Revenge of Lego Glenn

Want to see yourself as a Lego character?

No?

Want to see me as a Lego character?

No? 

Well, too bad...

Lego Glenn is here.

He's a got a big-ass book in his hand and he's not afraid to use it!

You can make your own mini-lego-me here.

It's Venntastic I

I am unabashedly stealing from Jessica Hagy, so see go her site, Indexed...

That said, Venn diagrams are a great visual communication tool, so I sat down a couple of weeks ago and exercised my brain by creating some.

I love the saying, "Every villain is the hero of their own story", so that is a natural my first Venn diagram.

I'll post more over the next few months.

Learn How to Eat Sushi

My friend Joon Chung shared this hilariously dry video with me a few years ago.

It's a mock instructional film called "Sushi-ya"

Watch and learn how to eat sushi (and please don't take it seriously)!!
Thanks Joon!

It's a good test of your cultural savvy to see how many of the 'jokes' you get.

According to this article, there are 5 types of humor.

In this video, do you see:

• Puns?
• Exaggeration?
• Surprise?
• Silliness?
• Put-Downs?

Looking at how the Japanese handle humor in this clip, what can you learn?

Book Review: "Oxymoronica" by Dr. Mardy Grothe

Another outstanding collection of phrases compiled by Dr. Mardy Grothe, “Oxymoronica" focuses on, of course, oxymoronic statements.

Title: "Oxymoronica"

Author: Dr. Mardy Grothe

Genre(s): Reference, Communication, Creativity

Summary: to quote the book's subtitle: "paradoxical wit and wisdom from history’s greatest wordsmiths"

Favorite Quote: I'll give you five:

1. "The best things in life aren’t things." – Ann Landers
2. "First I dream my painting, then I paint my dream” – Vincent Van Gogh
3. “It’s an impossible situation, but it has possibilities” – Samuel Goldwyn
4. “Their bodies were so close together that there was no room for real affection” – Stanislaw Lec
5. “You can’t make anything idiot-proof because idiots are so ingenious” – Ron Burns

Strengths: Like all of Dr. Grothe’s collections, it's funny, inspiring, and educational.
Weaknesses: It gives me an inferiority complex?

Conclusion: I’ll summarize with my own oxymoron - This book is so smart it makes me feel dumb.

Post-it Flags: 35 flags
* Each time I find an interesting quote, model, image, or idea in a book, I mark it with a Post-it flag. The more flags, the more value I found in the book.

Identifying Your Training Weaknesses

I'm a book geek. One of the few things I like better than a bookstore is a used bookstore.
Petaluma, California has a very good one called Copperfields, where Angie and I spent a couple hours yesterday.

I bought a mint copy of "101 Stupid Things Trainers Do to Sabotage Success" there and leafed through it last night.
The book serves as an excellent reminder of how many things can go wrong in a training situation.

My pet peeve is #64 - Foolish Icebreakers. I hate icebreakers. If a class is properly designed, the introduction of attendees should happen organically. If you want me to do a formal introduction, fine... but don't ask me to pick which animal is most like me. Just ask me to introduce myself. Better yet, give us a topic-relevant exercise that requires us to meet each other.

Two that I could be better at would be #41 - using inappropriate humor - occasionally my filter doesn't work quickly enough, and #86 - flopping flip charts. I'm a frequent user of flip charts, but this book reminded me that once you flip the page, people can't see what you wrote. The book suggests hanging the important sheets (and they're all important, or you wouldn't be writing them, right?) so the group can refer back to them.
Great suggestion, and a good book.

What are your biggest training weaknesses?

Pie Chart Humor at GraphJam

GraphJam is brilliant.
This collection of pop-culture humor set to pie-charts is a winner in every respect.

Think about how you might be able to use this type of chart to add a little humor to your presentation, without resorting to 'joke-telling'.

Check it the site. There's much more where this came from.
Watch out though, it's addictive.


more music charts

Trust Me, I'm a Professional...

