We invited Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, New York Times bestselling authors of The Carrot Principle and All In, to join our six-part Leadership Learning Series webcast. If you missed their session, you can watch the recording here. Additionally, Adrian and Chester recently published their latest research in their new book, What Motivates Me. I was struck by how their findings uncovered novel ways to improve employee engagement at work. Their ideas map nicely to personal motivation and are best practices for those looking to target Source 1 in The Six Sources of Influence™ model. They were kind enough to answer a few questions for unlocking the secret to what motivates each of us and how to capitalize on that knowledge. Joseph: The subtitle of your new book, What Motivates Me, is "Put your passions to work." Is it possible to reignite passion for a job you are already doing and perhaps already feel disengaged from? Adrian and Chester: There is a prevalent notion out there that if you’re unhappy with your work it will take a Herculean effort to change things—that you have to quit and find your "dream job." For the vast majority of people, that’s just nonsense. Most don’t need to take a risky leap; they just need to make small changes in their work lives. Many of the happiest people we interviewed didn’t find their bliss down a new path; they made course corrections on the path they were already on. What Motivates Me is primarily intended to offer that kind of guidance—what kinds of changes in responsibilities might help people take charge of their careers and put their finger on the specific things that are disengaging them in their work. We call this type of modification "job sculpting." Joseph: But what if they find that their current career doesn’t align with what they are most passionate about? What would your advice be to such an employee? Adrian and Chester: A few managers are concerned that if their employees read our book and take the assessment, some will find that they are miscast in their current roles. Our response is this: trust us, you want to find that out! It’s true that in a few cases the process we unfold in the book will help some readers identify when a larger change is needed and the kind of change it might be. Perhaps it’s time to transfer to another department, or it could be a full-blown transition to a new profession. But here’s the point for everyone—if an employee is completely miscast or miserable, it’s not good for them, their customers, or their managers. Now with that said, these transitions are not for the faint of heart, so we always recommend the job sculpting process first. Joseph: You conducted 850,000 interviews about employee engagement. In all of those interviews, was there a particular theme or result that was surprising to you? Adrian and Chester: What all that work revealed is a key difference in those who are most energized on the job. Those people have aligned more of their work with their core motivations. As for those who are most unhappy, as you might expect, their jobs are out of whack with what they are passionate about. That probably seems logical. So here’s the million-dollar question: why don’t we all do something about it? The problem is, most people feel either helpless or overwhelmed. Many wait for an outside force like a manager to fix things—and most managers have no idea how to put people’s passions to work. Even those enlightened employees who do have a grasp on what motivates them often don’t know how to put those ideas to use in their daily work. That’s why we decided to write this book. Joseph: One of your tips is to "do more" of what you love and "do less" of what you shouldn’t. How can you convince your manager to let you do more of what you love if it’s currently outside the bounds of your job description? Adrian and Chester: For employees, the benefit of job sculpting probably seems obvious. In fact, we found in our research if you are happier at work you are 150 percent more likely to have a happy life overall. For leaders, the payback can be powerful as well. Sculpting can help diagnose how each team member’s specific tasks are (or are not) aligned with his or her motivations. It also uncovers subtle changes that can lead to increases in team morale, engagement, and results. What smart manager wouldn’t want more of that? The most fun for us has been hearing from managers who’ve sat down with their teams and sculpted together—transferring a few roles here and there—and then reporting back weeks later about the rise in morale and engagement. Joseph: What are some "life hacks" for increasing your day-to-day motivation? Adrian and Chester: As you think about potential sculpting moves, ask yourself three questions: • What Can I Transfer? Are there things that you might be able to do less of or even transfer entirely that aren’t motivating? Are there members of your team who might be interested in swapping responsibilities to open up opportunities to try new tasks? • What Can I Alter? Do you have responsibilities that might be altered somewhat to become more fulfilling to one of your motivators? • What Can I Add? Are there one or two specific tasks you could add that would help fulfill your motivators? Are there unclaimed or emerging opportunities you could take on? I enjoyed speaking with Adrian and Chester about this topic and more during our Leadership Learning Series. If you would be interested in participating, you can still register for the series here. Sincerely, Joseph Take the What Motivates Me assessment! Discover what your key motivators are and what you are passionate about. As a gift to Crucial Skills Newsletter readers, Adrian and Chester have been kind enough to grant access to the scientifically proven, 100-question What Motivates Me assessment (a $40 value) for just $10. Take the motivators assessment now using promo code VSMOTIVATE.

To help more of our readers with their crucial conversations, accountability discussions, and behavior change challenges, we introduced the Community Q&A column! Please share your answers to this reader’s question in the comments below. Dear Crucial Skills, My colleague and I were in competition for a promotion thirteen months ago. I was awarded the position and since then our relationship has changed dramatically. At one point in our careers we shared an office and had a very positive relationship. Now every encounter seems to be difficult. She often reacts to my suggestions with anger and has even been seen to point her finger at me and order me to do things. I do not report to her nor does she report to me. We continue to be colleagues and I do not wish to pull rank—that isn’t how I work. This person is valued and has skills which we need in our organization, but I am not accustomed to this lack of respect and constant anger. How can I approach her to stop the behavior without inflaming an already difficult relationship? Sincerely, Delicacy Required

