Reading List: May 2015

Image source: http://www.dsargentblog.us/reading-list/

In the spirit of Thoughts Parked, or "I need some place to put this down quickly so that I don't forget" here are some things that I've been reading this past month that have caught my attention:

Why Do We Experience Awe? (New York Times)
Do museums matter, and if so, why? One potential point of view is that museums are capable of inspiring awe. But is a sense of awe important? This article by Paul Piff and Dacher Kelter briefly explores the impact that a sense of awe can have on us as human beings, based on their psychology research. Among other findings, they note that people who experienced awe "... cooperated more, shared more resources and sacrificed more for others — all of which are behaviors necessary for our collective life". My take: museums inspire awe and feeling awe helps make us better people, ergo museums matter. A lot.

Book: Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck Ph.D.
Never mind the business-school-speak on the cover (including phrases like "How we can learn to fulfill our potential") - this book makes a solid point about one of the key elements of being successful in the 21st century: how you define the why of your successes can determine your future. Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. But it does boil down to two diametrically opposed viewpoints:

1. When you succeed, it's because you have an innate talent - you were born for this stuff! It comes naturally to you, and anyone who challenges you must be an idiot. Failure is intolerable and humiliating, you never fail, and if someone thinks you did it was actually because they didn't see that it really wasn't your fault.
2. When you succeed, it's because you worked hard, you dealt with the inevitable setbacks along the way, and you never stopped learning. People who challenge you actually help you to see alternatives, to explore them, and to learn other points of view.You know that failure is just a part of the process of exploring and discovering, so failure generally motivates you to try again - maybe with a little more preparation or from a different angle, but you feel determined to figure it out.

The book get a little repetitive at times (what business book doesn't), but perhaps that's done to hammer home the ideas and emphasize how important it is for you to think carefully about your own mindset, and also to consider how you treat other people. The author's bottom line: the Growth Mindset (number 2 above) is superior to and leads to much more success than the Fixed Mindset (number 1 above). In addition, it's possible to change your mindset - if you just put your mind to it!

A (2015) rumination on wayfinding in museums by Lynda Kelly on the #musdigi blog
The author muses about digital tools to support wayfinding in museums, and includes a very useful list of requests for anyone who is developing such tools. She concludes "Ultimately however, and based on the research cited at the beginning of this post, I’m thinking that the joys of just wandering around for visitors, discovering unexpected delights, is what still makes a museum visit unique. How will this be factored into future digital (and other) wayfinding tools?"  It's an interesting point, but perhaps slightly biased toward a specific visitor type. John Falk's research has indicated that museum visitors have a variety of goals, based on their sense of identity as they undertake participation on any given day. Lynda's joy at "just wandering around" fits cleanly within Falk's Explorer category - which includes people who are driven by curiosity and who are comfortable with uncertainty and discovery. But those very comforts for Explorers are seen as impediments to other types, such as those who've come as Facilitators or Experience Seekers. Interestingly, I think that most museum professionals - particularly we in the digital tech area - fall into the Explorer group. We should be careful not to cloud our understanding of visitor needs with our own desires. As my friend and colleague Kate Haley Goldman has often reminded: "You are not your target audience". Best approach: test early, test often, test with the visiting public, and always elevate the importance of listening to your customers over making decisions for them based on your own biases.

Creative Time’s Anne Pasternak Will Take the Helm at the Brooklyn Museum by Benjamin Sutton on Hyperallergic
Three cheers for the Brooklyn Museum! A bold choice, an accomplished woman at the top position, and (gasp) an outsider! Well, maybe not a total outsider, but certainly a leader who honed skills outside of the narrow world of fine art museums. I have high hopes for exciting programming tied closely to the community, for innovation, for breaths of fresh air. Looking forward to seeing it unfold in Brooklyn.

How to Communicate Visually with your Team by Dan Hogan for Fast Company
The author makes a compelling argument for sharing information, including "With so many different communicator types in a business, visuals can help everyone understand the company’s products and goals while staying on the same page". He recommends visuals that range from whiteboards to stick figures to GIFs. The real point, IMHO, is that clear and effective communication is vital to keeping everyone aligned, informed, and rowing in the same direction. Visuals are a great tool for making that happen - although not the only tool ... there is no single perfect answer (darn). Thanks to @daladarling for pointing me to this article.

Onwards and Upwards: Museum Succession in America (The Economist)
Time marches on, and many major art museums in America are looking to replace Directors as they retire over the next few years.This article looks to challenge assumptions, and points out, "The impending influx of new blood at the top offers museums an opportunity to rethink the job and question many of the assumptions that underlie traditional museum operations" and "Refashioning museums to appeal to future generations means devising a new vision. Up-and-coming directors face three major challenges: engaging more imaginatively with audiences, addressing America’s changing demographics and negotiating the ever more delicate balance between rich donors and the public." Finally, I'm very intrigued by this bit near the end of the story: Elizabeth Merritt ... says she thinks some of the most successful future directors may well come from non-traditional backgrounds: technology, journalism or community work: “not because those sectors are more successful than museums, but because an ‘outsider’ would bring a fresh perspective to our work.”
Hmm. See thoughts on Anne Pasternak at the Brooklyn Museum above. Frankly, I'm all for art museums striving to be more innovative and engaging, through whatever means necessary (as long as the integrity of the institution and the safety and long-term viability of its collection is assured).

Movie Producer Brian Grazer Explains How Asking The Right Questions Will Make You A Better Boss on FastCompany.com
"Questions are a great management tool" says Brian Grazer. Smart article full of good advice on the perspective of leadership. For example: "Curiosity at work isn’t a matter of style. It’s much more powerful than that. If you’re the boss and you manage by asking questions, you’re laying the foundation for the culture of your company or your group. You’re letting people know that the boss is willing to listen. This isn’t about being "warm" or "friendly." It’s about understanding how complicated the modern business world is, how indispensable diversity of perspective is, and how hard creative work is. Here’s why it’s hard: because often there is no right answer". In the knowledge economy, where puzzles are common and solutions are rarely black/white, it's a great approach to show the respect and trust in your staff by asking and asking and asking until the answers become at least a bit more clear.

Product teams: The next wave of digital for NGOs? by Michael Silberman on MobLab
One of the main points of this post is well-described by the accompanying image:

Image Source: http://www.mobilisationlab.org/product-teams-the-next-wave-of-digital-for-ngos/

By taking a "product approach", company resources are treated as valued over time and kept up-to-date through dedicated effort, as opposed to the tradition of a big launch and then a wait until another big launch will be needed. The latter creates over-lapping cycles of exhaustion; the former elicits quality work over time at manageable effort levels. In addition, the overlap with the Agile methods we've been employing here at the MIA are inspirational.

British Museum to Give Live Tours over Periscope 
Interesting experiment by the British Museum, who will have "... British historian and broadcaster Dan Snow on hand to lead a 30 minute journey through the exhibition's white marble statues, terracotta works, bronzes and ornate vases". Wave of the future? Short-lived fad? Time will tell.

Okay, I think that's enough for the time being. I hope that sharing some of these might be useful to you - each of these articles has helped inform and/or motivate me to continue learning. We are all works in progress, after all.