With fellow graduates of Ken Blanchard's
Situational Leadership II Training for Trainers

There's been an interesting discussion in my online class - What industries and occupations have standards? And why?

Everyone jumped to name the industries that have standards, and soon we were running out.
I asked the question, what industry doesn't have standards?
Well, as it turns out, mine doesn't... oops.

The corporate learning industry has very few standards. 

You don't need to pass anything (a test, class, or medieval gauntlet) to call yourself a facilitator, coach, or trainer. You just put it on your business card and start doing it... Pretty strange, huh?

I googled "licensed occupations" and found this website... It's awesome.
It lists what occupations require licenses in what states.
Here's some of what I learned:

1) In Tennessee, you need a license to shampoo hair. Check this out.

SHAMPOO TECHNICIAN: A person who brushes, combs, shampoos, rinses and conditions upon the hair and scalp.
REQUIREMENTS: Be at least 16 years of age and meet the education and examination requirements.
EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS: Satisfactory completion of a course of instruction of not less than 300 hours in the practice and theory of shampooing at a school of cosmetology.
EXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS: A written and practical examination is required.

I'm not making this up. More than 7 weeks of study to brush, comb, shampoo, rise and condition. How many jokes are in that?

2) Tennessee and Nevada require telemarketers to have licenses. That must be why all those jobs are going to India.

3) Five states require a license to be a Travel Agent.

4) Only Three states (Arkansas, Kansas, and Maine) require a license to be a tattoo artist...
Can this actually be true? It means that in Tennessee, I can tattoo your head, but I can't comb it or wash it.

5) My favorite is that almost every state (looks like 45/50) requires a license to be a barber. Seriously, a barber.
You can tattoo someone, but you can't cut their hair.
You can bear children without a license, but you can't cut some one's hair.

What is the history behind this?
What hair crisis struck our great country that necessitated barbers to be licensed.

Only ONE state (Georgia) requires cooks to be licensed, but almost every state thinks barbers need to be tracked and registered.

And anyone can call themselves a life coach, financial coach, business coach, ADD coach, relationship coach, real estate coach, or even a coaching coach - with no permit or license.

Sometimes, the more you learn, the less you know...

What Would Sherlock Holmes Say?

I'm staying at the beautiful Ambassador Hotel in Hsinchu.

Before the Ambassador came to town, we played 'hotel roulette', rotating through various 2-star hotels, but the Ambassador is truly an oasis.
The staff is great, the rooms are great, and the location is great.

I have had a couple of strange things occur here, though, that haven't happened to me anywhere else.

A few months ago, Angie and I were checking into the hotel late at night.
As Angie sat on the lobby sofa, the desk clerk leaned over to me whispered, "I've got your shoes from your last visit".
I told him I didn't leave any shoes.
"Yes. They are ladies shoes. We found them when we cleaned your room. I have them here for you."
No, I explained, I was alone last time. They are not my shoes.
He seemed to understand, so we went to our room.

The next day, housekeeping came to my room, "Here are your shoes".
No, those are not my shoes.
"Yes. They were in your room when you checked out last time."
She opened the bag, revealing a pair of red, worn-out high heels.
I laughed and said that they were not mine, not my wife's', not my girlfriends', and that I didn't need or want them.
"Okay." She walked away, lugging the shoes.

Of course, now Angie wondered why a pair of red women's' shoes would be in my room from my last visit.
Fortunately, it didn't take long to convince her that even if I did have a woman in my room who wore red high-heels, she probably wouldn't have walked home barefoot.
Still, it was a strange event.

I was reminded of that event last night, as I sat on the toilet (bear with me - if the image of me on a toilet is uncomfortable to you, imagine that I was just reading).
Across from me, on the edge of the bathtub, was a green toothbrush kit from EVA Airlines.
This was interesting, because I flew economy and didn't get a toothbrush kit.
The kit wasn't in my room the previous two days, but suddenly had appeared in my room.

This forced me to ask the following question - What is happening in my room when I'm at work?
Hmmmm.....

When you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left - no matter how unlikely - is the answer.