Leading by Design

On the eve of a new year, lots of you (myself included) are thinking about the shape of your lives and careers in the year ahead. Taking my own Strategize Me advice, I like to reserve New Year's to reflect on my past accomplishments and map out a plan for the coming year. The year just ending was overflowing with work commitments: a full plate of employee and consultant responsibilities, a new book, co-developing a new museum studies course and trying to teach it, trying to be present with colleagues and friends, struggling to be creative and interesting and interested -- well, the list goes on and on. It's easy enough to chalk it up as a busy year. What's struck me as I attempt to catalog my 2017 accomplishments is that I get no satisfaction from being so busy.  Busy-ness does not equal quality; it doesn't begin to describe depth (or even lack) of commitment. It fails the authenticity test. I'm tired of being busy, of describing myself that way as my pat ...

Today I'm meeting up with my career planning posse. We call ourselves the Gang of Five and we've been meeting periodically for about six years to share our career challenges and aspirations, our plans; seek and offer advice, support, and the critique as appropriate. The Gang is my personal board of directors, who collectively and individually I can call on when needed. As a result, I've advanced my thinking about my career journey, if nothing more than to make it far more intentional. Earlier this summer, I got to talk with my friend and colleague, Greg Stevens at the American Alliance of Museums, about career planning. The result is this interview, published at Alliance Labs. Greg is a terrific proponent of career planning and development -- not surprising since he's the Director of Professional Development at AAM and the co-author of A Life in Museums: Managing Your Museum Career . Whether you work in museums or some other type of cultural institution, check out...

Geoff Colvin's recent book, Talent is Overrated , explores the whys and hows that separate "world-class performers from everybody else".  Most of us might believe that top achievers are destined for stardom, but tons of research indicates that isn't the case.  Top achievers hone their talents during many long hours of deliberate practice that are designed to nurture understanding and stretch ability.   Deliberate practice can be defined as a sustained -- usually lengthy -- period of calculated effort designed to improve performance.  Whether it's music, a sport, or improving memory, the outstanding performers got that way through sheer, hard work.  This work is typically shaped by teachers, enriched by mentors, and encouraged by parents, teammates, or friends.  While some of the practice may happen in groups, much of it happens on one's own. Most of the studies supporting the deliberate practice model have been done with musicians, athletes and chess players...