Jacquline McLeod
Book Author
Book Author
We are always curious to hear why our students want to learn visualisation. Over the years, we have had a fair share of agile coaches, facilitators and business consultants but we believe Jacqueline McLeod has been our first book author.
I think the Visual Friends approach is so interesting and personal. And the little icons are very appealing. Using bikablo® instead of just words and tables gives text a lot more character and interest. And it’s simple. You get it immediately. I’m thrilled I’ve done the course, and I’m so glad I’ve found Visual Friends.
Early in 2019 Jacqueline published her first book, “Feminine Masculine Balance. A Paradigm Shift for a Peaceful and Abundant Society”. She wanted to learn a visual language to help promote it.
“Being a paradigm shift to a balance of feminine and masculine, it’s very hard to explain verbally. To add visuals to the text makes a huge difference, it really does.”
A few years in the making, Jacqueline’s book came out of her study of self and the world around her. A health professional and clinician for many years, she continuously observed the imbalance of feminine and masculine in our world, and how as a society we value the masculine attributes so much more. These observations and her desire to spread the message of balance contributing to peace and abundance led to writing this book.
Not a writer, Jacqueline took a few years to turn her idea into a complete manuscript. Eventually she found a publisher and next faced another big task – promoting her work.
Just like with writing her book, Jacqueline just got on with it, once again courageously and gracefully stepping out of her comfort zone.
Turning her idea into a manuscript
Jacqueline McLeod
After her first podcast interview, “I was terribly nervous”, she googled a podcasting course and taught herself some new skills. To prepare for talking in front of people during promotional tours, Jacqueline joined the Toast Masters and practiced her presentation skills.
One of the members of the course recommended and referred her to Visual Friends, so Jacqueline googled the course. “I could immediately see that it was going to be useful. I know visuals are important and my book is heavy with words.”
Jacqueline also wanted to add drawings to the promotional material for workshops and lectures.
“I wanted to learn PowerPoint which I still will. But I think the Visual Friends approach is much more interesting and personal. And the little icons are very appealing. Using bikablo® instead of just words and tables gives text a lot more character and interest. And it’s simple. You get it immediately.”
I could immediately see that it was going to be useful. I know visuals are important and my book is heavy with words.”
After completing a two-day course, Jacqueline enrolled in the online Visual Coaching program and practiced some more.
What she found particularly helpful was getting feedback on her work and playing around with different ideas. While other Visual Coaching program students focused on what’s important to them, Jacqueline worked on developing visual icons for her book and presentations.
Masculine and Feminine Attributes
Jacqueline McLeod
One of her main challenges was devising icons for a table explaining masculine (rational, analytical, logical, etc) and feminine (emotional, imaginative, intuitive, etc) attributes.
Jacqueline wanted to find or create images for all 45 words presented in that table. “Some of them are quite abstract.”
Now in the middle of promoting her book, Jacqueline finds that visuals give her a helping hand explaining the books’ subject matter during talks and workshops.
“I’m using it for clarification and impact.”
Jacqueline’s main incentive for writing her book was trying to help eliminate violence, poverty, inequality and toxic relationships that can result from the imbalance between the feminine and masculine.
We feel honoured to be helping Jacqueline in spreading this important message of peace, and find her dedication and courage in learning and applying new skills quite inspiring.
We can all take a few leaves out of Jacqueline’s book. Literally.
The article was written by Natalia Tsygankova. Natalia has always loved words and talking to people. She has put that passion to good use and has been sharing people’s stories in the community radio, TV and print media for the last 10 years. Natalia is also a big fan of true storytelling events and regularly volunteers at the most famous one – The Moth, interviewing the winner. You can hear her own story of moving to Australia from Russia in 1999 here. Natalia believes that everyone has a story – So what’s yours? Contact her today to share your story.
