For the past 30 years, Duarte has played a role in many movements that matter, including its work with Silicon Valley’s leading brands such as Cisco and Salesforce, former Vice President Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth," and the transportation revolution led by Hyperloop One. Today, we’re thrilled to announced the launch of a new strategy practice at Duarte that’s focused on building support for bold ideas and sustaining change over time. Our new consulting offering will help address an expanding need for our clients to help them deliver high-impact communications that effectively move large numbers of people to belief and action. During recent years, we’ve seen a rising importance of movements in the world around us. The new practice we’re launching today is in response to that trend. Inspired by the 2016 book Illuminate that I co-authored with Nancy Duarte, our new practice’s methodologies are built on a proven framework to lead people through five stages of transformation and practical communication tools to inspire others to support and execute a big vision or idea. Through years of in-depth research into the communication practices of great leaders like Apple’s Steve Jobs, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we uncovered a pattern in how they motivate and mobilize the masses, and now are applying that pattern to help others do the same. Great leaders create a feeling of hope that inspires people to contribute extra energy to a transformation until they arrive at the goal. The vision - or dream - of the end state must be so compelling that it creates a sense of longing to pull employees, partners, and customers toward the future. To sustain people’s interest and commitment over the long haul, leaders need to deliver an ongoing stream of meaningful and timely communications that are articulated with clarity, passion and empathy. Our new team of senior strategists are veterans of moving audiences through systematic use of empathy, storytelling and impactful moments. They are Becky Waller Bausman, SVP of Strategy at Duarte, whose background is rooted in positioning and product strategy; Dave DeFranco, who’s led sales enablement and change initiatives for many of the world’s largest B2B tech companies; and Brie Osgood, who has deep experience with executive communications at Moody’s, Johnson & Johnson, HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. To meet our team and learn more about how Duarte can help business leaders move people to embrace bold visions and carry them forward, please visit: www.duarte.com/strategy. Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies and Symbols is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and 800CEORead.

At Duarte, Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and lets us flex our creative thinking and design skills every year - and this year is no exception. After months of planning, today we get to share our magical creations with our fellow co-workers as well as the broader San Jose, CA community. Kicking things off today will be our annual costume contest and the final votes will be tallied to determine the winners of our pumpkin-carving contest. Duarte designers show off their talent in the annual pumpkin contest. Get inspiration for your own pumpkin carving, and vote for your favorite pumpkin here http://www.duarte.com/halloween/ Duarte Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest Harry Potter: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Halloween House The Albertson Halloween House is created by the community (neighbors, co-workers, school friends and more) in the Northside neighborhood in San Jose, CA having been a regular Halloween favorite for 15 years. The house is built using recycled or donated materials and welcomes 800-1,200 trick-or-treaters each year and is also a glow necklace distribution house to help kids remain safe on Halloween. The Albertson Halloween House (free community event with no entry fee) 497 North 16 St., San Jose, Calif. 95112 Monday, October 31 from 6pm to 9pm Website: http://www.albertzone.com/halloween/ Harry Potter: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Halloween House, San Jose, CA, October 31, 2016 from 6pm-9pm The theme for the 2016 Albertson Halloween House is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where visitors will get to feel what it is like to be on the grounds of Hogwarts. After weeks of work, many people painting, cutting, building and helping, the time came to set everything up. On Friday, we set-up the backdrop structure and Saturday was the big moving day. We needed to find a way to move a 12 ft. X 22 ft. cathedral-like entrance to Hogwarts from our backyard and in to place in the front yard. Here’s a link to some photos (photo credit: Bethany Lewis). Building Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Visitors will "experience" Hogwarts School Visitors to this giant Harry Potter themed Halloween house will walk past Hagrid’s hut and Platform 9 3/4 into the grounds of a 22 ft high Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Over 20 cosplayers, embodying Hogwarts teachers, students and other characters from the Wizarding world, will greet visitors and help to make this an unforgettable, immersive experience. In addition, the house will feature a photo op (at Platform 9 3/4) where visitors can snap a photo as they