Dear David, How do you define the difference between behavior and culture? Does behavior drive culture, or does culture drive behavior? Sincerely, Natural Order of Things Dear Natural, The short answer is that behavior determines culture, and culture determines behavior. But it’s more complicated than that, and the complications make it a fascinating topic. First, let’s turn back the clock. I did my doctoral work in psychology back in the 1970s, studying with Albert Bandura at Stanford University. Al looks at culture and behavior through a model he has labeled reciprocal determinism. He developed this model to respond to the overly simplistic approaches that were popular in the 70s. The first of these approaches imagined that behavior was determined entirely by genes and personality. The second imagined that behavior was determined entirely by the environment. Bandura recognized that behavior is influenced by both personal and environmental factors, but added that people, through their behavior, also influence themselves and their environment. As an aside, when Bandura used the term environment, he placed special emphasis on our social environment as well as the physical world. This emphasis brings us back to your question about culture. I see culture as a part of our social environment. I’ll come back to this in a few paragraphs to make some finer distinctions. But for now, I’ll continue with Bandura’s model of reciprocal determinism. Most importantly, it is a model that posits human agency. For example, suppose we want to exercise more. We can take two steps to exert our agency. First, we need to recognize the influences that are working against us. Bandura suggests we look at personal, social, and environmental influences. In Influencer and Change Anything, my co-authors and I classify these as Personal, Social (the social environment), and Structural (the physical world) influences. Once we’ve identified the influences that are working against us, Bandura suggests we take action to change ourselves, our social environment, and our physical world so that all three exert positive rather than negative influences on our behavior. This ability to recognize and change the influences around us gives us agency over our behavior. When we apply this model to culture, we see that we are influenced by our culture, but that we are also able to influence and change that culture. Instead of being a prisoner of our culture, we are both the product and parent of our culture. Now, back to my earlier aside. I said that culture is an aspect of our social environment. What I really mean is that culture is the implicit part of our social environment. Our social environment includes both explicit and implicit elements. For example, if my boss asks me to work late, that’s a part of my explicit social environment. But, if my organization has an unspoken norm that everyone works late, that’s a part of my implicit social environment—my organization’s culture. We often characterize this distinction as above the waterline and below the waterline. (As in the part of the iceberg that’s visible and that part that lurks beneath the surface.) Above the waterline are the explicit, acknowledged, and intentional influences of our social environment. Below the waterline are the implicit, unrecognized, and unseen influences. These include the norms, practices, habits, and unwritten rules that form our culture. The implicit nature of culture makes it difficult to change. Sometimes we don’t even see the cultural influences around us. Other times the cultural rules are undiscussable—taboo to even talk about. Still other times cultural norms come with long histories, and are reinforced by multiple sources of influence. In these cases, it can feel as if culture determines behavior, and not the other way around. However, we have been involved in many incredibly successful culture change initiatives. The key is to recognize the hidden influences that are supporting the status quo, and to enlist a critical mass of new influences in support of the change. It’s also important to recognize that your culture is a treasure, a source of pride and power. We describe our Influencer process as a precision tool we use to fine-tune a culture without undermining it. I hope this helps. How do you see the relationship between culture and behavior? Best Regards, David

View the results of our study in the infographic below or download a copy for yourself.

Everyone has an awkward conversation they are avoiding. Perhaps you have a co-worker who smells bad, a boss who’s impossible, or a regular, well-paying customer with outrageous demands. Sometimes the situation is temporary, or we don’t deal with it very often, so we don’t address it. Sometimes we bottle up our feelings in situations we deal with regularly—and do so for extended periods of time. Instead of finding a way to deal with an awkward situation in a healthy way, we endure years of pain and torment. In the hit 90’s sitcom Seinfeld, Elaine, along with Jerry, George, and Kramer, lock away their darkest secrets in the vault ("I’m putting it in the vault! I’m locking the vault!"), a place where their confidences—too awkward or damaging to tell—were supposed to go to die. Sometimes we do the exact same thing. So, why do we do this? Because we focus on the immediate risks involved in speaking up, but completely ignore the certain and ongoing costs of not speaking up. We recently conducted a study of 1,409 participants asking about their "vault" (this study is the latest subject of our new BS Guys video). Fifty-six percent of respondents stated they have been safeguarding toxic secrets or workplace grievances for more than a year! Keeping these secrets "in the vault" creates problems that are decidedly non-comedic and can be costly to an organization. We asked people to imagine that we just handed them a "magical free pass" that would allow them to say anything they wanted to one person at work—with immunity from any consequences. Then we asked them what they thought would happen if they could actually follow through and hold that conversation. These were the surprising results: • 66% believed their organization would be helped • 57% believed everyone who interacts with this person would be helped • 43% believed the person themself would be helped • 39% believed a huge emotional burden would be lifted We were amazed at the things employees have bottled-up for years, and were dying to tell a colleague, and yet were too scared or worried to discuss. For example, one school principal longed to tell her aging school media specialist: "You need to retire. You’re overpaid, unhealthy, and out of touch—you can’t move well enough to even answer your phone. Oh, and you have a serious problem with hoarding." In spite of the enduring and substantial cost to the school, the principal, the students—and likely even to this employee—the principal’s concerns have stayed locked in "the vault" for more than a year. People’s suppressed concerns ran the gamut, from terrifying to disgusting to heartbreaking. Common examples included: • Speaking truth to those in power (50%): "You are the worst boss I’ve ever had. I used to fantasize you’d get into a car wreck on the way to work. My heart goes out to anyone who has to report to you." • Criticizing a peer’s performance (31%): "Your fake, sugar-sweet ‘kindness’ tinged with sarcasm and bullying to everyone, as well as your lying and backbiting, has made me not trust you or believe a word you say." • Talking about the elephant in the room (2%): "Your hygiene and habits are repulsive and offensive. No one wants to hear or smell your bodily functions. Stop leaving food garbage at your desk and using the bathroom sink to wash up like a squirrel at a birdbath." The most surprising finding of this study is how much pain we are willing to endure and for how long—for years and years in many cases—rather than open the vault. We are so intimidated by the initial conflict that could arise, we risk losing the incredible payoff of resolving the awkward issue. This study uncovered another problem—these secrets are not truly locked away. When it comes to frustrations, if you don’t talk it out with the person and resolve it, you’ll act it out in unhealthy ways. Consider all the people who hate their managers. More than half of the respondents stated that they had either shared their resentments with others or have hinted about it to their boss. So how do we open up the vault? Here are some tips to help you have "serenity now and avoid insanity later" as you follow through with that awkward conversation you’re avoiding: Assume people can change. More than half of respondents haven’t spoken up because they don’t believe the person could or would change. But people do change all the time. Ask yourself, "If I were in the other person’s shoes, and I had a true friend who knew what I know, would I want them to tell me?" Most of us say "Yes!" because we care and have confidence we can change. Do the person the favor of letting them try to change. Determine what you really want. Many of people’s grievances sound like, "You are a jerk!" These are accusations, rather than aspirations. Before speaking up, ask yourself what you want to accomplish—not just for yourself, but for the other person and for your working relationship. Use this long-term, inclusive goal to make the conversation constructive rather than destructive. Approach as a friend, not a foe. We live in a low-accountability culture, where speaking up is often seen as an attack. Avoid this misconception by explaining your positive motives up front. For example, "I’d like to discuss a concern. My goal is to support you and to help us achieve the metrics you’ve set for our team . . . " Stick to the facts. Concerns that have been in the vault for months or years grow big and hairy. Specific incidents and facts are hidden beneath layers of conclusions. Avoid broad conclusions such as, "you don’t care" or "you’re incompetent." Instead, focus on specific incidents, events, and actions such as, "The last three staffing decisions were made without input from the managers in the affected areas." I hope these tips help you have the courage to step up to the awkward conversation locked away in your vault. Sincerely, Joseph

