I just finished another good three day class at work. This class was the final class in a set of three and was meant to be the application of the first two. My fellow students were other mid level managers who were identified by their management as having some potential for more development.

Like virtually every such gathering, we started with a "get to know each other" exercise, but this one was actually useful. We sat in a circle. The first person had to pick an adjective that sort of described them and started with the first letter of their first name, saying both together (i.e. 'Tea-drinking Tom" was the first person). The next person said "Tea-drinking Tom" and then said their own adjective and name, "Snow-shoeing Scott" and so on. (I was "Talisker Tony".) Unlike other intro drills, everyone paid rapt attention so they didn't screw up in front of the others (we're a little competitive too which helped.) As it turns out, it's very important to see the person's face when you hear the name (not sure why). Invariably, people ran into trouble remembering the names of the people near them, especially the one immediately before. Still, it was a great exercise and one that helped keep the names in our brains.

The class itself was a lot like the Strategy Conference I attended last week; we broke out into groups and discussed a business problem (what rules/guidance/limits should Microsoft place on Microsoft employees blogging, if any) and then presented it at the end. The topic was controversial and difficult because it's easy for a blogger to create a PR controversy or leak sensitive information, but they generate a lot of value for our customers and the company by their very free nature. I think we had a reasonable compromise solution and will try to get it implemented (I can't disclose the plan just yet.)

Anyway, like Strat Conference, it was good to work with other senior leaders from around the company. I liked my group and hope to stay in touch. It was a bit unusual to do two of these back-to-back though. I think I would have gotten more out of it if I had more time between them. It was just a fluke that this happened. Oh well.