push a trunk-laden cart ‘through’ the barrier and alongside portraits that move, a giant spider, Hagrid’s hut, and more. Cosplayers to be on site: Hogwarts Students - Harry Potter, Hermione, Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Hufflepuff Quidditch Player, and more Hogwarts Professors - Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Hagrid, Professor Umbridge, Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, Mad Eye Moody, Others Others - Mrs. Weasley, baby Harry Potter, Quidditch fans Special Guests: The South Bay Blazers (San Jose’s local Quidditch team) said they would make an appearance! https://www.facebook.com/SouthBayBlazers/ Keep an eye out for magical items (can you spot them all?): Horcruxes -Tom Marvolo’s ring, Ravenclaw’s diadem, Hufflepuff’s cup, Slytherin’s locket, Tom Riddle’s diary Treasures - The Tri-Wizard Cup, the Sword of Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat Other Items - Moving portraits, floating candles, potions from Snape and Professor Slughorn’s stock, Dumbledore’s penseive (complete with case for storing vialed memories) Augmented Reality: HP Aurasma and Harry Potter Spells Apps In addition to the immersive scene, the house will feature several augmented reality experiences. Using the HP Aurasma app (a free app that enables augmented reality on iPhone, Android, etc.) items viewed through the app will come to life. HP Aurasma App-enabled Magic on Halloween Items which will come to life with Aurasma: ‘Have You Seen This Wizard?’ poster - The photo of Sirius Black moves, showing him fighting against his restraints before being taking to Azkaban ‘He Who Must Not Be Named Returns’ poster (on brick wall) - Bricks move away to reveal a hole through which you can see Diagon Alley (and a dragon that passes by and breathes fire) ‘Myrtle Missing’ poster - ghost of Moaning Myrtle appears to welcome you to Hogwarts ‘Support Cedric’ buttons (worn by cosplayers) - animates, changing its message first to ‘True Champion’ and then to ‘Potter Stinks’ For more information and instructions for how to access those experiences through your phone, see this blog post: http://www.albertzone.com/halloween/2016/10/app-enabled-magic-on-halloween/ You Tube Video with instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8Vc8hUDqHg Visitors are also encouraged to utilize the Harry Potter Spells app, which turns a phone into a wand. This free app allows you to learn the wrist movement for Harry Potter spells and even duel with a friend. Everyone is invited to come to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry tonight. We hope to see you there!

To thrive in the long-term, organizations must continually reinvent themselves to avoid decay and decline. To envision the future is one thing; getting others to go there with you is another. By harnessing the power of persuasive communication, you, too, can turn your idea into a movement. Steve Jobs wasn’t just a founder and driver of Apple; he catalyzed a movement. Whenever Jobs took to the stage to talk about new Apple products, the whole world seemed to stop and listen. That’s because he was offering a vision of the future. He wanted each person to realize what the world could become and trust him to lead the way to this new world. Great leaders create a feeling of hope that inspires people to contribute extra energy to the transformation until they arrive at the goal. To move travelers to jump in and stay the course throughout a potentially long and arduous journey, leaders must communicate in a way that overcomes resistance and reinforces commitment. On October 27, 2016, my colleague Patti Sanchez and I participate in a live, interactive Harvard Business Review webinar to describe the tools of master communicators. We’ll be sharing specific examples and best practices from our book Illuminate: Ignite Change through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols. Last week, Patti and I had a lively Q&A session and you’ll find some of the best excerpts from that event below. We hope you’ll be able to join us for our 10/27/16 HBR webinar for a similar session and Q&A conversation. Here is where you can sign up for free. Patti Sanchez (left) and Nancy Duarte (right), co-authors of the book Illuminate (2016), share how to Illuminate the future and inspire others to follow. Here are some tips to help business leaders illuminate the way, move people to embrace their bold visions, and carry them forward. You can #IgniteAMovement: Q: Is it important for leaders to use personal stories to convey their vision? Me: There’s a need for corporate stories to be told, and every organization needs to have a folklorist. But, you also need to have your own collection of stories that are more personal ones because a personal story told from a place of conviction is the most persuasive device there is. More so than anything else, a really transformative story told with personal conviction and passion from a leader actually transforms more greatly than anything. Patti: I think a relevant example from one of the CEOs Nancy and I both have a crush on: Howard Schultz of Starbucks. He regularly tells the stories of his life. For instance, growing up and seeing his father suffer an injury and not get healthcare covered by his employer. That became a galvanizing experience for Schultz and shaped his value system. What Starbucks chooses to invest in now for