http://static.vitalsmartscdn.com/kerryingon/The%20Bombs%20Bursting%20in%20Error.mp3 If you’ve ever watched Pawn Stars, then you’ll appreciate where this story is going. With each new episode, Rick Harrison (co-owner of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop) along with a few family members and colleagues, haggle with customers over how much a Civil War wooden leg is worth—or it might be a Picasso print. Either way, the show doesn’t really hit its stride until Rick and crew barter for a blunderbuss, pistol, rifle, cannon, or some other ancient explosive device. Then the real fun begins. After they’ve purchased an antique firearm, the pawn team gleefully piles into an SUV and hotfoots it to a nearby shooting range where they test the worthiness of their recent purchase by firing it at cans and boxes filled with gunpowder. With each new explosion, the pawn stars leap with joy. The day they touched off a mortar that shot a bowling ball several hundred yards, the entire team fell to the ground in a paroxysm of laughter. Their joy was so contagious, it took all I could muster to keep from running out and buying a bowling-ball mortar of my own. I mention this because here in America, we’re about to enter a period of patriotic devotion manifested by the time-honored tradition of blowing things up—the Fourth of July. Similar to Rick’s crew, which is drawn to cannons like moths to a flame, many of us will be drawn to roadside firework stands. There we’ll purchase large bags filled with colorful pyrotechnics sporting names such as "The Punisher," "Nuclear Sunrise," and "Red, White, and Boom." We’ll buy these celebratory explosives because the skill of blowing things up provides humans a genetic advantage that has been passed on by their prehistoric predecessors and it simply won’t be denied. Plus, admit it, we’re comforted by the knowledge that a panel of experts examined the fireworks and deemed them to be legal (and presumably safe) for use in our neighborhood. But what is it about the ability to blow something to smithereens that inclines us to abandon basic common sense? Don’t get me wrong, I love fireworks shows. I attend them regularly. I love fireworks. I buy them regularly. As a kid I made rockets and bombs. If I could get permission to do so today, I’d shoot flaming bowling balls at abandoned greenhouses filled with gunpowder. And like Rick, I’d fall over in a fit of joy with each shattering explosion. But now I have children and grandchildren, so let’s get serious. There isn’t a twelve-year-old kid in the country who can’t transform legal fireworks into weapons of destruction. Twist this, bend that, (and now for the real secret) wrap seven layers of duct tape around this part and voilà—what was once an innocent, sparkling pinwheel now has the potential to earn you the nickname of "Lefty." I’ve heard friends’ stories of bottle-rocket races (humans run, rockets follow) and activities so bizarre and dangerous I don’t dare mention them. Even when you don’t grossly abuse fireworks, they present a serious risk. I, of all people, know this. On July the fourth, 1960, my friend Ed Biery’s parents dropped the two of us off at the Lummi Indian Reservation where all manner of fireworks were legally sold and detonated. I started the day by casually lighting and throwing firecrackers at rocks and pieces of beach wood until I grew bored (roughly four minutes). Next, Ed brought out the sacred Revell plastic model planes and boats he had built, treasured, and protected since he was old enough to hold a pair of tweezers—the same plastic models he had meticulously glued together and fastidiously painted for several hundred hours. Now, at age fourteen, the two of us callously blew up his masterpieces—like mad bombers on a rampage. At one point during the destructive frenzy, I lit a firecracker and forgot to throw it. Silly me. Eventually the firework reminded me that I hadn’t released it by exploding in my hand. My right index finger and thumb throbbed for two days. They still throb when I think about that painful explosion. But this setback didn’t stop the insanity. The escalation continued until Ed and I placed a three-shot aerial bomb on a log. The first shot flew an explosive fifty feet in the air where it detonated with a frightening roar. It also knocked the remaining firework to the ground. The second "aerial" shot (now aimed at my head) zipped past my right ear and landed under a passing police car, which took the full force of the explosion. Two officers leaped out of the vehicle and headed our way until the third and final shot ricocheted off a log and landed next to me and Ed. It lay a few feet away from us on a patch of seaweed for what felt like a week—the fuse spitting and hissing like a snake. Suddenly it detonated with a force so concussive it knocked the two of us off our feet. The police officers quickly scanned the beach, concluded that we weren’t attacking them (after all, we had nearly blown ourselves up), and chastised us for using sloppy ordinance-handling techniques. What else could they say? The fireworks were legal. The damage was temporary. And we’d been extremely lucky. This year, as Independence Day approaches, I wish you the best of holidays. Go ahead and be independent. Refuse to give in to British domination. Don’t listen to One Direction, Adele, or Mumford and Sons. Refuse to pay excessive taxes on tea. Go nuts. Just don’t become independent from all vestiges of reason and logic. Try establishing ground rules before the first fuse is lit. Start with Mutual Purpose. "I know we all want to have a safe experience, so why don’t we set up some rules to ensure our safety?" Ask others what they want to avoid and then jointly create guidelines. Better to set expectations before people act unsafely than to deal with infractions after they occur and others become defensive. As I tell my children, when you or your neighbor comes up with a crazy firework idea, ask yourself: "What would Dad do?" Then don’t do it anyway. And finally, to all you blunderbuss and cannon lovers out there—stop referring to your left eye, hand, and foot as "spares." That’s just asking for trouble. If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Kerry’s new book, The Gray Fedora—a collection of stories from Kerrying On. The book is now available on Amazon.com.

