I’m busy prepping for my concurrent session at Adobe Learning Summit on Monday, 21st October. During this session, I’ll be sharing some cool tips on how to use the drag and drop interaction in Adobe Captivate 7. And guess what… It’s becoming really difficult to wait until Monday to share all these amazing tips, so […]

This season's biggest problem: It insists on hitting the same bleak notes for each character, never offering a counterweight to despair. The post True Detective Recap: This Plot Is Getting Hard to Follow appeared first on WIRED.

I’m not a very political man. You may even call me apolitical. I always vote, but I often vote based on the issues versus being tied to a political party. I’m politically Neapolitan. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell you about a good story that involves Government, regardless of your or my political stripes. In my home province of British Columbia, Canada, there has been a program in place now — called IDEAS2ACTION — where citizens have been asked to get involved, submit ideas and help shape opportunities for skills development across the entire province. The process the Provincial Government followed is best summarized by the graphic found below: There have been over 125 ideas submitted and vetted, with a fantastic accompanying dashboard that depicts the ideas (who they came from) and the action that has been taken by the Government. There are some fantastic submissions such as: Give Students More Exposure to the Trades in Earlier Grades Encourage More Tradespeople to Become Teachers Invest in Facilities and Equipment for K-12 These ideas are coupled by the actions that have since been taken by the Government. This got me thinking about Chapter 8 of Flat Army: The Collaborative Leader Action Model which suggests the following: Implementing Flat Army and the CLAM starts with the principal tenet that we need to open our doors, tear down the cubicles, and invite the entire organization to the table before making decisions or inventing the next new shiny object. Collaboration isn’t easy; in fact, it’s quite difficult. Through this chapter, please root yourself in the know-how that collaboration—as good as it is—always takes longer, but in the end, your leadership style, growth, team unity and organizational prosperity are better off . The cyclical stages of the Collaborative Leader Action Model are as follows: connect (with others) consider (all options) communicate (the decision and action plan) create (the result) confirm (the result met the target) congratulate (through feedback and recognition) My hat is tipped to Tanya Twynstra, Executive Director of Citizen Engagement in the British Columbia Government for spearheading the deployment of the CLAM in the province whilst (perhaps) not knowing that she actually was utilizing the CLAM itself. Tanya works for whatever Government is in power; she only looks out for the betterment of the province and its citizens. In my opinion it’s a great story, regardless of your political affiliation. Mine included. Visit the IDEAS2ACTION site for more information. It’s a good example of Government 2.0. (if you’re still into those 2.0 monikers)   209 total views, 5 views today Related Posts:Virtual Worlds in an Organization are not a Time Waster (andMy Network is my Net Worth - Part IIFlat Army: Chapter 8 OverviewFlat Army Graphics on SlideshareWHY I Wrote Flat Army: The Flat Army Golden Circle

The latest image of Pluto from New Horizons shows the dwarf planet's heart-shaped feature rotating into view. The post Pluto Will Send Earth a Love Letter Tomorrow appeared first on WIRED.

This warning could have come in sooner apologies for the same. Captivate 7 or earlier version customers are not recommended to upgrade to new version of Mac OS as Captivate doesn’t launch . Please hold on your upgrade until we release a patch for CP 7 in next couple of weeks . Customers running earlier […]

"The wind Daddy, it’s so cold," says the 6 year-old boy at the park. "Don’t worry Son," replied the Dad. "I’ll get your jacket from the car." Boom. "I’ll have an extra-hot double-shot latte please," Jenny pleads to the barista as she struggles to pull herself together for the 7am start-time in her job. "No trouble at all Ma’am," the barista joyfully responds. "Coming right up." Boom. Mark thinks to himself as he strolls down the sidewalk, "what time do I have to be at the gala tonight?" He notices and marvels at a hummingbird family approaching a beatific Trumpet Vine and continues his thought. "Oh right, it’s a 7:30pm start." Boom. Trees in the forest are much like humans on earth. For the most part, we humans crave sunshine, water, the accompaniment of others, a calming breeze against our face, and most of all, peace. The recent events in Boston, MIT and Watertown go against the wood grain of any tree in any forest in any land on any part of Earth. It’s as though the force of all evil manifested in an axe and our sturdy, trusty, peaceful forest was hacked down tree after tree after tree. Deforestation of the human spirit - of the human soul - is deplorable, maleficent if not pernicious. But the human spirit is akin to the trees in the forest. Strong. Resilient. Magnificent. There too is rebirth, regrowth and regeneration. There are forests among you. Rather sadly, there are those armed with the aforementioned axes willing and able to chop away. They want to see the ‘boom’. They are the axis of axes. With set-your-watch consistency the forest will be there tomorrow. It’s your forest. It’s your life. You must own it. We must own it. Let us not leave it to kismet. Let us bleed courage as sap does from a tree. Let us remember, We Are All Boston.   230 total views, 4 views today Related Posts:Flat Army DedicationEmail, A Love StoryCredo of the Collaboration CanoeWeb 3.0: It Should Be About Transferrable IdentityInterlocutors of 2012 (the goats are better for it)

The highly anticipated anonymity project may be the subject of a law enforcement gag order. The post Online Anonymity Project ProxyHam Mysteriously Vanishes appeared first on WIRED.

