The Key to a Librarian's Success: Developing Entrepreneurial Traits
by Dr. Charles N. Toftoy
Charles N. Toftoy is the director of the Entrepreneurship Program in the Department of Management Science School of Business and Public Management at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Twelve Steps to Entrepreneurship
Librarians have to be change agents, knowledge managers and entrepreneurial thinkers in order to survive. Changing demographics, customers and vendors accepting technological advances and changes in the political economy (funding of libraries) are forcing libraries to fight for survival. Therefore, library management may benefit by aligning itself with business management. A librarian needs to develop an effective strategic plan (building on the library's unique strengths) and then use this plan to set direction for the days yet to come. The library operation must be regarded as a business operation.
Many 'thought leaders' in library science emphasize the need to escape from the old ways—being reactive and risk-averse, lacking management skills, maintaining archaic traditional methods, being inflexible and bureaucratic, working at a slow pace and remaining resistant to change. The library user's problems will also become easier to solve if the librarian can work at improving and developing entrepreneurial traits.
In his article "Entrepreneurship and the Library Profession" from The Journal of Library Administration, Herbert S. White says:
"They [libraries] have a hardening of decision arteries brought about not only by the risk avoidance tendencies of many librarians, but by a preference for minimal or no changes by the library's clientele, be these academic faculty members, special library users whose preconceptions come from what they have seen as university students, or the public library patrons heavily skewed toward children and the elderly. All are groups that have an affinity toward the library just as it is. Individuals who like the library just as it is do not tend to try to change it. They just ignore it and as we already know from a variety of research investigations, the existence of an inadequate library does not pose an insurmountable barrier. Users adapt to poor service, find other approaches to information, or pretend they never needed the information in the first place."
Guy St. Clair describes in his book, Entrepreneurial Librarianship, the characteristics of successful librarianship—tenacity, high service standards, quality of information, customer service, desire to serve and willingness to take on users' problems. He agrees that librarians cannot stand still. They need to look at better and different ways to do things—to take an entrepreneurial approach. Librarianship requires creative entrepreneurs to help select, implement and manage total automated systems, public relations, media, marketing, financial techniques and selling proposals. Libraries are being judged today just like other businesses. Librarians, as the provider of information services, have to think more like an entrepreneur, according to St. Clair.
The American Society for Training and Development characterizes entrepreneurial thinking information services, as follows:
· Enabling customer/user success (as defined by the customers/users)
· Continuous improvement of processes
· Out-of-the-box thinking
· Boundary-less, breakthrough thinking
· Entrepreneurial managers (innovative, risk-taking) vs. "custodian types"
· Vision
· Interdisciplinary awareness and abilities
· Cross-functional
· More than one right way
· Creating value where value didn't exist before. (This often involves considerable risk. Simply employing entrepreneurial thinking, on the other hand, creates value with much less risk.)
Keys to Success
There are 12 key entrepreneurial traits for success. These traits are applicable whether your library is corporate, government, academic or public. I have developed these traits after gaining many years of experience in the real business world with all sizes of business, in all parts of the world. In addition, these traits were developed from my experience assisting more than 1,500 small- and medium-sized enterprises, from high-tech to low-tech, with their most urgent problems.
[1]
I have met thousands of entrepreneurs and teh successful ones have passion. Some of these entrepreneurs show passion by being visibly self-assertive, aggressive, powerful in appearance, or loud. Others are quiet, softspoken, and silently forceful. But after talking with them for several minutes, I could tell I'd met a very special person who has depth. This depth has been developed due to their emotional drive and pervading spirit to accomplish something that means a lot to them. These people believe in what they do and love what they do. At the same time they are turning a profit and/or providing a contribution to society. Passion is the most important entrepreneurial trait for success.
[2]
Possessing enthusiasm is the second most important entrepreneurial trait. The Earnestness and gusto of an entrepreneur inspires all of those around her/him, allowing others to see that the entrepreneur is eager to carry out her/his vision. The entrepreneur's high-flying spirit allows them to persevere.
[3]
Trustworthiness builds loyalty with everyone the entrepreneur encounters—partners, employees, suppliers, licensees, entrepreneurial peers, etc. People like a person that is dependable, reliable, veracious, and worthy of confidence. Rob Reiss, president of R&R, Inc., is a good example. Reiss cared about everyone that was involved in his trivia game business. He was even-handed and treated everyone equally. If a mistake was made, Reiss would admit it and move on. Being trustworthy is a definite key to success.
[4]
The imagination, originality, inventiveness, and daring nature of some entrepreneurs inspires those around them to become excited about the product/service. These entrepreneurs think "outside the box" and always always have research and development on the mind. They are always asking questions. How can I make this product/service better? What needs to be added or taken away? They want to create change. They believe strongly in lifelong learning. A good example is Josh Frey, president of Granny's Goodies (a corporate gift and promotion company), who studies everything in his market in order to move the company for ward. Entrepreneurs like to create positioning for the venture - like a smart bullfrog that jumps one lily pad at a time.