The following article was first published on March 12, 2008. Dear Al, A relatively new male hire in my wife’s company invited the other men out to a "male bonding lunch." He asked a female coworker at equal level for advice on where to go and to call in their reservation. While the men were gone the women discussed this occurrence and felt it was rude and sexist. Some of the men were embarrassed as well when they realized none of the women were invited. Now, there is a sexual discrimination feeling that did not exist before. What crucial conversations need to happen and who needs to be involved? How can these conversations be handled sensitively? Signed, What To Do? Dear What To Do, Knowing when to speak up and how? And who needs to be involved? Ah, those are the tough, life-changing questions. Let me address a couple of points. First, who owns a crucial conversation? And, how do you know when you should own it? Over the years, I have found two principles that help answer these questions: 1. That little voice in your head either screams or won’t go away. When the "new male hire" asked the question, the "female coworker" probably had a little voice that said, "Male bonding lunch? Is this a good thing?" or "Me call in the reservation? This is not a good thing!" She could have brought up one or both issues right then. She could have also caught herself getting ticked and asked the humanizing question ("Why would a reasonable, rational, decent human ask this?"), concluded he was new, and then simply asked if they could talk about both issues. Or, the male hire could have noted his female coworker’s subtle non-verbal signals (rolled eyes and white knuckles wrenching a budget document) and noted that she seemed upset and asked why. Either person could have owned the conversation in real time, which is the ideal situation. 2. We start acting it out, instead of talking it out. This is another indicator that we are failing to own up to a crucial conversation. When this happens, we talk about people instead of to people. The two biggest ways we act it out instead of talk it out are 1) gossip and 2) non-verbal signals like avoidance, frowning, sarcasm, etc. Bystanders can defuse the situation by helping others realize that their gossip or non-verbals are a sign that they are avoiding a crucial conversation. In this case, instead of keeping her conclusions to herself and talking to her male cowoker, she talked to others about the issue. She opened that proverbial can of worms and now everyone is dealing with numerous trust and respect issues. Any colleague could have stopped her by saying, "Whoa. He’s new. Let’s help him understand when he comes back," but that also didn’t happen. Second, how do you start such a conversation? Since both of the coworkers failed to catch the mistake before lunch, it needs to be addressed as soon as it is safe. To create safety, she must first master her story by reminding herself that she doesn’t really know why he did what he did. This will help her control her emotions and conclusions. The first crucial conversation needs to be a private conversation between the female coworker and her male coworker. She must lead with observations and questions, rather than emotions and conclusions. This one step alone can make a huge difference. The second crucial conversation should be with the entire company. To help defuse the tension that has been introduced into the culture, gather the entire company together and set clear expectations around what behaviors are and are not acceptable. Make sure you reach complete agreement between everyone before concluding the meeting. This conversation is the first step to avoiding future instances, creating guidelines to hold others accountable to, and ensuring that everyone operates under common expectations. Make sure to communicate these expectations to new employees upon hire. I have only scratched the surface. But what I have covered is powerful. Anyone can own a crucial conversation—whether it’s real time (the best) or next time (which is still good). Best wishes, Al

Hi, all, and welcome to my professional blog. If you'd like to see my personal blog, you can click here. In this blog, I'll be discussing my musings and observations about the e-learning industry. I've been in this field since 1983 when through a series of circumstances I got to work on a now-ancient CBT system called TICCIT (Time Shared Interactive Computer-Controlled Information Television). It had a dedicated keyboard that would allow students to hit keys to see Rules, Examples, and Practice Problems. I created an Italian language course (I speak Italian, among other languages) over a 3-year period. I fell in love with the idea of using computers to teach and with the idea of my programming them to do it! I love teaching classes, I love writing, I love programming and here I could do it all at once in this medium. That was the beginning of my career!So here is my bio:Joe Ganci has been involved since 1983 in every aspect of multimedia and learning development with an emphasis in development. Mr. Ganci has taught classes and seminars at leading universities, in many government facilities, commercial firms, and educational institutions, and has spoken at industry conferences in North American and Europe. He is also a published author, having written several books and articles about e-Learning, and is widely considered a guru for his expertise in e-Learning development. He has consulted on a wide range of multimedia and learning applications worldwide for many organizations. Mr. Ganci holds a degree in Computer Science.Subscribe to my blog.

I just finished teaching four sessions over 3 days at TBCON in beautiful Colorado Springs. With me in the photo are Jeff and Sue Rhodes, the organizers who hold the conference every year. It's an excellent value! I taught at TBCON last year and came back for a return engagement. I taught the following sessions: Captivate 3.0 Features You Really Need to Know (Tips and Tricks) XML-Driven Flash Engines and Why They Matter eLearning Games - Updated! When Things Go Horribly Wrong - How to Save Your e-Learning ProjectI love teaching sessions and I think it shows. I always get very positive evaluations (except for once in a while a grumpy person doesn't get my sense of humor!).Soon I'll be teaching at SALT in Washington, D.C., and at Adobe Max in Chicago.Subscribe to my blog.

