Living in More Than One World

On October 13 I was privileged to give a presentation for the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management Getting it Done Expert Speakers Series. My topic, “How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Transform Your Life,” was based on my book, and fit in well with Professor Brendan Calder’s course for second year MBA students, GettingItDone®, which prominently features Drucker’s work. Brendan invited me to speak not just to the class, but to alumni and other members of the Toronto business and nonprofit communities. The great venue (the Fleck Atrium), the size of the audience and the sophisticated engagement demonstrated by their questions made this an event I’ll never forget.

Then something truly extraordinary happened. Brendan had been invited to a special dinner, across the street, at the iSchool of the University of Toronto, honoring the first McLuhan Centenary Visiting Fellows. This is the 100^th anniversary of Marshall McLuhan’s birth, and the school has created a fellowship program for a select group of scholars to spend between three and twelve months in residence in the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the Faculty of Information. I was able to attend as Brendan’s guest; and it was an honor to spend a few hours at the center of the McLuhan world.

McLuhan, who gave us the ideas of the “the medium is the message” and the “global village,” became famous in the 1960s, when he was teaching at the University of Toronto, but he was a friend of Drucker’s long before that. Their relationship is described in a chapter (“The Prophets: Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan”) of Drucker’s 1978 memoir, Adventures of a Bystander. McLuhan co-authored a brief tribute to Drucker, “The Man Who Came to Listen,” in 1970’s Peter Drucker: Contributions to Business Enterprise. They were nearly the same age. Drucker, who died at 95 in 2005, had his centenary marked in 2009, with major events held worldwide for a year. There are also a number of events marking McLuhan’s 100^th, including several this week as part of Toronto’s International Festival of Authors. For a closer look at McLuhan’s time at the university, read Alec Scott’s  “Marshall’s Laws” in UofT Magazine.

I’d like to think that Drucker would have been pleased that I could, even if only unofficially, bring together the Drucker and McLuhan worlds in Toronto on October 13. And I can’t even guess what McLuhan would think!

Living in more than one world can be demanding. One of the Peter Drucker-related life lessons I’ve applied is to revise my schedule of activities when new realities demand it. That’s why I am resuming writing my blog, after not blogging since late June.

It’s been a whirlwind summer. Shortly after my presentation at the SLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia came an intensive, six-week teaching semester for the course The Special Library/Information Center, at the Catholic University School of Library and Information Science. The students completed two major papers: a site visit at a Washington, D.C.-area special library, as well as a Virtual SLA project, in which they followed online, after the fact, and reported on the SLA Annual Conference. In one part of the paper, each student had to interview two librarians who had been at the conference, but whom they did not know previously. A major highlight of the course was the 16th Special Libraries Symposium, where a panel of local librarians met with the class and special guests to discuss their career journeys and the state-of-the-art in the profession.

While teaching I was also working on my first complete issue (the forthcoming Winter 2012, which will be out in mid-December) as Managing Editor of Leader to Leader. I’m learning a lot every day and interacting with a whole new set of people within and related to the leadership world. There are many deadlines involved, but I have always prided myself on making them in a timely fashion. In this I agree with Drucker, who once told me that “deadlines are sacred.”

Sadly, the summer also saw the illness, and eventual death, of my 95 year old father, Paul Rosenstein. His funeral, in Scranton, Pa., where I was born and raised, was a deeply moving experience. I will write more in the future about his great, long life.

Now blog writing beckons again. If anyone else had a similar experience of adapting to new schedules, demands and routines this summer, I’d love to hear about it!

