What I Love Most About What I Do

I don't really think I ever said what I do. I'm also not sure that it matters but here goes. I am a learning strategist or adult learning consultant. I have a master's degree in Instructional Systems Design with an emphasis in adult learning and human performance improvement. I've been in the profession for 15 years and I worked as an instructional designer, internal performance consultant, external consultant and director of a training company before starting my own company. I love what I do for a living. I go into organizations when their is an identified performance deficiency and help build programs to speed time to competence or to help people work better, faster, and cheaper.

The work that I do takes many forms. Over the last few years I've spent most of my time developing models for increasing the rate at which people learn, unlearn, and relearn. In a knowledge economy it is imperative for people to learn faster than the rate of change. I write articles about strategic thinking and it's power to improve problem solving. I've been working at writing a business book and use the adoption blog alot of the time to help me break through a mental block.

What I love about what I do:

• I am exposed to a variety of organizations and every kind of people that you could imagine. I get an opportunity to work with a diverse group of people and over the years have had every stereotype challenged for the good.
• Learning people's stories. We all have them and the more I stories I hear the more I realize how we are all connected.
  
• No two days are ever the same and something unexpected always happens.
  
• It is a challenge to find the right levers for different groups. I like trying to come up with different and unique ways to engage an audience.
  
• I've had the opportunity to teach in foreign countries. Teaching while using a translator is a really interesting experience. Your brain hurts by the end of the day. But, I'm always reminded by my favorite line from a movie. In a Walk In the Clouds, the Spanish American father says to the Keanu Reeve's character, "Just because I speak with an accent doesn't mean that I think with an accent." That is the best line!
  
• Getting to work as a part time or adjunct professor. I've taught adult learning, human performance improvement and now teach group and organizational dynamics. I teach in a non-traditional program where adults are returning to school to get their degrees. It's pretty rewarding to be a part of that.
  
• I am always in learning mode. Every time that I think that I've "got it" I learn something new.
  
• My greatest love is seeing people do more than they thought was possible. I love when people light up with the personal "aha." To see people walk out of a room with much more confidence is the best feeling for me.
• Getting letters months and even years later from participants telling me how they have exceeded their goals.
  

These days like I said I focus more on how people think, learn, and solve problems. Here is a link to one of my favorite articles Thinking Through Problem Solving. It was published by a company called Change This.

If you are really bored or at least curious you might read, 35 Thinking Dispositions. Most people find it really interesting to try to figure out their thinking style. I've classified them into three groups. Can you guess which one I am? You might even get a little insight into why some of my forum post are what they are.

Which one are you?