tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50724333179930762672012-02-01T23:28:46.782-06:00A collection of thoughts and musing on the state of learning.Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-85908898710175783532011-11-06T21:48:00.000-06:002011-11-06T21:48:10.573-06:00

I had a boss once who loved to draw on the white board. It became something of a joke on his team, that at the beginning of a meeting we would hide the dry erase markers before he came into the room. It never stopped him; he started carrying them around. Only recently do I truly appreciate his approach. Sidebar for a personal story: My daughter’s soccer team recently ended their season and part

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-28864858399495407432011-11-01T09:18:00.001-05:002011-11-01T09:36:26.200-05:00

This morning was a very good run. The morning run after trick or treat is always dicey because a. I've probably consumed too much sugar that I swiped from my kids' bags, and b. I've had to unwind from herding hyper kids throughout the neighborhood with a couple of cold adult beverages. This morning started pretty smoothly though and as I started to loosen up and get into my stride, I started

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-32613371285225149422010-05-02T22:46:00.001-05:002010-05-02T22:47:32.315-05:00

I am a runner and I love it. I enjoy the challenge of speedwork Thursdays and my long run on Sunday mornings. It is hard to describe the sense of accomplishment you feel after completing a good run; a feeling like you have really conquered something. Then again, maybe it’s just runner’s high. Back in my high school teaching days I coached Cross Country and I used to take my team to a particular

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-14705089929693463452010-04-13T09:40:00.004-05:002010-04-13T09:47:25.929-05:00

Wow – I now understand what writers mean when they say that to be a writer you have to approach it as a job. I have fallen way behind.Not long ago my daughter had one of her friends over for play time. Since they were forced to include my son (the dreaded “little brother”) they had chosen a game they could all participate in, called “School.” As you might guess, one person plays the teacher and

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-79633418231773935942009-12-03T11:12:00.004-06:002009-12-03T11:19:16.958-06:00

I am a proud University of Georgia alumnus and support the Red and Black year in and year out. This has been a frustrating season as our results on the football field have been lackluster (though other programs are doing very well). Back in my college days when the team went through a rough patch here and there my friends and I joked that it was “building season.”This year I initially complained

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-58309152553349449212009-09-22T11:42:00.006-05:002009-09-22T13:01:23.531-05:00

Remember those? The "do over" is a childhood standard, practiced on playgrounds and classrooms, at friends' houses and on the street. It is a universal code that erases the prior result, without erasing prior learning.How great would it be if we could bring that forward to adulthood? I find it interesting that as we get older we often disagree with that idea. You hear things like, "You have to

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-82773271310136592302009-09-15T11:54:00.005-05:002009-09-15T13:35:36.692-05:00

Just a few quick hits while I work on some other postings:1. I knew my teaching experience should count for management experience. Check out Steven DeMaio's post at the Harvard Business School website : Obama: Principal-In-Chief. Relate it to your organization: Is the leadership in your organization supporting and developing you to do a better job meeting the needs of your customers? Is your

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-62348081408427678722009-09-01T22:31:00.006-05:002012-02-01T23:25:12.819-06:00

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know. Daniel J. Boorstin Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. John W. Gardner Most folks I work with know that I spent my early years in the education and training field as a high school teacher. I learned early

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-50707108984248785602009-08-18T09:48:00.002-05:002009-08-18T09:54:17.882-05:00

Shame on me for not keeping up with these posts. I truly enjoy doing it but when I finally landed a new job I let this fall to the bottom of the priority list. I’ll work harder to keep up.Today my thoughts turn to the PGA Championship. For those of you who are not golf fans, the number one player in the world, Tiger Woods, was upset by the number 110 player, Y.E. Yang. It was a stunning round of

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-76459869553497298682009-06-23T22:23:00.010-05:002009-06-23T22:37:19.719-05:00

I was doing some work for a client in Florida during my family’s annual sojourn to the beach so the timing was perfect to combine work with pleasure. I spent many hours working but found some time to enjoy sand and surf with my kids, building sand castles and boogie boarding. While waiting for that “perfect wave” I had a thought about how training organizations function.Boogie boarding is not

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-1463670782393119472009-05-27T21:20:00.004-05:002009-05-27T21:54:52.842-05:00

A bit of a personal note to start. Recently I was hired to do some project work for a colleague I knew from a previous organization. As I am new to independent consulting, this is my first "job" and I am very excited about the opportunity. My client is several states away and I am working more independently than ever. It got me thinking about the virtual work force and how management has to be

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-81730931211134584602009-05-05T09:15:00.007-05:002009-05-05T13:19:14.797-05:00