its employees is directly from his personal experience growing up. He communicates that all the time to help people understand its values. Q: Are there exercises to improve storytelling skills, like learning to play piano? Me: We’re developing a story workshop now because there’s real magic in telling a good story. Our new story-making tool has been tested internally, and we think it’s going to work great. If it works on me, it’s going to work on the world, but we have a method. The power is actually in using a story at the right time and the right place because some people will feel like you’re telling a story to manipulate. That’s the last thing you want. You want it to feel like it’s fueling the communication at the time. Patti: In our book, Illuminate, there are many examples of stories you can tell in different stages of a journey. It’s important to remember that the audience you’re talking to should be the hero, not you. Don’t choose something that’s going to glorify you. Instead, it’s much better to choose something that will help them. Q: What are some examples of ceremonies? Patti: We have our own at Duarte. One is this little ritual of recognition with a giraffe. It’s been our symbol for many years after an employee gave one to somebody who was working really hard. It’s now a ritual to stand up at our staff meeting, call someone to the front of room, hand them a little giraffe statue and recognize them for their effort. It’s our own small kind of award ceremony. Pledging commitments are another good example. People can pledge commitment to a project just by signing a document like how Apple’s Mac team signed the inside of the first Macintosh. There are also mourning ceremonies. One example is about Steve Jobs holding a mock funeral for the Mac OS 9 product when he wanted to convince developers it was really dead and time to move on to next platform. During a big launch event, Jobs had a large coffin on the stage behind him with an over-sized box of the Mac OS 9 in it. He gave a eulogy for the old product. While it was theatrical, it was a really a powerful way to communicate that an ending had come. Ceremonies are about beginnings and endings. Q: How do you translate financial metrics of interest to C-Suite into a storyline? Me: For financial information, you can create a story arc at the beginning with the data’s meaning and narrative, and then support it with some sort of an appendix. Typically, you’re given only 30 minutes with a senior executive, and it’s a struggle to get everything out because they’re going to interrupt you. You need to build a case that’s interrupt-driven. Moving back and forth rapidly between what is and what could be is very important. In reality, we suggest that you flip the form. It’s the only instance where you flip the form. You state the new bliss, they see most of everything and you tell them: "This is what I need to make it reality," then you move back and forth between what is and what could be so rapidly with data to back it up - in between the interruptions. Patti: Another tip: once you drop everybody’s shoulders down by answering the financial and data-driven questions of most interest, you’ll often earn the right to go a little bit longer and tell your actual story. We helped one global retailer’s HR organization make the case to the board about significant, big investments they were asking for, which was a difficult ask because HR is not a profit center. We helped them tell a story about how these investments would change the daily lives of employees by using an actual employee as an example. It was hugely powerful and effective because they could see tangible evidence of what this strategy and required money was going to buy them. Q: Do you share good examples of how to onboard new team members in your book, Illuminate? Me: A bunch of content we wrote for Illuminate hit the cutting-room floor. There was a great example I loved from Aileen Lee, a famous venture capitalist at Cowboy Ventures. When one of her startups gets funding, she sends them a disco ball. That’s part of the ceremony. It’s like saying: "Dance your butts off, because you’re going to be working hard." At Duarte, our new employees get a standing ovation when they leave the office on their first day. It’s not a ceremony that management came up with, it grew organically from our people. It wasn’t like I stood up and started clapping. Instead, it was just this natural gift of affection for new people. That’s the thing about ceremonies. Patti: I think that’s a really important point. The most powerful ceremonies that have the most meaning for people are most typically created organically from a company’s staff. If you’re trying to imagine what your symbol or ceremony might be, it’s a great idea to study how your people behave with each other already. Find those nuggets that are already in your culture. Pluck out the thing employees are energized by and amplify it. ### Patti and I hope that you’ll be able to join us for our next Illuminate webinar and Q&A session hosted for free by the Harvard Business Review on October 27 at noon EDT/9am PDT. For more information on Illuminate and where to buy it, visit: www.duarte.com/Illuminate

