Today I attended a conference called Leadership in a Connected Age. This conference gave me a lot of things to think about, but two points very relevant to this blog had to do with innovation and technolust.
In our manifesto post by Rochelle, she talked about how innovating is hard. It is also necessary. Without innovation, companies, or in our case libraries, stagnate. It doesn’t take long before organizations that refuse to innovate, or innovate very slowly, become irrelevant. Libraries right now are innovating. People are doing a lot of cool things with Social OPACs, Social Media, video, customization, etc. But we could still be doing better. Not everyone is on board for some of these innovations and changes.
The main obstacle to innovation is fear. This is the fear of change but also the fear of failure. Yet, neither of these should be that scary. Change is inevitable. Heraclitus said, “Nothing endures but change”. The moon waxes and wanes and the tides rise and fall. Nothing stays the same, so we should be used to it by now. And failure is a good thing. Failure is what gives rise to innovation. Edison said when inventing the light bulb, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
So change and failure can be scary but we need to overcome them and see them for what they really are: tools for improvement.
That brings me to technolust. I, like most of my colleagues on this blog, have been known to exhibit the telltale symptoms of technolust: drooling at new handheld devices, ogling netbooks, irrational impatience for Google Wave. Yet also like many of my colleagues, I realize that the new shiny tech can’t be the driver in whatever you’re doing.
Sure, maybe it is the right move to set up some new social media service for your library, but why? You have to ask the “why” first. In fact, first you have to step back and ask what is it I want to accomplish, or where do I want the library to be in 18 months? Once you have this vision, the fun tech stuff will fall into place. It will be that much easier to sell your ideas to your boss or colleagues, especially if they may be a bit wary about these changes.
For more about some of these ideas check out Steve Shepard’s articles. I would recommend the one on Reverse Engineering the Future. He was one of the keynote speakers today and definitely has some great ideas about innovation and making your vision a reality.
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irrational impatience for Google Wave
OMG this is so true. I can’t wait to see this one go live.
Sometimes I wonder if a little technolust in the library isn’t a good thing…to balance out all those folks who will recoil just because it’s techie.
Great post!
Balancing the pro-innovation people and the traditional people within the context of the library world is like trying to move a mountain: you must start by carrying small stones.
Really interesting and thought provoking post!
I’ve heard the term “technolust” used a lot and I’ve often heard it used as kind of pejorative shorthand, a way to quickly blunt the passion of the advocates of new technologies. And yes, we need to subject new technologies to critical thinking and subject them to the ultimate test of how they serve our organization’s mission (or do not, in which case they need to be dumped). But I have to say that I’ve also heard a lot about the importance of finding passion in one’s work. If that slightly overwrought enthusiasm, that energy, that passion for technology surfaces in you or your library, it’s definitely not a negative – the issue is just to channel it.
I think your points are excellent & Rochelle’s response about “technolust” balancing out the folks in the library who have no desire to move forward is right on, too. Keep up the great work – keep the posts coming!
Thanks Sharon, I really like that idea of having passion in your work. What’s wrong with being excited? It makes work more fun for you and everyone. It’s just necessary that we don’t let excitement spill over into proselytizing or converting those less tech inclined. And that can be a fine balance at times. Sometimes you don’t even realize that you have been stepping on toes.
Thanks Rochelle. I agree that some enthusiasm is a really good thing. It’s important to have someone who is excited and is unafraid to test new technologies–someone who likes to play and thinks tech is fun.
And your idea about balance is a good one. These technophiles also need to tone it down and make tech not as scary as it may seem. They need to slowly get other people excited too. Once your on board it can become infectious.
Oh, and I wish Google would just give me a Wave account already.
I know, the waiting, it burrrrrns!
Great first post, I can’t wait to read more!
One point in favor of techlust is that in general new aps and technologies can’t be evaluated for their usefulness until we enthusiasts have actually immersed ourselves in them.