[5]
The runner who wins the marathon is one of many top athletes who have the stamina to overcome the ups and downs of the race. The entrepreneur does not let his/her mind "go to sleep." The entrepreneur is indefatigable and refuses to relent even when the situation vecomes extremely tough. As Tom Peters says, they like to "stick to the knitting" (per In Search of Excellence). This gives them the tenacity to endure. THe entrepreneur holds up under pressure and actually likes pressure (unually self-imposed). It's called persevering. Furthermore, the entrepreneuris not afraid ot fail. Failure is a learning tool.
[6]
There is a strong desire by the entrepreneur to be reponsibile for everything in the business. The entrepreneur feels that by being responsible, he/she cna ssure a level of achievement. David C. McClelland, a Harvard psychologist, conducted a study tht concluded entrepreneurs, on average, have a higher need for achievement than others of the general population. Entrepreneurs see teh problems in launching a business and being self-reliant, but they believe that they can overcomethe problems. In a National Federation of Indepedent Businesses study, one-third of entrepreneurs rated their chances for success as 100 percent. One reason for this is the entrepreneur has inner control of himself/herself and enjoys every minute of being accountable for teh entier venture. The assumption of risk is not a problem because most entrepreneurs realize there is moderate risk. They stay away from uncertain or high resks and minimize risk to a low level, by outsourcing nearly everything. THis includes administrative services (invoicing, paychecks, etc.), licensing their products (never manufacture yourself), production, accounting, and finance.
[7]
`Entrepreneurs find it easy to adjust to change and are not obsitinate. The entrepreneur likes to change manage change. In my view teh top entrepreneurs in the next decade will create change. Thye know you must "Give customers what they want, when they want it, how they want it, and give them a little more than they expect every time. This creates demand for a product/service" (Toftoy, 2000). THe top entrepreneur will be flexible enough to bend this way or that. It is like being "Plasitc Man" so there is enough mental toughness to rebound from adversity. THis trait allows the entrepreneur to change people in his/her venture.
[8]
Entrepreneurs are confident in themselves and what they are doing. This sets the tone for everyone else. They believe in their own strengths and apply a pragmatic approach to accomplish nearly all tasks (this includes overcoming obstacles). The entrepreneur is confident in making decisions, usually relying on intuition. There is often little time for heavy-duty research, so many decisions are made on a gut-feeling. The entrepreneur performs best when confronted with nearly impossible tasks. The entrepreneur does not assume anything and seeks out criticism in order to make improvements. Their high level of curiosity makes them a believer in continuous learning.
[9] 
The entrepreneur has a keen awareness and insight, particularly about people. This trait enables them, for example, to hire and retain good people. It's sort of precognition. This ability to perceive enables the entrepreneur to establish a clear direction for others via a vision to be the main inspirational power behind the venture. The outstanding entrepreneur's perception is keen. It is a filter through which information passes before the entrepreneur makes a decision that will have an impact on his/her business operation.
[10]
The entrepreneur always does what he/she says or does not say it at all! The best entrepreneurs have learned how to move bureaucracy out of the way and express themselves clearly and effectively. They are able to convey their vision to everyone on the team, as to "where we are going." The entrepreneur is always ready to impart to others their feelings in real-time. They listen to feedback. They know that the best form of communication with a key person is to meet one-on-one with him/her on their turf. The telephone, e-mail, letters, memos, etc., are secondary means.
[11]
The entrepreneur is artful at selling. They really promote the cause, persuade others of the value, convince investors and attract partners, buyers, suppliers and vendors. These entrepreneurs realize that partnering is the key to future success. Stephen Forte, president of Travelers Telecom, partnered his telecommunications company with Nextel and his business sky-rocketed. The entrepreneur's obvious credence and faith in the overall effort causes others to believe in the cause. The truth is a top-notch entrepreneur will be a very fine salesperson. They do not accept "no." Rather, they come back with an alternate tactic or strategynever returning with the same approach.
[12] 
Genuine humility is very powerful. Being affable, modest and gracious helps to develop a mutual trust with others. The entrepreneur who is easy to approach and talk to is separated from the pack. "One small step..." is quite a humble statement when you think of that particular accomplishment in space. My father taught me that everyone is important—the janitor is important because he/she does that job everyday and you can learn from him/her because they know everything about that job. It is important to know what struggling entrepreneurs in the inner city are going through day-to-day. They teach us humility. One powerful aspect of humility is that it helps you to control anger and ego. Uncontrolled anger and a highly conceited ego lead to unwanted problems and mistakes.
It is my belief that in order to improve the librarian's workplace and make it more competitive, the librarian must be more entrepreneurial. Thus, the first step is to develop an entrepreneurial attitude by personally nurturing and improving on the 12 entrepreneurial traits for success.
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