Unhealthy, unhappy people cannot lead.  As an immature leader I used to believe that it was dishonest not to share all my worries and feelings with my team.  Now I realize that as a leader I have to carefully choose what is in the best interest of my team, not MY best interest.  Clearly, all teams are looking to their leader to lead them. Uncertainty and stress can scare the team, and the leader must find a way to be authentic and optimistic.  Leadership is a difficult task and a serious meddling in people's lives.  This sacred work must be taken very seriously.Emotional Intelligence is the secret sauce of leadership.  First, clarify what your strengths are in the following three:Self-Awareness  - know when you are experiencing an emotion and why Self- Regulation - know how to calm your emotional state down when appropriateEmpathy - see and know the emotional state of othersOf these three, I find empathy the most challenging.  With our customers, any combination of these three can occur.  The good news is that your emotions are a personal call to action - you telling yourself that something needs to change. Learning to listen to that inner voice is critical to great leadership.  Emotions are a muscle, that with practice, are easily grown.There are many EQ assessments and programs.  I believe emotions are the critical drivers of awesome and terrible leadership.  Businesses are starting to pay close attention to the EQ of their leaders and teams.  My advice is to start simply - focus on just these three.  We're all prone to trying to do too much, and the same can happen in growing EQ.Check out the Behavioral Intelligence Assessment we love for only $75 (normally $150) Use Code: OCTLF16- offer valid until 10/31. In addition, leaders need to make sure that the people they lead are healthy.  It's hard enough to exercise, sleep, eat well and manage emotions effectively.  And it's also the leaders responsibility to be aware (empathy) of the signals from members of their team that all is not well.  The leader may not be the right person to intervene in every problem and he/she is the right person to coach and direct to the best resources. ​

The insanity of work is at an epidemic level.  Our own work suffers. If we're honest, quality and innovation have been replaced by minimal effort delivered as quickly as possible.  We're doing the easy things fast to feel productive when the impact we are making is minimal. Perhaps this is why companies are reorganizing and trying to change cultures.  I do not believe organization structure change helps if the people in the organization are addicted to busy-ness.  Bold leaders are stopping and asking what can be done to minimize busy-ness. Want help taking back your own energy and power? Bring our Power of You learning experience to your team. We’ll focus on each individual, help each person craft a better way to choose the appropriate emotions, help them learn to focus and get back to their personal ‘stable’ base more quickly- allowing them to be more effective at work. Schedule in 2016 for the special rate of $10,000 + travel for up to 15 learners. Connect with Brittney for more details or to add this to your calendar. bhelt@russellmartin.com , 317-475-9311 x3.

Strong and durable learning can happen without incentives and reinforcements. How do we make the most of that insight? Part One on latent learning. Before Edward Tolman's maze experiments (see this post, and this post, for the full story) and subsequent theories about "cognitive maps," it was conventional wisdom that learning only occurred with incentives and reinforcements. All learning, it was assumed, was behavior modification in response to stimuli. (The Pavlovian response is the most famous reference for this approach). Tolman's experiments and the "latent learning" theory that followed provided a new conceptual frame. That is, learning can also happen cognitively, in the absence of stimulus, and without obvious incentive or reinforcement.Tolman's claims that there is a cognitive dimension to learning set off more experimentation as cognitive psychologists attempted to replicate the results, and behaviorists attempted to prove them wrong (see this article for a helpful summary on the debate).  At stake in this argument was a basic conceptual disagreement about human nature.We don't need to dig that deep; no experiments have thus far disproved Tolman's theory. Perhaps, some scientists have concluded, the "map" metaphor is insufficient, or distracting, since it overly abstracts some physiological alterations that occur during learning. But I think the image of cognitive mapping is quite useful, given the shift in usage of the term. In contemporary language, "mapping" evokes much more than a strict cartographic function. It has also moved beyond the two dimensional world of paper maps, to encompass computer applications that help us track our thoughts and brainstorming, especially for strategic planning. In other words, mapping itself has become a useful metaphor for describing the contours and larger context of more specific ideas, concepts, and tasks.As we think about the difference between performance support and performance learning, cognitive mapping remains a useful way to help us strategize about how best to design learning projects in the workplace. When, for instance, might it be better for learners to spend a little more time learning the larger context of a task, free of more distracting structured incentives, so that their performance will improve in the long term?  We'll consider that question in part two of this topic.

