When the Cats Need In Right Now — It’s been a bitterly cold week here. Last weekend was warm and sunny, particularly nice for February. But it was the “warm before the storm.” By late Monday afternoon, the cold front was blowing in and there was no mistaking the fact that it’s still winter on the high plains. …

Gifts from the cosmos come in small furry packages — I called him Covid at first. That’s how much I wanted one more male cat scoping out our place. I value a peaceful kingdom at our isolated prairie homestead. We already had one feline jerk disrupting the status quo and making life difficult for our existing barn kitties. I especially…

What Are You Like to Work With? — If you were going to cast yourself as an employee in the movie Office Space, who would you be? Peter, the unmotivated guy who spends as much time as possible on a coffee break? Lumbergh, the slimy boss that gets his jollies telling people they need to come in on…

A story of courage and integrity featuring the mute button — Have you ever wished you could mute your coworkers at will? I’m talking about a mute button that works like the one on the TV remote. The one you use when the commercials start so you don’t have to listen to them. Come to think of it, coworkers and TV…

How to get the first principle of design right — What’s the first thing anyone tells you about writing, designing, persuading… pretty much anything meant to influence? Know your audience. There, that’s all. No need to continue reading. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. There are a few reasons why you might not be focusing on your intended audience at all. …

Design + Story = Learning — If you work in learning design, you’ve no doubt heard of the value of storytelling for engaging your audience and creating a memorable learning experience. If you’ve tried implementing stories in your courses, you’ve also discovered that it’s not all that easy to do well. Here’s a quick why-what-when-who, and…

Lend an ear to shift the balance of power — Oh, there’s Barbara screaming at poor Brenda again. Maybe I’ll go back to my office until she goes away. I wonder what happened to Mark? He’s very quiet these days. He used to be so enthusiastic about everything. Wow, is that someone crying in the other stall? I think it’s…