I had the pleasure of being one of the first, perhaps the very first, to present Captivate 3 in a live conference setting. My company and I personally have been using this product since it was called RoboDemo because it's a great product for doing a lot of what we do for our clients. It's unmatched at creating software simulations but also can be used for creating lots of other kinds of e-learning, including soft skills training. I often tout it as a product that balances ease of use with power - a constant struggle for any e-learning tool developer.Jaws dropped when I showed both Captivate 2 and Captivate 3, which was just released. They loved the trimode recording, how they now can retain animations from PowerPoint imports, the fact that quizzes can now be randomized and the new transitions.Most of the people had never used Captivate before so every feature was new to them. They were really happily surprised by the product. One person moaned about how they had wasted their money on Firefly (a much more expensive competing product) and found it so hard to use that they had given up on it. Now that they had seen how easy Captivate was they were going to have their organization get it right away! You can see more about Captivate here. I'll write more about Captivate soon.I'm proud of the fact that some very good friends of mine were involved in the creation of Captivate 3. Among them are:Group Business Development Manager--Marc HoseinProduct Marketing Managers--Silke Fleischer--Karl Matthews Core Director--Tridb Roy ChowdhuryEngineering--Stefan van AsDon't be upset if your name isn't on the list above. That either means that I forgot you were involved or you need to be a better friend to me (haha).Here's a partial list of new features in Captivate 3. This is directly out of the Help section, so I'm quoting here.Multimode recordingSave time and generate robust software simulations with multiple learning modes in a single recording session, including a demonstration of the procedure, a simulation for practicing the steps, and an assessment.Randomized quizzing and question poolsImprove learner assessments by randomly drawing questions from a set of question pools. Shuffle the answer options for multiple-choice questions, so that the answers are displayed in a different order each time. Share question pools among multiple Adobe Captivate projects.Rollover slideletsProvide additional just-in-time information on Adobe Captivate 3 slides by displaying media-rich content including images, text, audio, and video in a slidelet (a mini-slide within a slide) when the learner moves the mouse over a specified area on the slide.XML export and importSimplify the localization process of projects; export captions to a text or XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) file. Import the translated text file into a copy of the original project file.Automated rerecordingQuickly update content and automatically rerecord entire procedures in most web applications after the user interface is modified or localized (Internet Explorer® 6).Animation effectsCreate learning content with support for animated slide transitions (besides fade in / fade out) and PowerPoint® animations. Import PowerPoint (PPT) files and retain many animation effects by converting PowerPoint slides to SWF files.New question typesIncrease learning effectiveness with specialized question types, such as sequencing and hotspots, and matching dropdown lists.Streamlined workflow and usability enhancementsWork faster with a wide variety of streamlined workflows and usability enhancements: Improved learning management system (LMS) integrationReusing quiz slides Reducing SWF file size Branching view enhancements, such as slide grouping and zooming New choices for adding captions and buttonsMicrosoft® Windows Vista™ and Microsoft Office 2007 supportInstall Adobe Captivate 3 on Windows Vista and import PowerPoint (PPT) files from Office 2007, or create handouts or step-by-step procedures with the Microsoft Word export option.Re-recording software simulations When changes are introduced into a software application, or when you need to create separate projects in multiple languages, you can use the re-recording feature in Adobe Captivate.To do this, you must select the option to generate re-recording information when you create a new Adobe Captivate project. As a result, a script file (.cprr) is createdWhen changes are introduced into a software application, or when you need to create separate projects in multiple languages, you can use the re-recording feature in Adobe Captivate.To do this, you must select the option to generate re-recording information when you create a new Adobe Captivate project. As a result, a script file (.cprr) is created. You can use the Generate Re-recording Information option when you first generate a project to create a re-recording script file. The re-recording script is saved as an XML file with the .cprr extension.Learn more about Adobe Captivate here.Subscribe to my blog.

"Authorware is Dead"...I have heard these words ever since I started using the product, back when it was sold by Authorware, Inc., in May 1990. I fell in love with this product, its flow line approach, its inclusion of a scripting language...albeit a very limited one in that first version on the Mac. With time, the scripting language got more powerful and JavaScript was added as an alternative, and a few icons were added, including the Framework and Navigate icons.Eventually Macromedia asked me to help with the product and as you can see above, my name appeared in the credits.Articles and BooksThe product for me was simple but challenging and I liked it enough to start writing books about it, books that sold relatively well in such a small niche market. I wrote articles about it for Brandon Hall and for the eLearning Guild, among others. Writing my first book instantly made me recognized by many who previously didn't know me.ConferencesI am the only person alive who has attended every single Authorware conference. Not only that, but I have also spoke and taught at every one of them. Let's start with The Alternative Authorware Conference (TAAC), started by my good friend Tom Adams. Did TAAC really mean Tom Adams Authorware Conference? It was continued later by Mark Henry. A couple of times Mark held TAAC in the Adams Mark hotel - really? Adams Mark? Tom Adams Mark Henry? Strange. I keynoted at several TAACs and was presented with a lifetime achievement award, seen here. The very first year of TAAC I was asked to be keynote speaker by Tom. I arrived in Snowbird, Utah, with bronchitis. The thinner air didn't help. I gave my keynote and then was brought to Urgent Care where they gave me antibiotics and promised me I wouldn't die (ever). Ah, memories of imminent death!Then there was EuroTAAC, which was held in The Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Germany over the years. This year my friend Ole Kristensen held it in Randers, Denmark. I keynoted at several of these and taught precon at most of these as well. This year I even appeared on the Danish TV news. You can see the clip here. It's in Danish, but you can make out the words "guru Joe Ganci", "e-learning" and something about "what a sexy guy."Tom Adams later created another conference called TAW - the Texas Authorware Workshop. Once again, though, we wondered if it didn't stand for the Tom Adams Workshop! Kidding, kidding. This was held in Dallas two years in a row. Very enjoyable, very informative.Finally, there was AMGAC (Aviation, Military and Government Authorware Conference) founded by AMy Blankenship. It was small but wonderful, held in Biloxi, Mississippi. Amy and I became better friends. I was already friends with Steve Howard, who is originally from Scotland, lived in England, and helped take over EuroTAAC after the Dutchies sold it off. Steve and Amy eventually married in Biloxi. I went to their wedding. Never had I heard a stranger mix of accents - Scottish and Mississipian! They are good friends to me and always will be. They were in the path of Hurricane Katrina later, but survived and are doing well today.You can see lots of conference photos here on our Authorware site.TrainingOver the years, I trained Authorware all over the United States, Canada and Europe. I love teaching and it gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of great people, many of whom I count among my friends.LoyaltyAuthorware developers tend to be fierce defenders of the product. The battles between religious sects are nothing when compared with the battles between Authorware adherents and those who liked opposing tools!Recent HistoryWhen I started my own company, the esteemed DazzleTech, I was well-known as an Authorware guru, so naturally most of the work we got were from clients using Authorware. It wasn't long, though, before we realized we had to diversify to be able to reach the largest number of clients. I was an old-time programmer and became conversant with Flash. I had already used Director and other tools and then started looking for contractors and employees to hire that knew more than I did. I hit pay dirt when I brought on Chris Swenson and eventually made him a partner in the company. He not only sponges up new technologies easily, he is innovative and comes up with great solutions all the time. He is the author behind our own authoring system, Substance.The Death of AuthorwareAuthorware's demise has been predicted from the start. Every few months, rumors of Authorware's death were circulated, usually by those who used other authoring tools. Sometimes the rumors came from Adobe employees, but it was hard to know what to believe because the rumors were so frequent and then another version of Authorware would be released. I always said that like any software, Authorware would eventually reach the end of its life cycle. I'm happy to say it has lasted twenty years in the marketplace! That's quite an achievement and a tribute to Michael Allen, who created the product, and to Jamil Zainasheff, among many others, who continued to engineer and defend the product at Macromedia.But now we've reached the end, for all practical purposes. Yes, for the time being version 7.02 will continue to be sold, but it's time to move on. Good luck to us all.Read Adobe's announcement here.Subscribe to my blog.

