Back in 1994 I had delivered an 8-day ILT for AT&T Network Systems Product Managers five times – and in reflecting on that experience – and seeing some of my staff experiencing what I had experienced with difficult names to pronounce – only due to my own inadequacies – and feeling empathy for the new staff and their potential discomfort with having their names mangled – I instructed my staff Editor at SWI – Svenson & Wallace Inc. – to update our staff directory with a phonetic pronunciation guide (Job Aid).

It wasn’t perfect – but it helped.

And one of our new consultants back in 1994 – Geert – was very appreciative of our effort.

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