successful collaborative working practices will be a key role for KIM.” [page  3]

Developing a vision for our future is the next big conversation. The discussion needs to be a dialog where we can all contribute from our various areas of expertise, and thus enrich the vision. The beauty of starting this conversation now is that we can contribute using social networking tools. I feel that positioning the Association to be FUTURE READY is vital to the organization.

What does FUTURE READY mean to you?

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May 20, 2009 · 4:15 pm

Five minutes

Cindy-mercial: Given five minutes (more or less) to introduce myself to my colleages,  I went with an infomercial theme. 

What other popular icons lend themselves to membership organizations?

cindy dot romaine at romainiacs dot com

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