Do you know how many metaphors we use every minute? According to research, we use up to six metaphors per minute, though most of the time we just don’t notice it.Metaphors are abundant in the English spoken and written language where they are used as a tool to communicate thoughts, feelings, and abstract ideas to others. By comparing something difficult to something more common and tangible, metaphors aid in the audience’s understanding of what the speaker is trying to say.Like stories, metaphors evoke images in our minds. Because of this, metaphors have potential as a tool for training as well.Here are some ways metaphors can be used in training.1. Avoid Technical JargonLegalese and other technical jargon make learning hard. But replacing the jargon with a metaphor allows trainers to present difficult or complex ideas in a way that learners are familiar with and, as a result, helps them digest the information better.2. Use Clean Language QuestionsBecause learning happens when learners are able to connect a new concept with something they already know, it’s important that they come up with their own metaphors. One technique trainers can use or learn from is Clean Language.Prompt learners to develop their own metaphors with the phrases "It’s like..." or "It’s as if..." instead of using technical jargon. Training professionals can use Clean Language questions as an example. Clean Language is a psychotherapy and coaching technique developed by counselling psychologist David Grove. The approach makes use of questions that are free from the questioner’s own thoughts, assumptions, and metaphors. Below are the 12 basic Clean Language questions.Credit: David J GroveWatch this video to learn more about Clean Language.3. Metaphoric LandscapeCognitive linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, authors of "Metaphors We Live By", believe the metaphor is a "fundamental mechanism of the mind" that uses what we know to help us understand what we don’t know. This process happens subconsciously in what is known as the Metaphoric Landscape, which contains symbols that are embedded in an individual’s metaphors. These elements shape a person’s perceptions and actions. For trainers, the challenge is in finding the right set of symbols and metaphors that will result in the desired behavior.4. Self-DirectionMetaphors can also be useful in an interactive learning environment. Designers can incorporate a self-contemplative mode to encourage learners to reflect deeper and create their own context. Their metaphors will assist them in connecting the content to their real-life work.ConclusionThe use of metaphors should not be limited to the English language. Training and development professionals can also take advantage of metaphors as a tool to help learners gain deeper insight from unfamiliar concepts.In what way do you envision using metaphors in your next training session? Share your thoughts below. ReferencesRaymond W. Gibbs. Categorization and Metaphor Understanding. Psychological Review, Vol 99(3), Jul 1992, 572-577.Caitlin Walker. Clean Questions and Metaphor Models. TEDxMerseysideGeorge Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. University Of Chicago Press (December 2008)Ray Jimenez Transforming Minds - Using Metaphors in eLearningRay Jimenez - Is your content out of context or in context? Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

 ​By now, you’ve heard the buzz regarding what’s variously called Experience API, xAPI, or The Tin Can API. And you know that it’s an emerging learning technology standard that facilitates the collection and communication of data related to the wide range of ways in which a learner interacts with formal or informal learning assets. However, at this point, you might be wondering how xAPI is relevant to performance support and workflow learning. But before we get into the uses of xAPI in EPSS, let’s quickly review the basics of how xAPI is intended to work. In a nutshell, learners go about their business learning stuff from a system like Ontuitive that supports xAPI. As they learn, their activities (viewing a video, reading content, assessing content, commenting, completing a task, etc.) are written -- using xAPI statements -- to an xAPI-compliant Learning Record Store. Later, a report of those informal and previously untracked learning activities may be generated to assess the learners activities or the performance of the EPSS system. With that as background, here are the 3 Reasons your Performance Support should