Author Archive

Etienne Wenger’s foundations of communities of practice workshop

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —October 2, 2005
Filed in Collaboration

Etienne is running his online community of practice workshop. I highly recommend this event. I had a blast when I first participated and since then …

Read More

The gentle approach to getting a community of practice started

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —October 1, 2005
Filed in Collaboration

As we know, developing communities of practice is an organic activity. You never quite know what is going to happen or whether it will succeed. …

Read More

A couple of things I’ve learnt about interventions

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 27, 2005
Filed in Collaboration, Culture

Late last year I described some initial thoughts on what makes an intervention. Here is an excerpt: We call them ‘interventions’ because they are designed …

Read More

Brisbane this week

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 27, 2005
Filed in News

I’ll be in Brisbane on Thursday this week. If you would like to catch up for a coffee please drop me a line: shawn AT …

Read More

Learning initiatives need stories not measurement

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 25, 2005
Filed in Employee Engagement

I learnt from Nancy Dixon that it’s difficult (perhaps impossible) to determine the organisational impact of a learning initiative. Say, for example, you introduce After …

Read More

Latham’s diary is a lesson on why we don’t edit anecdotes

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 24, 2005
Filed in Anecdotes

I was reading excerpts of Mark Latham’s diaries last weekend and I was struck by how neat and complete his entries were and my immediate …

Read More

Google Blog Search is now available

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 24, 2005
Filed in News

If you are looking for blogs try Google Blog Search. One of the nice features is the ability to subscribe to your search via RSS …

Read More

The Anecdote team grows to three

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 20, 2005
Filed in News

I’m pleased to announce that Anecdote has moved to a new and exciting phase of its evolution with Mark Schenk and Andrew Rixon joining the …

Read More

Firefighters in the US deploy a narrative database of near misses

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 20, 2005
Filed in News

Wired has just reported that 38 fire departments across the US are beginning to use the National Fire Near-Miss Reporting System. Firefighters are encouraged to …

Read More

How marketers can exploit the full power of stories

Posted by  Shawn Callahan —September 18, 2005
Filed in Anecdotes

Story-telling is a hot topic in marketing. There is a growing and well-founded belief that legendary brands, such as Apple, Nike, and Harley, have been …

Read More