Even if you're not in the Denver area, you may want to consider joining this Yahoo group. It is very active:Denver Metro E-Learning Developers Grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmeldMeets about four times a yearNext meeting date: see linkTime: 7:00 - 9:00 pmLocation: FX One Seven Zero, Technical Marketing Group, 424 East Simpson Street, LafayetteContact: Phil Tobias philtobias@aol.comSubscribe to my blog.

It has been my pleasure to be associated with The eLearning Guild (www.elearningguild.com) since near its start in 2002. I have taught preconference classes and sessions at most of the Guild conferences and at each conference I have also enjoyed myself immensely and have learned tremendous amounts from others.The folks running the Guild are topnotch professionals and awfully nice to boot.David Holcombe and Heidi Fisk have run the Guild from the start, helping it grow from a few hundred members to several tens of thousands! David is the executive leader of the Guild while Heidi wears several hats, including the all-important organizer of all the Guild events.Steve Wexler is the Guild's Director of Research and Emerging Technologies. The Research site is the best around; in fact, it's downright fantastic. Besides several valuable reports that have been published, the site has live, up-to-the minute reports based on surveys being filled out around the clock on various subjects by Guild members. Remember there are tens of thousands of them and they represent a cross-section of e-learning professionals and learners. It's very interactive, allowing you to drill down and find the exact answers you need. WELL WORTH IT!Bill Brandon is the nicest editor with whom I have ever worked and that is saying something considering how much work it is for him to put together each issue of the Guild's Learning Solutions e-Magazine! As of this writing, there are 230 issues of of this great publication and each issue is chock full of practical advice, strategies, discussions and more. We're talking good stuff here, folks. I've had the pleasure to have had a few articles published in the Magazine, though I'm sorry to say it's been a while since I've written an article for Bill. He's a very patient man. Soon, Bill, as soon as I can!Karen Hyder runs all of the on-line forums and conferences. Officially she's the Online Events Moderator and Speaker coach. I can't think of anything to say about Karen that doesn't sound as if she's paying me. I hold her in high esteem, very friendly and a real pro, she makes both teaching and learning online very easy. She also is at all the conferences and is always running around helping out. What a great asset she is to the Guild.Tim Martin arranges for the conference expositions and advertising. He also is a great guy with whom to work, friendly, knowledgeable and always ready to help. Luis Malbas is the tech guy, and he knows what he's doing. The site is powerful and runs really well!The Guild has an Advisory Board that has some of the biggest names in eLearning on it (no, I'm not on it yet haha). They help guide the Guild in various ways - I guess you can call them Guild Guides!I know I'm leaving out some folks but these guys and gals are the heart and brains of the Guild. They have made the Guild what it is - a fantastic resource for all e-learning professionals and those who are interested in e-learning.DazzleTech has helped the Guild whenever possible and we're happy that in our own small ways we have been privileged to be associated with this great organization! There are several levels of membership, including a free level - why not take advantage of the Guild's offerings? I am very proud of my eLearning Guild membership! Join and you will be too!Subscribe to my blog.

I had the pleasure of delivering an on-line presentation this week for the eLearning Guild called Choosing the Right Tools for your e-Learning Project. You can see the description by clicking here.I guess it went well! Here is the feedback I got from the Guild today:Thank you for another great session. The eLearning Guild and I appreciate your commitment and willingness to share your perspective and extensive knowledge with Online Forum participants. My survey numbers:Number of respondents to survey: 15 1. The presenter was knowledgeable about the topic strongly agree 12 agree 2 disagree 0 strongly disagree 0 2. The presentation content matched the session description on the website. strongly agree 14 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree 0 3. I will be able to apply the information I learned in this session. In the next 3 months 13 In the next 6 months 1 In the next 9 months 0 In the next 12 months 0 Never 0 4. The speaker effectively used Polls 10 Open- ended questions/ Chat 11 Demonstrations 11 Slides 11 Sample file 2 5. Materials were appropriate to the session strongly agree 12 agree 3 disagree 0 strongly disagree 0 6. I would attend another session by this speaker strongly agree 15 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree 0 Feedback: - Entertaining and engaging delivery style - Used polls very effectively to get and give information - Joe's depth of knowledge on the subject was greatly appreciated by the attendees (see Chat Pod contents) - His comparison and demonstration of the major content-creating tools was extremely well-done - Very attentive to both the regular Chat Pod and the Presenter Chat Pod It’s always a pleasure to work with you. See you in San Jose!Subscribe to my blog.

You may find these results interesting! These are the participant polls I conducted during my forum session. Click the image below to see it full size.Subscribe to my blog.