speak xAPI:xAPI-enabled Performance Support ensures that you can provide evidence of real, quantifiable business value derived from a learning investment. It’s no secret that business leaders are often skeptical of the ROI on learning expenditures. Having the ability to track learning activities and associated outcomes from your Performance Support Platform gives you evidence of genuine ROI.xAPI-enabled your Performance Support ensures you’re getting value from your investment in your xAPI-compliant LMS. Don’t have an xAPI-compliant LMS? Don’t bother reading on. My guess, though, is that your company has probably invested substantially in its LMS. You can make sure it’s relevant to how employees actually learn: on-the-job.Finally, an xAPI-enabled Performance Support Solution engages and motivates learners. Employees are motivated and successful when they know that their learning activity and performance matter - to them and to their employers. Sharing evidence-based ROI with employees demonstrates that their informal learning activities are valuable to their employers. ​Out-of-the-box, Ontuitive supports xAPI integration to an xAPI LRS for the standard set of verbs. Contact us to find out more.

Everyone is too busy.  For great leaders, busy is an opportunity to do great things more effectively than others. For poor leaders, busy is an excuse to be ineffective.  Victims cannot be great leaders.As I was watching Andrew Luck work his magic at the end of a Colts (loss) game, I was struck by his ability to see the whole field and then instantly switch to a laser focus on the person he was passing to.  In this case, unfortunately, a Denver player was able to sneak up on him and interrupt the play. Had he been seeing the whole field at that point, he might have been able to avoid the tackle.  However, he would likely not have been able to accurately make the pass.  Great leaders intentionally pick what they will focus on.   Bad leaders let every interruption interrupt their brain. Our brains are not built to jump between multiple points of focus.  Write down 25 random words. Give yourself a minute or less. Turn the list over.  Quickly write down what words you remember.  You'll notice a couple of things from memory theory:You'll remember the first and maybe last word you wrote down.  You'll remember any strange words.You'll remember emotional words.You'll group words together that make sense. Words that don't have pictures (for example, love) will be more difficult to remember. Focus requires intention.  Chunking, pictures and other memory techniques are required for our brain to remember more than 7 +/- 2 things.  Bad leaders have a to-do list that has 100 items on it to get done today.  Great leaders have 1-3 imperatives for the day.NOTE: More details on mitigating busy-ness in the September Learning Flash

​When the world of work pulls you off center, it's important to have a way to intentionally get back to being a great leader. In projects, we use the following questions to stay on track:What will we have after we do this project that we don't have now?  What impact will this project have on the organization if we do it right now?   In my personal life, I like to use my personal Purpose Statement.  I use this in many of our leadership interventions and I like to use it as a mantra.  It's 3 PM and I have not gotten enough done (my opinion) today.  My head is spinning from checking off tasks.  It's time to get back on track:Move away from the computer and take a few deep breaths.  Pull your shoulders down, tap your right hand to you left shoulder, left hand to right shoulder a few times.  Close your eyes (if you're comfortable, it's not necessary) and notice five sounds. Notice five things you can see. Look inside, and think about five physical things you can feel. Repeat your Purpose Statement to yourself while you breath. Here's how to create a Purpose Statement:  simply choose three verbs and a noun and make it into a meaningful sentence that you can easily memorize and repeat as needed.   Here is mine:I ignite, affirm and sustain learning in self and others.  Remember, this is your reason for being on earth. No pressure, right? Of course, since it is yours, you can change it any time you want.  Get your team together and do this as a team (the team's Purpose Statement) then help build each other's.  I guarantee that the time you invest will create great value.  NOTE: Submit your purpose statement using the form to the right and win fabulous RMA merchandise!