My book, Engage the WORL&D!, is based on a thirty-day blog-writing challenge I did last year. My daily stories were self-reflections on learning via a-ha moments. After completing the thirty-day challenge, my blog entries revealed an uncanny resemblance between the world of L&D today and Alice’s situation in Lewis Carroll‘s Through the Looking-Glass. So, I weaved them together in one book.

[excerpt from the book]

So, Who the [Bleep] Is Alice?

“Alice is in her room, alone. Her parents don’t really involve her in adult conversations. She does have a cat to play with, but other than that, Alice is not really social. She’s literally living in her silo room. Alice would love to play chess. In fact, she’s good at chess if people would give her a chance to prove it. It’s just that she has nobody to play with; she doesn’t have a seat at the adults’ table. As she’s standing in front of the looking glass, reflecting, she knows she has a decision to make: should she stay or should she go? And then, curiosity drives her to step through, into a new, magical world— a little upside down, a little nonsensical. Alice knows that the world around her has changed, and she needs to find and prove herself again. She must beat the Red King. It’s a journey of transitioning from Pawn to Queen, where, at the end, she would have a seat at the table. Don’t get me wrong; she’s not so bleeping innocent. She does have an attitude. But she’s curious and willing to do whatever it takes to finish that journey. Throughout her learning journey, often clinging to her old-world beliefs, Alice faces lots of obstacles and strange figures. At the end of the day, she needs to unlearn, relearn, and adapt to a new world to succeed. Welcome to Through the Looking Glass (and the World Alice Found There)!”

Who the [Bleep] Is L&D?

“L&D is in her room, alone. The business doesn’t really involve her in adult conversations. She does have an LMS to play with, but other than that, L&D is not really social. She’s literally living in her silo room. L&D would love to make a difference. In fact, she’s good at making a difference if people would give her a chance to prove it. It’s just that she has nobody to work with; she doesn’t have a seat at the business table. As she’s standing in front of the looking class, reflecting, she knows she has a decision to make: should she stay or should she go? And then, curiosity drives her to step through into a new, magical WORL&D—a little upside down, a little nonsensical. L&D knows that the WORL&D around her has changed, and she needs to find and prove herself again. She must beat the Red King. It’s a journey of transitioning from order-taker to problem-solver, where, at the end, she would have a seat at the table. Don’t get me wrong; she’s not so bleeping innocent. She does have an attitude. But she’s curious and willing to do whatever it takes to finish that journey. Throughout her learning journey, often clinging to her old-world beliefs, L&D faces lots of obstacalities and strange stakeholders. At the end of the day, she needs to unlearn, relearn, and adapt to a new WORL&D to succeed. Welcome to Through the Looking Class (and the WORL&D L&D Found There)!”

Available at Amazon.