Modesty: As my mother told me, “He who tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted.”

Satisficing: Good enough is not OK. Do not base your goals on Microsoft products. But if you can’t make it great now, make it better and keep your goals high.

Protectorate: A good manager is a good shit umbrella. Deflect as much of that as you can, they’ll notice.

Hires: Hire people who are better than you, maybe younger and less experienced, but you should really care about their opinions.

Setting problems aside: All real problems are over-constrained. There is no solution that satisfies all the constraints. Sometimes, you find a partial solution and wait until the constraints change, because they always do. I wonder if that thick Ethernet cable I installed is still in the interstitial in the building that is now the Tesla headquarters.

And if you ever need really cheap window shades that actually look OK, get Redi-Shades: http://redishade.com/store/index.html Cut-to-fit paper or fabric with clips to hold them up. We have them in our house.

I’m really interested in the idea of transparency vs translucency. I’d love to hear more thoughts on that particular juggling act.

I like your post about beginner questions, and yes that’s Kate’s post.

I know about being cautious about what to post…I deliberately picked examples that were either set back in time or were really more about me (e.g. the infamous whiteboard project). Took me two weeks to get this post to a point where I felt I could share it. Another part of being The Man… that edit button.

Thanks also for the “relentless optimism” post — the author nailed it. “hope makes you vulnerable” — oh yes!

Thanks for writing this, it’s exactly what I needed to read, exactly when I needed to read it. I’ve been in my job as Assistant Director for just under two years now and I still feel like I’ve got (on a good day) 10% of it figured out.

Helping to run an organization is alternately challenging, engaging, frustrating, satisfying, maddening. Sometimes all at the same time even. It’s not something someone can understand unless you’ve found yourself in The Seat. And part of my challenge is finding others who understand and can provide a willing ear, a thoughtful suggestion, a kick in the ass, or a pat on the back as needed. Indeed, the specifics of the challenges faced, and the victories won (or lost) are not things I would feel sharing or writing about publicly.

So much of what you have written resonates with me, especially the part on optimism, which has been much on my mind since them moment Sara Kelley-Mudie pinned a “Relentless Optimism” button on my sleeve in Anaheim, which led me to this great post: http://kmthelibrarian.blogspot.com/2012/05/relentless-optimism.html.

BTW, I don’t know if the Loose Cannon post you refer to is this one: http://loosecannonlibrarian.net/?p=155, but I was just re-reading it. It had sparked me to write a post: Ten Questions to Ask Every New Employee (http://blog.peterbromberg.com/2008/01/ten-questions-to-ask-every-new-employee.html) and I was revisiting both posts as I had four new people starting this week and want to make sure I take full advantage of their beginner mind!

Thanks again, I’m sure I’m going to revisit your piece many times as I find myself on different parts of the leadership journey.

Happy Fourth!

-pete