My friend Susan McDonald-Osborne just started a new m-Learning forum on Facebook.If you have a Facebook account or are ready to start one, click here. Subscribe to my blog.

My earlier post about Advanced Persistent Threats just got more interesting. Today, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that China Telecom redirected up to 15% of all of internet traffic on April 8th, 2010. The attack targeted US Government Servers, Dell, IBM, Yahoo and Microsoft.This means that Google is not alone, since they were viciously attacked in December 2009 (see previous post). In fact, what is interesting is that so far, the only company to stand up to the Chinese has been Google. How will these companies react?  Hard to tell since these kind of attacks are nearly impossible to stop, except that this attack was preventable.So how did they do it? It was the result of changing the routing tables that are generated by network routers. As I have said in the past, the world is not a nice place and trusting all of the actors on the internet is no longer a smart business proposition. No enterprise and no government can really assume that they are not at risk from these types of attacks.The net result of all of this is that a private, secure business network will emerge. Companies, such as the government owned China Telecom, if they keep perpetrating this kind of alleged behavior, will be blocked from conducting business outside of China.

If the growth of Facebook and the emergence of the Apple iPad were the most widely reported tech stories in 2010, the emergence of Cyber Warfare that targets governments and enterprises is the most under reported one, with far greater consequences.  In fact 2010, could be viewed as the year that Cyber Warfare emerged as a true weapon. Below I outline six steps to take to protect your enterprise.It is now very clear that certain governments are using Cyber warfare to attack adversaries, including private/public companies. Some key things that occurred in 2010:1. Facebook and other consumer social sites played a role in the Great Hack of Google and 34 other firms. However, it is worse than that. Thousands of firms may have been breached according to Kevin Mandia, CEO of security firm Mandiant.2. Redirection of US Internet Traffic by China on April 8, 2010 and the attack of at least 5 other firms.3. Confirmation by the US Federal Government that attacks against Google and other enterprises were ordered by Chinese Government officials (via CNBC).A key conclusion from an earlier post: these new modes of attack, known as Advanced Persistent Threats, are far too sophisticated to stop with software and firewalls.  The best known method to protect your corporate assets (source code and intellectual property) is to isolate key corporate systems from the normal corporate network. In other words, you need two networks.What does all of this really mean? Well, for starters, it is a new era of electronic warfare and this time it is information that is the currency that is being fought over. There stakes are very high: the future of countries and the future economic well being of both the country and the companies that operate in those countries.Why? Well, the military and technology firms are linked together in interesting ways, as this article (based on research by Rand Corp) demonstrates. Companies have become fronts for governments and military organizations. Some may say that this is not new, but the scale of what is going on now has not been seen in the past.For enterprises, all of the investment in products that represent the future could be wasted if those secrets are stolen. Cisco learned this a few years back when some of its code was stolen by Huawei Technologies Inc. The lawyer who represented Cisco, G. Hopkins Guy, won an injunction against Huawei and was widely recognized for his ground breaking work that resulted in a worldwide injunction against Huawei.What does this all mean to you and your enterprise? For starters consider doing this:1. . Develop a comprehensive strategy to combat cyber warfare and make sure it includes a training program (cyber war gaming) for executives, not just IT staff. 2. Take the steps to isolate your corporate systems. No matter what you hear from major analyst firms or anyone else, physical separation of information on computers (e.g. a separate network) is the only sure way to stop intrusion right now. Look at models that the military has used (classified vs unclassified systems). This also has major implications for desktop/pc access.3. Shield key data centers/systems from wireless access and wireless monitoring. For those with remote sites (e.g. retail branches), don't over look these sites as methods of access. If you have any doubts about this action, you need to read The Great Cyber Heist (courtesy of the NY Times).4. Re-evaluate all browser and operating system security at an architectural level. Evaluate roadmaps from all providers and make the tough, but correct decisions on what platforms you will invest in going forward. Blindly following the incumbent provider may not be the answer that solves your issues.5. Intrusion from the inside is also a growing issue. Compartmentalizing information so that no one person has access to everything is key, as is a practice of not keeping all source code in one location or on one physical server.6. Block Facebook. As popular as it is, Facebook isn't secure and it isn't good for your corporate security. Run Facebook in conjunction with certain web browsers and you have the perfect system for intrusion. Many governments and enterprises block access to Facebook and now you know why. This won't be a popular decision, but it is the right one.So, in 2011, expect to keep hearing more about Facebook and its growing valuation.  2011 may also be called the year of the Tablet (the rise of Android based Tablets). That is all well and good, but the number one issue your enterprise or government needs to prepare for is cyber warfare. 2011 is the time to get prepared for the attacks that are yet to come.....Happy New Year.

People communicate in different ways and for many, communicating via email has had its set of issues.  Over the years, people started to use email as a way to harass others. It got so bad that many states passed laws that  made it a misdemeanor to send e-mail "with the intent to harass".  Normally, the line gets crossed when multiple emails (or tweets) are involved that are intentionally abusive.Sometimes, a twitter chat can turn unexpectedly ugly.  If you get harassed on Twitter and the person persists in their abusive behavior, the best thing to do is not to respond. If it is an associate you work with, you can report it to your HR department. If it is someone you don't work with, you can block the user and report them to Twitter via this link. If it involves real threats, call your local police department.It is clear that the day is coming when states will update their legislation to make harassment via Twitter the same as email.

So the iPhone is going to launch on Verizon's network. Cool, many people will be happy. That said, for many business executives who travel, the issue is having a phone and wireless carrier that they can use on a worldwide basis.For many years, Blackberry RIM devices were THE standard and today for many, they still are. It is a great device for email and phone calls. I used mine all over the place, but about a year ago, I switched to the iPhone. On a recent trip around the world, the only device I took was the iPhone. It worked - flawlessly.I used it for calls, for email, SMS texting and Web Conferencing. One of my products - Saba Centra Web Conferencing runs on the iPhone. I had to join a meeting right after landing in Amsterdam, and joined it via iPhone. I was in the meeting, watching the slides and talking via VoIP. Try that with other products.So, anyway, my transition from Blackberry to iPhone has been a positive one. I'm much better at touch typing than I used to be. I'll also note that in Silicon Valley, I have very few dropped calls, but I'm not in San Francisco.

