Michael Jones
LXD for orgs that are done with compliance theater.
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Mike Jones Creative is a small creative outlet for ideas that insisted on existing anyway.
Graphic tee designs born from inside jokes, "what if?" moments, and the specific kind of humor that makes some people laugh and others slightly uncomfortable. Concepts are developed from scratch — from the initial idea through illustration direction, composition, and print-ready execution — then sold on-demand through Cotton Bureau.
Current designs include a deadpan natural history chart (Types of Ice), a suspiciously on-brand fake taco chain (Tiny Hands Taqueria), and a motivational rooster (Not Today Clucker). More in progress.
No grand strategy. Just making things and seeing what sticks.
Services: Concept Development, Graphic Design, Print-Ready Illustration Direction
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A fast-growing tech company's onboarding had worked fine when the founders knew everyone personally. Then they scaled globally, turnover started climbing, and leadership still thought the process was fine.
The real problem wasn't the process — it was that no one had ever seen the full experience from the new hire's perspective. Founders, managers, and HR each had a completely different mental model of what onboarding was supposed to accomplish. None of them were wrong. None of them were talking to each other.
I facilitated cross-functional workshops to surface those gaps, then used journey mapping to make the end-to-end experience visible in a way leadership had never seen it. That visibility shifted the conversation faster than any slide deck could have.
The output was a phased 90-day framework — Pre-Boarding, Lift Off, Reaching Altitude, Continued Exploration — built around what new hires actually needed, not what was convenient for the org chart. More importantly, it gave the team a shared language they didn't have before. Leadership aligned. HR got the cross-functional momentum to move. Full implementation moved into the next funded planning cycle.
Services: Performance Consulting, Workshop Facilitation, Stakeholder Alignment, Learning Experience Mapping
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A leadership development program had real bones — great mentors, meaningful coaching, personal storytelling. Learners still weren't finishing it.
The problem wasn't the content. It was the connective tissue. Every component had been built independently, with no shared thread linking them together. The mindset assessment learners completed on day one was never referenced again — valuable self-knowledge with nowhere to go.
I diagnosed the breakdown, mapped the full learner journey, and repositioned the assessment as the anchor the program had been missing. Then I rebuilt the assessment itself — paper form to interactive digital tool — with automatic scoring, personalized feedback, LMS integration, and guidance for mentors and coaches on how to weave it through every session.
Drop-off declined significantly. Learners came in with more self-awareness. Facilitators finally had a shared thread to pull on. The program didn't just get more structured — it got more human.
Services: Needs Analysis, Learning Strategy, Interactive Tool Development
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