Building phonetic pronunciation into the letter design of a font. Wow!
This is a brilliant way to make a complex character set more manageable to learn. Check it out and see if you can find the Super Hero within:
http://johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughtfortheweek/phonetikana/
Thanks to Ian McLean (DJ Epyon) for sharing this creative approach.
More interesting stuff: http://www.sashaphilosophy.com
If you’ve been feeling stuck lately, consider Bruce Lee’s zen-like advice…
Thanks to Tim Merriman for reminding me of this cheeky-but-hypnotic display of the teachings of Bruce Lee’s philosophies and teachings.
Storytelling has long been a vehicle for creating a journey of the imagination, a journey in which a transformation happens. In his March 2012 Fast Company article, “Using Great Storytelling To Grow Your Business,” Kaihan Krippendorff writes about how to use effective storytelling to drive change and growth in an organization. He references a tool called a Story Spine, which is a simple bunch of sentence stems that provide the skeleton for building a story. The Story Spine is a tool developed by Kenn Adams as a way for improvisers (actors who work without a script) to build a classic story.
Once there was…
And every day…
Until one day…
And because of that…
And because of that…
And because of that…
Until finally…
And so…
Optional ending line: The moral of the story is…
Sound familiar? Many fairy tales and children’s stories, as well as novels and movies, fit in this story structure. Elegant & easy! So, what if we could use story spines to map out a vision for changing ourselves? Simple genius! Here’s a great Harvard Business Review article that guides us on using Story Spines to craft a vision for changing our own circumstances: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/a_simple_exercise_to_help_you.html.
There are hundreds of possible Story Spine variations, and here’s one:
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Now, how will you use a Story Spine to create change in your own life? Share your thoughts in a comment here!
Here’s an easy contest to win!
In his article, “Mentoring and On-Boarding: Two Peas in a Pod,” Talent Management’s Frank Kalman makes a compelling case for mentorship as a game-changing onboarding tool. I’m going to take a leap by extending Kalman’s theory, and say that I believe that you (yes, you, dear reader) are an expert in onboarding mentorship. Curious? Read on…
Since you’re reading this post, I’m guessing you’re interested in the topics of mentoring and onboarding (either that, or you’re my mom, who reads all my posts – because that’s what mentors do – invest in their peeps). No doubt you’ve been “onboarded” in an organization before – be it your workplace, your place of worship, or your neighborhood association. And I’m betting that somebody helped you with the ropes when you joined that organization. That mentee experience in itself gives you a certain amount of mentoring mavenship. You know what good (or not good) mentorship feels like.
Let’s now transform this expertise of yours into a reward. It’s time to get you published in the blogosphere!
Take five minutes to participate in this Mini-Mentoring Contest and you could win a featured “Guest Author” spot on the Leadership and Learning Innovation site. Here’s how:
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Compelling mini-stories, theories of mentorship, or even 3-word mantras on the secrets of onboarding mentorship will be considered for publication in the next Leadership & Learning Innovation article in this series, “There’s No Ship Like Mentorship.”
Remember in school when you had to write an essay on “What I did this summer?” This was your teacher’s way of teaching you the art of storytelling. Well, who ever said the storytelling should stop just because we’re all grown up?
Soliciting stories from members of your organization is a quadruple win:
An effective technique for eliciting stories from the people in your organization or from your customers is to run a story contest with winners and prizes. It’s amazing how excited adults can get over sharing stories. So, how do you create a contest?
1. Define your contest. What is the purpose? What kind of information do you hope to elicit? Do you want individual stories, workplace stories, or excellent customer service stories? Ask a question that excites your target audience’s imagination. Examples:
2. Decide how you’ll use the stories. Will the stories appear in your magazine, your intranet site, your internet site, your management meeting, or maybe on a special wall in the building?
3. Determine the prize(s) you’ll use to incentivize people to participate. Make sure that they are appropriate for your organization, audience, and budget.
4. Establish your timeline and budget. Include the cost of prizes, translations, marketing, and time required. How long will your contest run? Build in time to market the contest, review the entries, and select a winner. Work backwards from your deadline.
5. Draw up the rules. Figure out how you will judge entries in advance – you’ll need to communicate this to participants.
6. Launch your contest. Develop and execute your marketing plan, including the who, what, where and when information on the contest. Monitor submissions, adjusting your marketing efforts as needed.
7. Select and announce your winner(s) and any runner-ups. Notify winners directly in advance before formal announcements are made. Use winning entries in your communications, as planned.
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Your turn: Have you ever participated in a contest? What type of contest would you like to run? Leave a comment here to share your ideas.
Susan E. Hendrich 