With over 30 years of experience, Kevin Thorn, CNH, Ed.D, has dedicated his career to improving organizational learning outcomes and fostering lifelong learning opportunities. As an Articulate Community Hero, he shared Articulate Fundamentals with our community. Since then he has focused on visual literacy, creative thinking, and the instructional comic medium, which underscores his commitment to advancing the science and art of learning. We interviewed Dr. Thorn in advance of his upcoming LEGO Serious Play workshop to learn about his evolution in the talent development field.

You're a "CNH," which we had to ask ChatGPT to learn that it's a certification in agriculture and construction equipment. How did you make that leap?

Ha! I added the post-nominal letters, “CNH” as an inside joke poking fun of others who had more post-nominal letters than the total letters in their entire name. I suppose I could add more legitimate credentials to my name, but like this question, “CNH” is a playful conversation starter! And it aligns with my LinkedIn tagline, “Solving Problems at the intersection of creativity and play.”

So... GenAI strikes again.

Yes. "CNH" is a reference to my company, NuggetHead Studioz. I am the Chief NuggetHead, the "CNH."

When last you spoke with us, you were sharing Articulate Storyline techniques. From there, we saw you evolve into visual storytelling. And now you're engaged in Serious Play. Could you tell us about the evolution of Nugget Head Studioz and the different focuses you've had over time, leading up to your work with LEGO® Serious Play®?

Surprisingly, I still work in Articulate Storyline every day on client projects, and I continue to partner with Training Magazine teaching three different live online Storyline workshops. I also facilitate live, in-person and virtual custom Storyline workshops for organizational teams. Visual storytelling is also a large part of my work in educational comics, including contributing to two books this year illustrating visual narratives. I’m currently working on an interactive graphic novel for a healthcare provider intervention program.

I became a certified facilitator in LEGO Serious Play (LSP) methodologies in 2017. I added that service to my offerings and was making progress until 2020 when in-person learning experiences were shut down due to Covid. When things started to ease up, I went back to school and earned my Ed.D. in 2023, and LSP sat on the shelf during that time. During my dissertation research on using the comic medium for adult learning, I rediscovered the cognitive benefits in the power of play and realized it was time to rekindle LSP offerings. This time, however, I wanted to work more with kids as well as adults, and I needed my own space to hold various Lego-themed educational workshops. In 2024, we bought a Bricks & Minifigs franchise that buys, sells, and trades all things LEGO but also includes an event space for various activities.

Not counting our leadership development workshop using LSP, so far this year I’ve facilitated workshops with LSP on emotional intelligence and personal branding for educators. At my new space, I lead classes on STEM-related engineering activities, stop-motion animations, and introduction to LEGO robotics.

My boys have now identified a new career path I should follow!

We love hearing about play in learning! Research says playful learning should make people feel like they own what they're doing. What is it about LEGO Serious Play that really gives people that feeling of power and makes them want to get involved?

Unlike typical meetings where 20% of the people consume 80% of the time and everyone else doesn’t have an opportunity to be heard. LSP is designed as an immersive experience where everyone in the room participates 100% of the time. It goes right to the heart of why LSP is so effective in adult learning and group dynamics. The sense of ownership and empowerment people feel during LSP sessions doesn’t just happen by chance. The result is a methodology of application techniques carefully structured that’s rooted in play theory, constructionism, and psychology.

When people “think with their hands” – the tacit, intuitive understanding we gain through doing, reinforces ownership of thought. At the same time, it forces the brain into the flow state faster than having a collaborative discussion. When participants build LEGO models, they externalize their thoughts with abstract ideas that become visible. The physical representation of thought makes their thinking real and the act of play magnifies creative thinking where new ideas are amplified. In the end, participants don’t realize they are “playing” and often are surprised how powerful and enlightening LSP is and can be.

Looking at the promised takeaways—like developing a Personal Leadership Model and a Future Leadership Vision—it sounds like a lot of heavy, executive development work. How does a simple 'pile of bricks' actually deliver on these profound, complex outcomes?

It may feel like a simple pile of bricks, but cognitively and socially, it’s a sophisticated thinking system that uses metaphorical storytelling, constructionism, and shared storytelling to surface deep insights in ways a traditional discussion can’t.

When a participant builds what “leadership” looks like to them, they create a physical metaphor of their mental model that is something they can see, touch, and explain. That model then allows for collaborative reflection, comparison, and refinement, turning intuition into insight.

Leaders come in all forms, and not all are at the executive level. A young inexperienced manager of a small team is a leader but may know or be aware their leadership identity strengths and weaknesses. This workshop allows them to reflect what they see in themselves of who they are (current identity state) as a leader and collaboratively share with others to build the vision of the leader they want to be (future identity state). Those two points of reference expressed in a clear representation exposes a path, barriers, opportunities, and tangible next steps.