The poignant and powerful example of the late Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch brought considerable attention to the concept of the last lecture. However, relatively few knowledge workers will have the opportunity to make a final, summing up address to a class or audience, let alone one that also turns into a bestselling book. But many of us can deliver a guest lecture at the college or grad school level. It is an activity that has the potential to benefit many people at the same time: the guest lecturer, the regular teacher in the class and the students. It is a great way to share knowledge, and to test-drive a possible career in teaching, either as a full-time professor or as an adjunct. I got my start in the latter at the Catholic University School of Library and Information Science partly as a result of giving a guest lecture in 1995. I’ve taught there once a year since 1996, and as you can see from the syllabus for the course that starts later this month, The Special Library/Information Center, I have a number of guest lecturers scheduled to speak to my class, something I have been doing for many years. All are library and information professionals in the Washington, D.C. area, and a few are even my former students. These lecturers can bring to the class up-to-the-minute knowledge about their area of the profession. They have invariably been generous not only with their time, knowledge and expertise, but also with their willingness to network with students during and after the semester. If you are already teaching, adding guest lecturers broadens what you share with your students, and can provide a valuable opportunity and outlet for local professionals. If you want to do a guest lecture, think about what you’d like to speak about, and how you can add value to a class. Talk to someone who is teaching a subject that would be a good fit. If they are open to having you as a guest lecturer, find out the requirements, and prepare for what could be a life-changing experience.

When I heard last week about the death of 93 year old Alfred Kahn, widely known as the “father of airline deregulation,” I immediately thought of two things. The first was Dan Reed’s wonderful 2007 profile/interview of Kahn in USA TODAY. The other was the enjoyment I got in the 1980s when I regularly watched Kahn’s commentaries on the Nightly Business Report, on PBS. (Another regular commentator on the show in those days was a pre-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan.) Kahn’s TV essays were models of good communication: brief, clearly written and crisply delivered. What I didn’t know until reading Dan Reed’s story when it was originally published was how full and varied a life Kahn lived. It contained prodigious amounts of work, but also considerable time spent with family. There was also a detail that I found telling and touching. He had been singing and performing on the musical stage since high school, and deep into advanced age performed the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan with the Cornell Savoyards. (Kahn was an emeritus economics professor at Cornell, and had a longtime association with the school.) Kahn’s amateur acting career has been noted often since his death. Especially interesting is the post from Lisa Gold, “Remember, darling?”: Alfred Kahn was my Fredrik in “A Little Night Music,” in which she reminisces about casting him as the male lead in Stephen Sondheim’s musical in 1985 at Cornell. “Fred was wonderful in the role,” Lisa writes, “and a delight to work with and talk to.” In a sidebar to the 2007 USA TODAY interview, Kahn provided this quote about his future: “I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t continue working. I’ll never retire. I plan to keep living until I die.” He did keep working, but he also had a wider perspective that made for a life exceptionally well lived.

Even though it is graced with a photo of Keith Richards and a nod to his new autobiography, Life; Kerry Hannon’s Forbes.com post 10 Great Books for Career Changers, Give The Gift of Possibility has to-the-point thumbnails on self-help, career-changing and personal finance books to aid people in transition.  She mentions job hunters and retirees as potential recipients of the books, but the list should hold appeal for people in various types and stages of transition, which is pretty much everyone. Our transitions take place at different paces and in varying levels of awareness. So reading thoughtful books can often be valuable companions for our journeys. Kerry is a former colleague of mine at USA TODAY, and she now has a super-active career as a writer and editor, including as contributing editor and retirement correspondent for U.S. News & World Report. #7 on her list is her latest book, WHAT’S NEXT? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job. (She admits it is a “shameless” choice, but that her inspirational message is too important not to include in the list out of modesty.) #1 is Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the followup to Made to Stick. She intentionally chose some earlier titles, including 2008’s Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, by Marc Freedman, and The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life, published a decade ago by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. In 2001, I saw the Zanders give a highly inspirational presentation. And they are profiled in Eric Liu’s 2006 book Guiding Lights – How to Mentor and Find Life’s Purpose. Many people in transition are or will be involved in teaching, learning and mentoring, so I would add Eric’s book as the unofficial #11 on the list. Happy reading!

“300 Words With…” is a new, semi-regular feature on my blog, in which I interview people I admire, especially those who exemplify the spirit of living in more than one world. The featured person today is Tim Wendel, who is the author of eight books, writes for a number of great publications and teaches fiction and nonfiction writing at Johns Hopkins University. I’ve known Tim since our days as colleagues at USA TODAY.

