"In Pursuit of Elegance"

Have you ever experienced a moment of clarity where different aspects of your life align on one topic – where work, school and entertainment all focus on a single idea and shine new light on its meaning? This week the topic of “elegance” was what linked work, school and librarianship; it was the “buzz” word in the media and everywhere I looked.

First I should explain why I was even thinking about the concept of “elegance.” Tomorrow I am participating in my first staff development day at my new work place and we were asked to read In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew May. I thought it was an interesting selection for a group of librarians but soon found myself enthralled with the book, relating the theories outlined in the book to so many aspects of my life. Matthew May believes that the power of elegance can “change minds and mindsets.” He listed many tips to help one define elegance and find elegant solutions to problems that one faces in life. Some pointers included:

·      Simplicity - refrain from adding what is not absolutely necessary

·      Leave room for others to co-create with you; provide a platform for open innovation.

·      Doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing

·      Elegance can be found in the not-so-big idea that changes everything – a small step back or an intelligent edit.

·      Think long enough to ask the right questions and fight natural tendency to arrive at an immediate answer

This sort of thinking outlined above is counterintuitive to how we try to be innovative. It requires a lot of discipline to “discard what doesn’t fit” or to break away from tradition. More importantly, May lists the reasons why we need to find “elegant” solutions:

·      we have no choice but to become more resourceful

·      we often succumb to the same kind of thinking that created the problems in the first place

·      we need a way to replace the value-destroying complexity with the value-creating simplicity

·      we need to make room for what matters by eliminating what doesn’t

I cannot wait for tomorrow and see if my co-workers find his way of thinking too radical or just what we need to be innovative in the workplace.

As I said before, as I read Matthew May’s book, I kept finding ways to relate it to different aspects of my personal life. One major link I found was to my studies in librarianship. I believe May’s theories about elegance align with Lankes’s mission of librarianship. I believe if one can follow May’s “rules” for elegance, they will be able to uphold the values and mission of librarianship. They will find success in changing the mindset many people have about librarians and their role in a community. Elegance also opens the door for a two-way conversation necessary for innovation.

The other interesting link to elegance I encountered this week was in David Pogue’s segment on CBS Sunday Morning.

Pogue reflected on the passing of Steve Jobs and challenged us to be more like Jobs, outlining the unique characteristics that helped Jobs succeed in business. Jobs was able to see the potential in new ideas, he kept questioning why we do things and built beauty/simplicity into everything he did. The main point of Pogue’s segment was that it is possible to make beautiful, simple, elegant things and still be successful. When he challenged us to be more like Steve Jobs, he challenged us to be elegant.

So in an attempt to find an ending to this week’s lengthy blog post, I encourage everyone to look for the “elegance” that appears in their life from time to time. It will be a challenge to always find elegant solutions to the problems that occur in our life and work, but if we are aware of the elegance that surrounds us, we may be able to capture that elegance and use it in our daily life and help us along our career path to success.

References:

May, Matthew. (2009). In pursuit of elegance: why the best ideas have something missing. New York, New York: Broadway Books.