Kirk Weisler teaches corporate organization, team building and worker motivation. He also has undertaken the study of dog feces removal.

In society, he said, life has a lot to do with a fresh pile of dog poo like the mound that inspired his illustrated, all-ages book called "The Dog Poop Initiative (A True Story)."

Weisler typically isn't a book writer, and he isn't much of a book seller. He'll bring a stack of books to a speaking engagement, and he sells copies on the Internet. But his appearance at the Bloomington Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Wednesday marks his first in-store signing.

He's coming here as a favor, in support of a book supporter. It's also in furtherance of a movement to stop just pointing out problems and to take initiative to solve them.

Here's the back story.

Weisler found himself working in a high-turnover service call center following service as an Army Ranger, then college and a two-year church missionary commitment.

The weird thing about him was he thought he could stop a maddening, triple-digit annual turnover rate, and he named himself "chief morale officer." Weirder still, he succeeded.

He said the annual turnover rate at the firm dropped to 17 percent.

This opened a door into the corporate convention and training circuit, and he had a boss who shoved him through that door, telling him he was a natural, Weisler recalled.

Weisler, 43, resides with his wife and five children in Atlanta, Ga. In fall 2004, he lived in Utah. He hauled his 4-year-old son Josh and other players from the neighborhood to a soccer tournament. They had the 8 p.m. game, the third consecutive game on that field.

Children at this age tend to be a roving cluster of kids, all chasing the ball. In the league, two parents and a ref would direct traffic on the field.

Upon arrival, Weisler received a warning from a parent. "You need to watch out." There was a fresh, large pile of dog waste in the middle of the playing field.

Weisler recalled his thought at the moment: "Has that person been hoping for an hour that no one stepped in that?"

A second parent warned him. Team Coach Coleman arrived with other players. He got similar warnings.

The game ended and the two adults and the teenage referee departing the field pointed out the pile as well. By then it had dawned on Weisler that the poop had been there from the start of the first game. "That means the poop warning was given to them, too."

That's two hours and four teams directed by four parents and two referees, who had managed two games around a pile of poop on the soccer field - all the while other parents on the sidelines watched and hoped that their feces avoidance would be successful.

Two waste cans were in sight. Having exchanged knowing looks, Coleman looked in one and Weisler looked in the other. Coleman found a piece of cardboard in his barrel, so it was Coleman who spent the minute required to scoop up the poo.

According to Weisler, a departing parent said, "Yeah, someone needed to do that." He could contain himself no longer. He shot back, "And it couldn't have been you?"

Weisler thought the story would end with him relating the episode to his e-mail list as the next morning's Thought for the Day. But the responses to the poop episode were triple his normal replies - roughly 30 replies over the next week.

People were relating the story in board rooms and staff meetings as this universal experience transcended the incident itself and resonated to every problem and every poo-pointer-outer. Who will be a pointer? Who will be a scooper?

Weisler self-published the book on a dare from his brother Greg, who also found the illustrator.

The book takes about five minutes to read and sells for $11.95. Without marketing effort, its sales mark, nearing 28,000, is astronomical by self-publishing standards.

But what seems gratifying to Weisler is responses to the book. It's been to major corporate training sessions and to story time for 2-year-olds.

A wealthy and healthy man from Colorado Springs became so convicted by the book, said Weisler, that he started taking a garbage bag with him on morning trail hikes rather than grumbling about and walking past litter.

June Stone, Tel Aviv scooper extraordinaire, expanded on the message and orchestrated a campaign to persuade adults to clean up after their dogs. Stone also talked Weisler into having "The Dog Poop Initiative" translated into Hebrew and, because there aren't squirrels in Tel Aviv, got him to re-hire illustrator Bill Sturgis V and convert the squirrels into cats.

It seems it doesn't take too much convincing, though, to get Weisler to accommodate a fellow scooper.

A big fan is Tara Jacquin, who in March became community relations manager at the Bloomington Barnes & Noble. She sought out Weisler and his book to fill a bulk order for a Pontiac school and to find out what the fuss was over "The Dog Poop Initiative."

The store didn't carry the book at the time. But since then, she said, Jacquin has been instrumental in selling "several hundred" copies and keeping it stocked. She believes it has been a force in encouraging employees to step up and solve problems, and she thinks every person must take the few minutes to read the book.

Said Jacquin, "He told me, 'There are a lot of piles in the world. We just need good scoopers.'"

In gratitude to Jacquin, Weisler agreed to spend an entire day at the store, minus a lunch break, the day prior to a speaking event in Champaign. He shipped posters, bookmarks and 20 piles of plastic poo for a display promoting the event and the book, which is the store's June book of the month.

Assuming his plane lands on time, he will participate in the Wacky Wednesday event for children ages 6 through 11. His book signing begins at 7 p.m. and lasts as long as customers seem interested.

Between events, he'll hang out with customers, and he's offered to dust shelves if the employees ask. Definitely, he will be seeking a piece of cardboard or some other scooping device if he spots a fecal deposit on the sidewalk.

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Scooper visits B-N

Kirk Weisler, author of "The Dog Poop Initiative (A True Story)" and "The Cookie Thief," will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 1701 E. Empire St., Bloomington, pretty much all day Wednesday. The following specific events are scheduled:

• 10 a.m. Wacky Wednesday program from children ages 6 to 11

• 7 p.m. book signing

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Report from a 9-year-old scooper

This story is among those sent to Kirk Weisler in response to his "The Dog Poop Initiative." Weisler posts this and other stories from the front at www.dogpoopinitiative.com:

"Hello, my name is Alex Swindler, I am 9 years old. My story is called The Messy Room Initiative, and is shown below:

"A few weeks ago, while the rest of my family was out watching a movie, my baby brother named Thomas somehow managed to slip past the baby-sitter and into the room I share with my younger brother named Sam.

"An hour or so later, when we got back to our house, Sam and I walked into our room to change, just in time to see the floor strewn so thickly with our toys that you could barely see the carpet underneath. And can you guess who was sitting happily right in the heart of the mess? Little baby Thomas, of course!

"At first, we were too shocked to say a word. Then, Sam screamed, and bolted off to go fetch our parents. I just stood there, gaping.

"Then, my parents walked in, led by Sam. They told us to go to bed; that we'd take care of it in the morning.

"The next day, our parents so helpfully woke us up and reminded us that we needed to clean up the mess. I grumpily asked them why they couldn't just take the initiative and clean it up themselves. Their excuse was that they were "too busy." "Typical," I thought.

"After they left, Sam cornered me and informed me that he wasn't about to clean it up because it wasn't his mess. So there I was, with the painful job left all to me. I was left with a choice: Should I take the initiative and clean up the mess, or should I avoid the initiative and hope that someone else would do it instead?

"About an hour and a half later, Sam walked in, and said "Mom told me to ask you if you wanted to join us for … what the heck happened to that darn impossible mess that was here just this morning?" And before I could answer, he ran out of the room and down the hall shouting "Mom! Dad! You gotta see this!"

"When they looked into the room, they stood, gaping open-mouthed at the now-clean room, then to me, then back to the bedroom, and continued doing that for about two more minutes, during which I just stood there, smiling. When they finally asked me how I did it all by myself, I just said that "When I chose to take the initiative and clean up the mess, a big, painful job became easy as pie. Doing it made me feel good inside, and I truly believe that I have made the right choice!"