Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 3 of 58

a quiet Chinese temple

Sunday, January 10

Learning Moment: Singapore

Wandering the streets behind Boat Quay, we found this small, but active Chinese temple.

I took some pictures of the grounds and then took this one inside the temple, before the woman here approached me and nicely told me that no pictures were allowed.

I've never been stopped from taking photos in a Chinese temple before.

It just goes to show that one should always ask, I guess...

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 2 of 58

Island in Time

Saturday, January 9

Learning Moment: Singapore

One of the reasons I travel is - like John Dunbar in Dances with Wolves - to "see it before it's gone", whatever 'it' is.

I was reminded of this yesterday at Orchard Central, a new 12-story mall in downtown Singapore. From the rooftop garden, I was able to look down on Peranakan Place: a collection of historic Chinese shophouses that now serve as residences or trendy bar/restaurants.

We've walked Peranakan Place many times, photographing the colors and details of the graceful colonial architecture.

I knew the area was shrinking under the pressure of expensive high-rise housing.

I didn't know that it was basically a three-block stream running through a desert of characterless condos.

Sometimes it just takes a different view of the world for us to 'get it'.

That's one value that travel provides (as well as books, art, or teachers).

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 1 of 58

Origami display at Narita Airport, Japan

Friday, Jan 8th

Learning Moment: Japan

I knew that Origami is a traditional Japanese 'art'.

I knew that there are origami clubs around the world and enough books on origami to fill a library.

I also knew that - despite living in Japan for 10 years - I'd never seen much origami that was more sophisticated than the proverbial 'crane chain'.

Today, as we were changing planes in Narita Airport, we passed an origami show.

There, for the first time, we saw origami diorama.

There was a scene of dancers in front of Mt. Fuji, a scene of Todaiji temple in Nara (complete with deer), and various other scenes.

I particularly like the details in the one above - two women in kimono enjoying tea and sweets.

Never underestimate what can be accomplished by an accomplished artist, with even the most primitive tools.

Still, I wonder if the artists ever get paper cuts...

Upcoming Events: SMART Goal Workshop at ISPI in April

I'll be presenting a 90-minute workshop at the International Society for Performance Improvement's (ISPI) Performance Improvement Conference this April.

The event takes place April 19-22 at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco.

There will be a lot of great presenters there, so I hope you'll attend.

I'll be discussing why SMART goals can be a great tool, but usually fail.

I'll share strategies and tools for insuring that your goals are SMART as Hell.

The session will be fun and fast-paced. It will change the way you look at SMART goals.

Read more at the ISPI website.

Asia Tour 2010 - On the road again...

For the next eight weeks, I'll be leading KLA-Tencor workshops in Asia.

My buddy Martin once called me the "Indiana Jones of Training", so you know that this is the stuff I love - 5 countries, 29 workshops, more than 500 attendees.

Here's the plan:

• Jan 11 - 15 Singapore:
  Situational Leadership II, Maximizing Customer Relationships, slide:ology
• Jan 18 - 29 Chennai, India:
  5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Presentation Skills, Managing at KT, Working Globally
• Feb 1 - 5 Singapore:
  Situational Leadership II, slide:ology
• Feb 8 - 12 Bali, Indonesia
  cultural anthropology (ie: vacation)
• Feb 15 - 19 Yokohama, Japan:
  Managing at KT, Hire at KT, slide:ology
• Feb 22 - Mar 5 Seoul, South Korea
  (Presentation Skills, Managing at KT, slideology)

I'll be sharing highlights in the form of stories, photos, and maybe even videos.

A New Year Present for all of you...

2009 was a year that could be described with many words: challenging, interesting, difficult, adventure-filled, risky, disappointing, surprising, and opportunity-filled are just a few that come to mind.

Though I did no business travel - for the first time since 1989 - Angie and I still found plenty of excitement.

I assembled this Learning Moments Calendar 2010 to share some of my favorite learning moments of the year with family and friends. Feel free to distribute it...

I'm Back Again...

It's been a crazy two months:

• My home pc died in late October. I played with it for about a month. I got it to breathe again, but never got it to work with the internet. I finally gave up last week.
  Good news - I was able to save all my files.
  Better news - I have an excuse to buy a new computer in March.
• I graduated with my Masters in Adult Education and Training. I wrote my action research paper over the last 10 weeks. I learned that I like learning a lot more than I like recapping my learning.
• Work picked up. Suddenly, in September, our classes started filling up. Budgets are back. I've been teaching at least three days a week, which is great.
• slide:ology exploded onto our scene at work. I've been leading at least one workshop a week. The Duarte approach is changing our culture.
• I've got a two-month Tour of Asia coming up. More about the trip later, but planning that hasn't been easy.
• My Training. I attended Decker Made to Stick Messaging, Leadership Challenge (where I 'slideologized' their deck), and Influencer. I would recommend all of these. I'll write more about them in the next week.
• Projects. We're working with Rick and Mary Gilbert of Power Speaking on "Speaking to the Big Dogs 2.0", and with Ed Muzio of Group Harmonics on "Make Work Great". Randy Emelo and I have also released the first four installments of our six part series on the Mentoring Conversations Model.
• Thanksgiving? Christmas? New Year? Yep, dealt with all of those - plus a nasty cold that put me down for about 72 hours during the holidays.

Apologies to any and all that I've neglected during this time.

All-in-all, it was a hectic end to a pretty great year, but I'm back again.