1. You have quite a varied career; writing and teaching both fiction and nonfiction. Do these activities require different mindsets and mental/emotional adjustments?

The line is much finer than some would think. The key to any quality narrative, fiction or nonfiction, often hinges upon characters, setting, plot, etc. Certainly nonfiction pieces require more attention to detail and truth. That’s why I always fact-check those stories. Still, Joseph Conrad was once asked what the key was to quality writing. His reply? “If I can make you see.” In essence, the scenes or people I have in my mind I offer to you through my writing. When it works we’re dreaming the same dream, in a way. That’s when the writing becomes so enthralling that you miss your subway stop or you stay up past your bedtime, still reading away. That only happens with great characters and memorable situations, regardless of what form we’re working in.

2. Since the earliest days when you added being an author to your work in journalism, how has your life changed, in a day-to-day sense and otherwise?

I used to write much more at night. I think raising two kids drove that out of me. Now I’m older and I find my best time to write is in the morning. I’ll have a quick bite to eat and then start working. When you’re working on a longer work, you need to focus on it a little bit each day. If not, the characters or concerns don’t rattle around in your head enough. At least not for me. Finding the time can be a concern. I wrote my first novel, Castro’s Curveball, on the D.C. Metro [subway]. That’s all the time I had back then, but it all adds up if you stay with it.

3. What non-work/non-writing activities do you find particularly meaningful in your life?

Now that I’m in my 50s, I realize how important it is to stay in shape. I run with a local group most Friday mornings. I also do other classes, as much for the friendship as the fitness. Writing can be a lonely occupation, so we need to find people we can talk things out with. I’ve been meditating and I’ve read a lot of spiritual texts, everything from Gnostic Gospels to Joseph Campbell. And, finally, family is important to me. I never expected to learn as much from raising my two kids as I have. It made me vulnerable and open in a way that I didn’t expect. Which made me a better writer and perhaps a person more receptive to the world in general.

Today’s post was inspired by a suggestion from my friend and Catholic University colleague Kimberly Hoffman. The new school year has started, and both teachers and students need a framework for managing themselves in navigating the fall and spring semesters. Consider these tips in the days and months ahead: 1. Coursework can be all-consuming. Make sure you are maintaining your health by taking some time for exercise and mind-body activities such as yoga or the Alexander Technique. 2. Determine what constitutes your “total life” during the school year. Make a list of all your activities and commitments (especially work and family obligations) inside and outside of the classroom. You will then be better able to summon the proper effort for schoolwork. 3. Make communication a personal priority, both in speaking and listening. Are you clear about the commitments and expectations for each class? 4. Inside and outside of class, look for activities that encourage the highly-engaged, mentally stimulating feeling of flow, as outlined by the psychologist/author Mihaly Csiskszentmihalyi. 5. Make time for reading of books in subject matters outside of what you are studying or teaching, even if it’s just a few minutes each night before falling asleep, or while riding on the bus or train. 6. Stretch beyond your regular subjects by attending at least one public lecture or presentation by a visiting speaker on campus (or at another local school) in another discipline. 7. Look for the sense of meaning in what you are studying or teaching, and how it relates to your life, now and in the future. You can help maintain a proper attitude and sense of belief in your abilities by applying principles from positive psychology. No matter how many of these seven tips for self-management you employ, I hope you find them useful. Additional suggestions are welcome!