Tablet devices like the Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab  and Motorola XOOM are changing our world in ways that people are now just beginning to realize. The rise of the tablet and the apps that run on them is causing a shift to occur that will affect the things people buy and how they access content.  Products that had unique hardware for enabling common tasks or conveying information are about to be replaced.Applications (called Apps), running on a tablet computer, are going to become the defacto way to access content  (news, tv, movies) and to control devices (TVs, PCs, game consoles and more). The Cable service that used to give you a remote control, will now give way to an app that runs on a tablet. Xfinity, Time Warner Cable and others are leading the charge here with their respective cable tv apps. With these apps,  and others from Slingbox, and Netflix, the remote is built-in. The Tablet just became your new all-in-one and it will go much further than just controlling your TV.Regarding content (news, tv, games and movies), the publishing industry is still figuring out the eBook/eMagazine business model and distribution strategy (see prior Ebooks post). Clearly, tablets will play a huge role in how we consume news. News Corp is jumping at the opportunity with The Daily, a paid application that gives you daily news for $39.99 for a two year subscription.It doesn't stop there. Last week, I used my iPhone to advance a PowerPoint presentation on my PC, more as a way to demonstrate how change is occurring than anything else. Car companies like Hyundai Motors are now offering the owners manual for their Hyundai Equus car in a digital format - they provide an iPad as the actual owners manual.Look for much more than just owners manuals, magazines, movies and remote controls going forward.  Tablet apps are going to explode and the demise of consumer electronics dedicated hardware has begun. Look for more and more games to be tailored for tablets. How much money will game controller firms throw at hardware in the future?So in a way, the tablet and their affiliated Apps becomes the new All-in-One. Going forward, it will be less about the tablet itself, and more about the Apps that run on the tablet that becomes the consumer selection criteria. The race for tablet App development has already started, but it is about to explode.

Microsoft needs a shot of Mojo and Skype could be part of the answer. In an Internet era where Facebook, Android, iOS, iPhone, iPad and Skype are uttered hundreds of thousands of times a day on Twitter and the blogosphere, getting a brand called Skype certainly should help Microsoft's brand recognition in the consumer space.Of course, that assumes this deal goes down as reported in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal.  Assuming it does, Microsoft gets a hot consumer brand that it should be able to leverage its Bing Search engine against (advertising revenue).For enterprises, the question could quickly become: Should I (pay for) Lync or should I Skype. Clearly the spin will say you can do both, but for many Skype is an attractive easy to use alternative to a Microsoft Lync, whether it be Lync on-premise or Lync Online.Of course, the problem with acquisitions these days at Microsoft is that resistance is futile. The big divisions at Microsoft don't take kindly to threats to their dominance, so the question is, what happens to Skype after the deal goes down? Does Skype remain somewhat independent or will they be absorbed.Either way, this deal will give some pricing leverage to enterprises on the Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) front. Skype is good enough on many fronts so that Lync doesn't have to be licensed for all users in the enterprise and that could mean a big savings for both the CIO and Business Unit GMs. Just as in Content Management, it is time for enterprises to start segmenting users and their UCC needs vs a one size fits all approach.So overall, this deal will be viewed as more of a  Microsoft tries to get their (Internet) Mojo back than anything else. Microsoft needed to do something in UCC and this deal is far cheaper what they were looking at paying for purchasing Yahoo as recently as 2008. Whether Microsoft really leverages this Sykpe acquisition with the rest of its products remains to be seen.

It was a busy week in Tech and May is usually that way, spanning back all the way to May of 1990,  when Microsoft introduced Windows 3.0 to the world. Things changed.This week Microsoft was at it again and they announced that they were buying Skype, which at 8.5 Billion is a steep price to pay to get your Mojo back. See my take on the deal here.Of course Google was at it too and the shot that hasn't yet been heard around the world is their new Chromebook. A nifty way to shift people from buying to renting a PC (prices are roughly US $20-28 per device/month) and more importantly some clever security and a new way of isolating of apps from the OS to stop intrusion attacks. Google still needs to show that it is committed to this approach with its partners, but this week it certainly showed it is dedicated to Chrome. The progress Google showed with Chrome in just twelve months is impressive and it also shows that Google's development teams are maturing.The last item probably would have never showed up at all had it not been for a smart reporter that wasn't about to be duped and it has to do with the whisper campaign Facebook tried to launch against Google. While this has been widely reported and widely tweeted about, what is interesting is that this represents an epic shift of the clash of the titans.I used to discuss Microsoft vs IBM as the big titan clashes. Now that the battle is in the cloud, it is Google facing off against Facebook. This time it is really all about Ad revenue. Google has it and now Facebook does too. I'll certainly be talking about Facebook in the future, but suffice to say, Facebook is pretty vulnerable to the same type of PR attack it launched on Google. Even more worrisome, Facebook is also an effective tool to use as part of a cyber-attack on an enterprise (see As Facebook Grows, so does Cyber Warfare).So a busy week in tech and it doesn't show any sign of slowing down.

Today, I wrapped up a great 19 months at Saba Software. I worked with some incredible people and we launched some award winning products that lots of customers are taking advantage of. I'm proud of what I did at Saba....now it is time for my next move.Since I left Gartner, many of you have told me that there is a lack of choice in technology research today. Next week, my co-founder, Mike Anderson, and I are going to be unveiling the next generation of Technology Research firms, Aragon Research Inc.Aragon Research is going to offer you that choice by providing high quality technology research and trusted advisory services.  Our initial focus is going to be on everything involved with work - people, collaboration, mobile, social, content, portal and knowledge. We have a powerful agenda and can't wait to share our story with you.In fact, tune in on Monday, 8/15,  and visit our new website, AragonResearch.com.  In the meantime, check out our fan page on Facebook and  and give us a Like!Stay tuned for more and feel free to reach out to me at JLundy@Aragonresearch.comJim LundyFounder and CEOAragon Research Inc.