Village of 100 Video

Rating ***** (1 out of 5)

Initial Thoughts
Didn't I see this video as an e-mail forward at some point? The Village of 100 video is a diversity film that pulls together what the world would look like if there were only 100 people on earth. How many of those would have a computer? How many would reside in the United States? Which ethnic groups would have the most people of that 100? Basically, it tries to make diversity a little more accessible by making the numbers smaller.

The Pros
It's short. It could potentially be facilitated in a way to spark discussion about the world and world issues. It could potentially work as a meeting opener that doesn't really do anything other than "set the tone" for the meeting.

The Cons
The video even acknowledges that it came from an e-mail that was forwarded around for a while. I'm not a big fan of spam forwards and mentioning the source material makes this seem like spam, too. I deleted it when it first appeared in my in-box with a FWD in the subject line, so why should I sit through a movie version?

The video intends to make the reality of human conditions more startling by compressing the figures into accessible terms, but the reality is, the numbers pull a lot more punch when they're bigger- not smaller. Telling me that 1 person out of 100 would have HIV makes me feel like we're doing pretty well when the reality is, there's over 42 million people in the world who test positive for HIV. 42 million seems a lot more important than 1.

The production was satisfactory, except the audio... the actor's voices sounded like they were being recorded in an abandoned elevator shaft or a garage.

I'm not even sure how this video makes an impact on everyday business practices. It's good to know what the world is like- especially since we're living in a global village of sorts- but how does that really effect how I interact with the people I work with every day?

Who Would Want It
Someone who has a really strong diversity program- but wants to supplement it with a fun video that isn't really imperative to the rest of training.

The Bottom Line
I don't like it. That doesn't mean that it's worthless, but I think that training time is so important to most businesses that they should skip this video and buy something with a little more substance and credibility than a program that was adapted from a spam e-mail.

Check it out here: Village of 100 video

LeaderFiSH! Video

Rating ***** (3 out of 5)

Initial Thoughts
LeaderFiSH! isn't just a video, it's a little management workshop. It follows the stories of actual managers who share their experiences leading their teams to success. It could possibly work with out the FiSH! Video, but it's clearly part of the same series and no one who hasn't watched FiSH! will understand why the owner of a fish stand in Seattle is an authority on Leadership and Team Building.

The Pros
First, I'm a big fan of unit-based learning and this program does an excellent job of breaking up their training into 6 different areas with supporting material for each. I've been to some great training sessions and conferences where I learn SO much that I can't really apply it all before it's forgotten. Separating each point out into manageable chunks is a GREAT way to address this problem- and it also makes it a lot easier on a manager who may not have DAYS or HOURS to devote to personal development.

The production is pretty good and the team did a good job editing each interview. I think that documentary-style training is pretty popular because it takes people "just like us" and makes them the stars instead of actors. So, there's a good peer feeling to this show- managers and leaders will feel like they're engaging with other people like them.

The Cons
Documentary-style training has one major flaw; you have to rely on the points that other people make instead of creating your own. While there's some pretty good thoughts here, none of them are revolutionary. None of them are really very new and different. So, while they're all good tips, they may not pack the kind of punch that one would hope for.

Also, each video is a little longer than I would like. About 2-3 minutes before each of them ends, I'm ready for them to be over. Trimming off that excess would make it a little more enjoyable and give the manager the time to really think about how he/she is going to apply each thought to their lives.

Who Would Want It
LeaderFiSH! is a film for managers who have a pretty good attention span and enough time to really think through the ancillary materials.

The Bottom Line
There's nothing revolutionary about the LeaderFiSH! Video. It's informative and interesting, but the booklet is really where it become personal. Without that piece, the learning points are ambiguous and become muddled together. If each unit were a few minutes shorter with instructions to fill in the personal guide I think it might get an extra star.