It’s hard to think of myself as an author. I mean for the entirety of my life, I’ve always known what I was … be it a son, brother, husband, dad, friend, educator, leader, Manchester United supporter, scotch drinker, Star Wars fan, pain in the ass, etc. But I’ve never been a published author before. I don’t have a playbook or a manual that I’m following either. I’m making it up as I go along. The back cover of Flat Army is one of those examples. While I understand the industry typically defaults to having quotes from famous people waxing lyrical about the contents of said book, I refused and ultimately balked at this approach. My idea at first was to simply have a QR code that — after being scanned — would lead the reader to a video of me talking about the book. That morphed into what is now on the back cover which is my own definitions of FLAT, ARMY and FLAT ARMY. On Saturday, April 20 another of those ‘newbie author‘ items sprung into my alter persona. In the confines of a large party room overlooking False Creek in my adopted hometown of Vancouver, roughly 60 people gathered to celebrate the launch of the book. My beloved amongst a few close friends were the master planners; I was simply told to book off the night and not ask any questions leading up to the evening. It’s amazing to me how powerful the human spirit really can be. The room was full of friendly and loving faces … each with a smile, a hug, a kiss and oodles of well wishes and congratulations for me. Denise (my beloved) gave a speech that was not only breathtaking, it was amorous. She read a beautiful poem my father wrote … penned in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK where he resides. Dave (my artist friend) painted a larger than life-sized replica of the Flat Army cover alongside his usual touch of humour which came in the form of a giant-sized ‘stick your face in this hole and be an author like Dan’ placard. I received not only a hangover the next day but a visceral reminder the sea of humanity that was in that room for a very special night is why I wrote the book in the first place. The pixels, letters and words in the book are a reflection of the people who have helped shape me into the person I am today. Although I’m affected by many people across this planet of ours, the book launch party and the chance to see so many people face-to-face was a reminder of how lucky I am. Thanks to those that attended the party. Thanks to those that couldn’t attend. And thanks to everyone in my personal sea of humanity network that has helped shape me into the person I am today. I am truly humbled. I am equally lucky.   203 total views, no views today Related Posts:Announcing the Full Book Cover Jacket of Flat ArmyWordle Graphic of Flat ArmyDid I Just Spam My Entire LinkedIn Network?The 10 Winners of Flat Army Copies Are …WHY I Wrote Flat Army: The Flat Army Golden Circle

One of the best things about going to conferences is that we get to hear from colleagues around the world and see what they’ve been up to. Last week in Las Vegas, eLearning Developers, educators and trainers from around the world gathered to share industry trends, the latest techniques and teaching / training methods and […]

As it turns out, cycling is beginning to take over North America as an extra-curricular athletic hobby. According to the National Sporting Goods Association the number of Americans who ride bicycles is greater than all those who ski, golf, and play tennis combined. According to Outdoor Foundation there were 1.2 billion cycling outings in America in 2011 second only to jogging and running. This got me thinking about one of my favourite personal passions (cycling) and our corporate organizations. Maybe if we were to act like a peloton in our organizations, we might see higher levels of employee engagement. What’s a peloton? In cycling speak, it’s what a pack of cyclists are called when they ride together. Check out the photo to the right for an example. A peloton is a massive group of riders who ultimately work together — as a team — to move from one distance to another. Take away competitive cycling competitions for a moment (eg. Giro d’Italia or Tour de France) and think about amateur cyclists going out for weekend rides or events like the GranFondo between Vancouver and Whistler. These women and men ride together as a team but what happens along the journey? Sharing the load Cyclists take turns at the front of the pack (ie. the peloton) to both set the pace and to protect others behind them from the wind. (A process known as drafting) Those in front exert extra effort so others in the back can save some of their energy for their turn at the front at another interval in the ride Proactive Communication Often in a peloton, cyclists are proactively communicating with each other If there is debris on the road, hand signals from whomever is in front alerts cyclists in the back to be careful "On your right" or "stopping" are simple examples that cyclists shout out in the peloton to inform others of their intentions "My turn to share the front" or "anyone need food or water" are other proactive examples of communication happening inside the peloton Encouragement and Recognition Whenever there are difficult impediments like tough gradients, sideways wind, pellets of rain, or even the successful maneuvering around unforeseen wildlife, cyclists from within the peloton are quick to recognize the effort or encourage the effort to continue It really is a culture of encouragement inside the peloton It would be nice if our organizations thought like and acted similar to a cycling peloton. It sure might assist efforts to drive up employee engagement, creating a culture of sharing and connected leadership. 410 total views, 12 views today Related Posts:I Don’t Do GolfIt’s About Leadership: Ryder Hesjedal & the Giro…top 5 postsI Have Never Worn a WatchYa, I Cry at Work. Do You?