Last time I selected what periodicals to try to keep up with, Fast Company didn't make the cut. Their refreshing enthusiasm seemed increasingly like hype after the bubble burst. Alan Webber could hold my interest but he left big shoes to fill, and I became an occasional reader.

That's how I almost missed an article in the May 2005 issue on one of my favorite topics by one of my most respected advisors and pal Marcia Conner.

"Still think learning means school? Expand your definition of learning to include conversations with your peers and your children, from books, articles, informal networks, Internet searching, television, and what you learn through trial and error. Use everything that happens in your world as a resource to learn more now."

Informal learning? Marcia encourages us to acknowledge it, uncover it, liberate it, access it, promote it, follow its influence and celebrate its pervasiveness. Right on!