Josh Bersin recently reported some frightening numbers on the state of learning. It reminded me of something we made central to our leadership training in my last position: if you don't measure it, it doesn't matter. This became foundational to our management and leadership training and we encouraged managers to examine their own behavior. Managers soon discovered that their behavior and what

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-83252457675608818932009-04-29T07:22:00.010-05:002009-04-29T08:40:17.614-05:00

They say that leaders are born not made. I don't know who "they" are but I disagree and so do others including Colin Powell.Think about the best boss you ever had. I'll bet he/she had years of experience. I'll bet he/she had plenty of stories of successes and failures that shaped managerial behavior. I'll bet he/she empowered you to make decisions, recognized your hard work, provided feedback and

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-72246038231600299392009-04-12T20:12:00.008-05:002009-04-13T08:42:32.303-05:00

Everywhere you look, learning professionals and consultants are writing about coping with tough times, surviving the downturn, or bracing for the worst. I don't blame them, times are tough and many people I talk to are cutting corners and balancing expenses. By people I mean friends, family, and business contacts. Personally or professionally, anyone with a checkbook is paying even closer

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-3652170320407337652009-04-07T12:26:00.010-05:002010-09-19T23:52:39.315-05:00

While perusing the blogs I follow, I reacquainted myself with this article from Josh Bersin. I was pleased to see that my ideas align pretty well and I was able to learn a few new things. I love the focus on informal, casual learning and the value of networks. I've been blogging about informal learning quite a bit and was pleased to see I'm on track. I also enjoyed some of the specifics

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-86936800673909083702009-04-03T18:15:00.011-05:002012-02-01T23:23:57.505-06:00

"Moderation in all things -- including moderation." - Benjamin Franklin Lately I have been in several friendly debates with high school teachers over the use of Second Life in secondary education. There seems to be some hesitation in some quarters about losing face time with students. Great teachers have learned to measure the effectiveness of their training session by a glance around the room.

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-81536644900796692292009-03-28T11:12:00.008-05:002009-03-29T23:49:41.788-05:00

March Madness has hit my home like a tornado. We are staunch supporters of Villanova basketball so you can imagine the ups and downs we've been going through.My wife and I had friends over for the very exciting Elite Eight match-up with Pitt. After the game, we got into a discussion of scholar-athletes and how focused they should be on education. We spoke of athletes who leave school early for

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-57487916191770701942009-03-22T14:04:00.018-05:002009-03-22T19:38:36.594-05:00

This past weekend I rented Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo for my kids. There is no way they would have picked it, but I was feeling nostaligic for old Disney movies (brought on by the release of Race to Witch Mountain which looks like a fun movie). I mean, who doesn't like Don Knotts?The beginning of Herbie goes to Monte Carlo sets the stage and foreshadows the rest of the movie. It alludes to the

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-12822940295938851072009-03-14T09:15:00.009-05:002009-03-14T16:52:43.920-05:00

I stumbled into my next topic while listening to Fresh Air on National Public Radio. In this episode, Terry Gross, the host, interviewed Economist Uwe Reinhardt to discuss the hidden costs and economics of health care. During the interview, Reinhardt relates an interesting story that summarizes the difference between European and American views on health care. Specifically, it illustrated a

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-14948442855427515452009-03-08T21:05:00.014-05:002010-09-19T23:10:29.779-05:00

I spent a good portion of this past Saturday coaching my kids’ soccer teams. I try not to be that dad, reliving my better days through my kids. I coach like crazy in practice and then in games I sit in my chair and watch. I was proud to see my teams do some great stuff on the field and it reminded me of how we learn to play games like soccer. Sure, as a coach I provide skill practice and drills

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-28529936224619506322009-03-05T07:52:00.008-06:002012-02-01T23:28:46.797-06:00

In the last seven years as a learning professional, I've encountered many obstacles to training implementation. Early on, lack of technology hampered the distribution of the cooler stuff we wanted to produce. More recently, time challenges the learning organization. Who has time? Nearly every strategic communication contains the message "do more with less". Oh sure, very few are jumping up and

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5072433317993076267.post-34662303632912474522009-03-02T09:00:00.015-06:002009-03-06T13:03:25.858-06:00

Today I embark on my own adventure in learning - blogging. Web 2.0, a topic all the rage for some time now, has huge impact on learning. Many learning professionals, myself included, are guilty of attending webinars and conferences to gather information on this phenomenon only to return to our "real lives" and continue our normal routines. Sometimes we become inspired, and we write business cases

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11485179798081965581noreply@blogger.com0