12/21/14  New post published.  Topic: reviewing you 2014 goals and resolutions.

12/12/14  Found this piece today.  I have warned junior leaders in the past not only were they replaceable, but they probably knew who the up and coming leaders were who wanted their jobs.  I finished by letting them know that I knew their were people in the organization that also wanted and were able to do my job so if we wanted to keep what we had and prepare for future assignments, we all had better improve the bad situation.  Enjoy Liz’s take on it: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2014/12/12/if-you-think-youre-special-read-this

12/8/14  Life continues to be busy.  Put out one fire, another starts; sometimes two.  I am planning on a couple short posts before the end of the month.  One some rambling thoughts in general leadership.  The other will focus on New Years Resolutions and Goal Setting Cycle.  Check back soon.

11/28/14  Been a busy fall. Thanks to those of you who have visited.  I am hoping to have time to post some short updates for December.  My goal for the New Year will be one short post each month.

9/28/14  Some great thoughts on the English language.  Anne Curzan: What makes a word “real”? #TED : http://on.ted.com/b0T1D

9/22/14  Great slide deck on body language training.  This is a topic every leader and trainer should have some familiarity. 

9/14/14 I found this short piece on my reader today.  Boils down the writing process into something anyone can do.  http://bottledworder.com/2012/08/24/six-ways-to-become-a-more-productive-writer/

9/7/14  Great tip to start training.  http://instructionaldesignthatsoars.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/a-train-the-trainer-tip-start-your-sessions-with-a-bang/

8/30/14  The summer has flown by.  Old saying in my part of the world after Labor Day, “Could snow any day now.” I started a new professional development program for senior leaders this month to fulfill a requirement for a promotion I received last year.  The time requirements for September, October and November prevent me from spending time developing quality blog posts.  After much thought on the matter, I decided I will not post a regular blog during those three months, but I will post some thoughts here from time to time probably related to what I learn in my classes.  I expect those posts to be a short paragraph about 50-100 words.  Thanks for using your time to read my thoughts on leadership and training.  I will be back at it before Christmas.

7/8/14  WOW!  There are some great ideas in this post:  https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140708005426-225119-the-best-leaders-do-nothing?trk=cha-feed-art-title-200

7/7/14  I have been working on some changes to my blog page.  Not all have worked like I thought they would.  One of the results of this work was less time to work on writing.  Moving forward I plan on post less often and tying in more slide decks on SlideShare.com supporting my blogs.  I will also be starting an on-line leadership course in the fall which I expect will distract from writing her ass well.  I am only planning on one post each month for much of the rest of the year.  From time to time I may post more often.  Thanks everyone for reading and providing support.

5/24/14  This weekend not only marks Memorial Day, a very important holiday weekend; but it also marks the anniversary of my first posting.  As a veteran, not a day goes by without thoughts of those with whom I have served and those who served before me.  I have learned some of my most important leadership and training lessons from them.  Those of you who have chosen to follow my posts have provided feedback on what I write, and for that I am thankful.

Please take time this weekend to visit a vet, attend a parade or participate in a remembrance ceremony.  Liberty is too important to take for granted.

4/26/14  New post Sunday PM on using facilitation as a training tool.  I expect to post a leadership blog also before the end of the month.

4/2/14  Some thoughts from Dave Smith about Detraining.  Short version is that he cautions about how easy it is for people to unlearn what trainers work so hard to teach.  In general it supports use of video only as a training tool accompanied with discussion to maintain survival mindset which in turn encourages proper practice of techniques taught to survive.  http://www.policeone.com/police-trainers/articles/6023356-The-deadly-dangers-of-detraining/?fb_ref=homepage/  Enjoy.

3/26/14  Great blog by Nancy Duarte about making your presentations better.  Two points:  the one I made in my blog a couple weeks ago about more pictures less text; the other about assorting and aspiring software.  https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140325113303-172811-state-of-presentations-new-tools-for-new-communication-needs?goback=.nmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1&trk=object-title

3/22/14  Hum…seems like TED has had some talks this month that have appealed to me.  Here is another about fear.  https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space

3/15/14 TED talks are informative and entertaining.  I like to watch them from time to time for many reasons including gaining inspiration to improve my own presentations.  I found this article enumerating the top five reasons so many TED talks are great.  Check it out for yourself.  http://www.fastcompany.com/3027164/dialed/the-best-of-ted-5-public-speaking-lessons-from-30-years-of-spreading-ideas

3/7/14 For those of you have not heard of Nancy Duarte and spend anytime in front of others making presentations of some sort, you really should look her up.  She has a couple of TED talks, her own website, a SlideShare channel and she just published a new ebook called SLIDEDOCS dedicated to improving your presentation.  Here is the link to download it: http://www.duarte.com/slidedocs/

3/6/14  I attended a really great class on documenting force.  Much of the information will improve your report writing in most situations.  I posted my notes on SlideShare.  Here is the link: http://www.slideshare.net/ChrisStCyr1/documenting-force-notes

2/21/14  Some great advise for gaining and maintaining focus and discipline to achieving your goals.  http://leaderchat.org/2014/02/13/3-steps-to-becoming-the-person-you-desire-to-be/

2/9/14. I just returned from an exciting weekend that contrasted great leadership to poor leadership; great training to poor training and how each is obvious to outside observers but not so plain to those involved. I concluded my weekend by sharing my frustrations and excitement about my observations with one of the best leaders I know. As we talked about the events of the weekend, I realized he made similar observations. I acquired enough material for my next few posts and look forward to clarifying my thoughts as I write. Stay tuned.

2/2/14  So I was looking around on SlideShare today and found this short deck that reinforces my most recent post, Why Run Alone?  Mr. Kasanoff’s deck is about self promotion, but postulates that good self promotion requires working well with others to include promoting the good things they do, connecting people who otherwise would not meet but need each other and earn trust as a cooperative person.  I think those of you who read my work will enjoy it.  http://www.slideshare.net/NowPosible/how-to-selfpromote-without-being-a-jerk

2/1/14 I just posted a companion slide deck for dealing with Disruptive Students during skills based training.  View it on SlideShare at: http://www.slideshare.net/ChrisStCyr1/disruptedpractice.  I look forward to everyone’s discussion on this important topic.

1/2/14  I just found this great presentation on improving presentations and making them more memorable.  Enjoy: