response to HP...

Rachel,

Put me down for the prep session with you and Peggy on 4/26. Assuming we figure out remuneration, and I'm confident we will, I could come to your virtual classroom the morning of Monday, May 2.

Your project and what I've been working on dovetail very tightly. At times, pleading with executive management to think more than a quarter or two ahead is a thankless task, especially if one is trying to focus one to four years out. (Rachel, your approach warms my heart.)

I come at Lifecycle Performance Improvement from two directions.

1. On the nuts-and-bolts side, a colleague and I have just completed an extensive paper on precisely your issues. Take a look at the table of contents at I've posted a summary at If this work is as close a fit to your project as I suspect, we might arrange for HP to receive rights to use the words, graphics, and concepts as you choose. I could provide a copy in Word and PowerPoint from which you could cut, paste, and adapt sections. Rather than waste your time and mine reading you excerpts, the quickest route to evaluating this approach would be to buy a couple of copies for you and Peggy to assess. Single-reader access is $350/person. By the way, you would be the first customer; I'm just now setting up the ecommerce backroom for this.

2. The theoretical aspects merit conversation, not just reading, because the subtleties are vital. One area I'd want to talk with you about is meta-learning. Several of us recently founded the Meta-Learning Lab to explore the value of learning-to-learn and other process improvements to learning. There's an overview at www.meta-learninglab.com. One meta-learning skill with great potential is improving visual learning. My research is way ahead of my documentation on this but my white paper at gives a glimmer of the possibilities. The research I'm doing for my forthcoming book on marketing learning initiatives internally is relevant but I'll have to give you the rundown on that when we talk.

Does this feel like the right direction to take with you guys at this point in time?

All the best!