Scranton, Pa., where I was born and grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, was not particularly a cultural hotspot when I lived there. But in recent years, the situation has changed dramatically. Many people know it as the fictional setting of the hit NBC show The Office. There are now Office-themed tours, the subject of Jayne Clark’s recent USA TODAY story Scranton welcomes fans of ‘The Office’. And during last year’s presidential campaign, the city became known for the family roots of both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Biden. Among the major improvements in recent years include two top minor league franchises shared with their neighboring city, The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the Triple-A baseball affiliate of the New York Yankees; and hockey’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the top affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain (near the baseball stadium) books major pop music acts during the summer. These big-time sports and music activities would have been nearly unthinkable when I lived there, and it’s nice to see the progress. The latest major development is the new Commonwealth Medical College, which has just seated its first class. It went from idea to reality in less than five years. Read the fascinating two-part series in The Scranton Times Tribune, by Sarah Hofius Hall. It shows how far the city has come in the long, painful transition from a coal-based and manufacturing economy to becoming more knowledge-based. There are also excellent, long-established local schools of higher learning including The University of Scranton, Marywood University, Penn State Worthington Scranton and Lackawanna College.  The tourist attractions such as the Steamtown National Historic Site and the natural beauty of much of the area and its surroundings, combined with its relatively short driving distance to both Philadelphia and New York City, are also making people see Scranton in a more positive and hopeful light.

As someone who teaches grad school (if only one semester a year), I was quite interested to read about the array of online ventures that are trying to provide new models for higher education in Anya Kamenetz’s September 2009 Fast Company feature, How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education. While some of the innovations revolve around major universities putting their content online for the outside world (besides online learning initiatives available to their own students), the article demonstrates that there is not one particular model that is winning out for how people who are not on a campus will take advantage of online learning. One thing that is clear is that only a select group of people can pay the eye-popping tuition prices of some our universities. If there is a way to receive, if not the exact experience someone would get by spending four years at Harvard, Stanford or similar schools, but something similar at a greatly reduced price and other barriers to entry, an educational revolution would be possible. If prospective students can mix and match course content from a number of top professors and universities, our whole idea of what it means to be highly educated will change. If this can be accomplished at no cost, or a relatively inexpensive cost, there will be unlimited opportunities for for-profit and nonprofit organizations to apply not only the tools we have now, but those that will be developed in the future. Also check out the sidebar, 5 Startups to Watch, with thumbnail descriptions of 2tor Inc., EduFire, Grockit, Inigral and Knewton. What will happen if schools as we currently know them don’t fully adapt to the new technological possibilities? If that is the case, there is the chilling prospect, Kamenetz writes, that they “will find themselves on the wrong side of history, alongside newspaper chains and record stores.”

It’s always encouraging when a first-rate mind is celebrated in the media. That’s been the case recently with Amartya Sen, an economics Nobel Laureate who will shortly publish a new book, The Idea of Justice. Sholto Byrnes of London’s The Independent has an interesting interview with Sen on July 19, The thinker: Inside the mind of prized intellectual Amartya Sen. Byrnes points out that Sen’s work has had a significant impact on the world and that he is going strong well past what would be retirement years for some others. “Sen is 75,” Byrnes writes, “but his mind has a sharpness that those decades his junior would envy.” The interview was conducted at Trinity College, Cambridge, where Sen was master from 1998-2004. He was then off to Dublin to receive an honorary degree from Trinity College, Dublin. His official Nobel autobiography lists a mind-boggling number of universities in which he has taught, including “Delhi University, the London School of Economics, Oxford University, and Harvard University, and on a visiting basis, at M.I.T., Stanford, Berkeley, and Cornell.” Sen was also recently featured in Jon Snow’s blog on Britain’s Channel 4, Meetings with remarkable men: Amartya Sen. (Snow muses that Sen would be one of eight people he would sit at dinner with Nelson Mandela). Also see Paul Cullen’s interview with Sen, Beacon of light in a dismal science, in The Irish Times on July 11. Cullen notes that more than 500 people came to hear Sen speak in Dublin, with many more turned away. All these pieces celebrate not only the power of the mind, but also the importance of intellectual curiosity. Cullen describes Sen as “a soft-spoken polymath whose work spans an impressive number of fields – economics, philosophy, social theory, ethics, even feminism.” Besides his honorary degree, Sen was also in Dublin to receive an honorary membership in the Royal Irish Academy, and spent the morning before at the National Gallery. Clearly a man who makes the most of his time!