By: Tegan Davis, Eagle Valley Library District, PR Librarian

Why are you a librarian?

This question was proposed to the 90+ librarians attending Lead the Change; after watching a short clip of Simon Sinek explaining the ‘golden circle’ and our brain’s neocortex and limbic systems response to it. We were instructed to write our ‘Why’ on a sticky note and put it on the conference room wall. Here’s what I wrote: ‘To serve and to assist in dreams becoming a reality’.

This is why I’m a librarian:  to serve my community in whatever capacity I can and to assist my community in making their dreams a reality.  I want to be of my community and librarianship is about building relationships and assisting in growth.

Lead the Change came right after I completed my final module for Leadership Park City (Class XX) with guest speaker Walter C. Wright, Jr. (He proposed 8 questions, which I’ll get to.) Mr. Wright stated a correlation between leadership and mountaineering in that—“like it or not we’re all tied together” on the same rope. To lead requires at least one follower; thus, leadership is about a relationship between two people—one who seeks to influence and one who chooses to be influenced. Yet, as with any relationship, they both will influence and be influenced by each other.

How does this effect an organization or a mountaineering team?

In that the decisions the leader makes based on the leader’s values have a ripple effect throughout an organization (from administration to front line staff) or a mountaineering team (from the first to the last person on the rope). It’s not just about the summit—toxic leadership, which has adverse effects on staff and their morale; the organization and short and long-term performance of the organization.   A great leader is focused on the trail they leave behind for their team:

“The values and integrity of leadership shape the relationships of trust and respect that enable collaboration and cooperation in any organization. Character matters!” –Walter C. Wright, Jr.

Mr. Wright proposed 8 questions to be answered in order to get your bearing on your values as a leader and as a follower (who do you want to be on a rope with?).

The 8 questions:

What’s the single most important thing in life to you?

What do you want to be known for?

At this point in life, what do you want to learn?

What gets you up in the morning?

What makes you weep?

What are you good at?

With whom in the day do you laugh, play, and weep with?

What’s your exercise program?

These questions are not always easy to answer; for example, a fellow Leadership Class XXer shared the eight questions during a staff meeting. The response: staff yelled, discussed shortfalls, and some people started crying. All the more reason to answer these questions!

What’s your ‘Why’ and ‘8’? What’s your organization’s ‘Why’ and ‘8’? Figuring these out will help you as a leader, as a follower (finding organizations or leaders that align with your values), and in engaging with your community by articulating the ‘Why’ and ‘8’.

I have failed numerous times in my life, but we usually do not discuss our failures. If you have ever been to a library conference, board meeting, or office party you have heard endless expositions of triumphs and laudable results. Failure is unacceptable in our society and, more often than not, in our work places. We treat other people’s simple mistakes and good-faith efforts gone awry as personal opportunities to gain advantages. We have all seen people do this and many of us have done it ourselves. I understand that workplaces are competitive, but at what cost?

Failure is inevitable, but what do we personally, professionally, and institutionally lose by not discussing it openly and honestly? Even if we do discuss our failures within a safe space, what do we lose by not sharing what we have learned more broadly? Now this isn’t me trying to say my failures weren’t actually failures because I learned something from them. This is me sharing my failures and some of the lessons that I have learned in hopes of helping someone else avoid the same fate. So, let’s discuss three of my failures.

The Insecure Man-Child

When I began my job in San Juan County I had almost no library experience. On my first day of work I was in charge of a branch library and within two months was managing the entire system. Unfortunately though, I was too insecure to ask for help. I did not want my employees to know that I knew less than them. I did not want the library board to know that I was learning on the go. I did not admit to myself that I needed help. It took me several months before I started reaching out to an amazing library board president and other librarians from around the state. Instead of being met with scoffs from unsympathetic colleagues as I assumed I would be, I was given every chance to succeed by committed individuals who invested in me. They created a safety net for me that allowed me to grow and learn. I was working hard, but I wasted several months groping in the dark before I allowed people to help me.

This leads to two important questions: are you part of someone’s safety net and do you feel like your supervisors and colleagues are a safety net for you? Everyone needs a safety net. If we are going to be creative and innovative we are going to fail. I was given a safety net and now I try to be a safety net for others.

Unconditional

I began telling people as early as the sixth grade that I was going to be a history professor. I loved history and I did well at school. When I began graduate school in history I became very depressed after just one semester. I was not sufficiently self-aware to connect the dots right away, but by my second year I knew I did not want to continue. The only problem was, I did not know how to articulate this to myself or other people. I was newly married and had told my wife that I was going to be a professor. I felt like I would be letting her down or changing the game on her if I changed my mind. I had always discussed grand plans with my friends and family, what would they think of me for giving up so easily. I just kept trudging along until my lovely wife confronted me. She knew I was unhappy and I finally let it all out. More than anything she was relieved that I had finally discussed this with her. She helped me search for other opportunities and because of her I now have a career that I love. My failure wasn’t not becoming a professor, it was not trusting the people who loved me the most.

Everyone needs people in their lives that will confront them with hard truths and then support and love them unconditionally.

Neighborly Love

For years my wife has taken great care of our ninety-something year-old neighbor. She invited her to meals, holidays, and simply to visit. Earlier this year she invited our neighbor over for dinner on Mother’s Day. She came, we had good food and a nice visit, and later that night she died. She had told her cousin what a wonderful dinner and evening she had had, and her cousin relayed this compliment to me. This woman had very little family and almost nothing to do. I could have done so much more for her and now she is gone. For some reason I thought a ninety-something year-old woman would be there forever. This might be more a regret than a failure, but what if that was my mother or my wife. I could have done so much more to make her life enjoyable.

I know we are all working hard, but there is always something more that we can do.

 

Now, why am I discussing all of this in an article that is supposed to be about innovations. I believe that it is an innovation to discuss failure. We all need to openly discuss what went wrong. My failures stay with me much longer than my successes and mean much more to me in the end. We all need to work on self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and emotional maturity. I believe that discussing failure will go along way to help each of us do that. I would also suggest that you all read a book called True North: Discover your Authentic Leadership by Bill George.

May The Failures Be With You.

By: Dustin Fife, San Juan County Library Director and ULA President-Elect