Leading Learning Podcast

With 25 years of experience in the association sector, Shawn Boynes, executive director of American Association for Anatomy (AAA), spent the greater part of his career passionately serving in the education and professional development space. In this time, he developed a true appreciation for learning and the value that associations bring to the world, which has undoubtedly shaped who he is today as a leader. Focused on influencing positive change, he is also a co-host of the recently launched Texts to Table podcast, which focuses on conversations around race and leadership. In this sixth episode in our series on the learning business in disruptive times, Celisa talks with Shawn about the challenges and opportunities related to leading through the coronavirus pandemic and the renewed spotlight on systemic racism. He also shares his perspective as a Black leader, how recent events led to the creation of his new podcast, and why now is the best time for organizations to take risks. Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode256.

As the senior vice president for education and training at NRECA, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Tracey Steiner oversees the development of the association’s annual and regional meetings, national conferences, board of directors training, executive and staff-level education, and credentialing programs. She is also the creator of "Tracey’s Takeaways", a regular feature on NRECA’s website that focuses on employee development, management issues, leadership and organizational culture. In this fifth episode of our series on the learning business in disruptive times, Jeff talks with Tracey about how NRECA is being impacted by the current pandemic including the related challenges and opportunities. They also discuss the thoughtful approach NRECA has taken to address issues around racial equity, the importance of cultivating a safe environment for difficult conversations, and what Tracey thinks learning businesses need to consider in order to successfully navigate times of disruption. Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode255.

We’ve reached the midpoint in our series on the learning business in disruptive times so we want to take some time to reflect on what we’ve learned so far. After laying the groundwork in the first episode, we then featured interviews with Seth Kahan, founder of Visionary Leadership, and Shilpa Alimchandani, a seasoned diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist. In this fourth episode of the seven-part series, we revisit reflection questions from our first episode and provide an update on the rapidly evolving issues related to the pandemic, racial justice, the economy, and the elections. We also look at the related practical implications and what all of this means for how a learning business might survive – and potentially even thrive – in these disruptive times. Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode254.

With over two decades of experience in DEI leadership development and intercultural learning, Shilpa Alimchandani, author of Communicating Development Across Cultures: Monologues and Dialogues in Development Project Implementation, is a leadership coach, instructional designer, and facilitator. In her independent consulting practice, she is passionate about helping her clients tackle issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion to achieve transformational change. In this third episode of our seven-part series on the learning business in disruptive times, Celisa talks with return-guest, Shilpa about DEI, including what it is, ways it’s being impacted by disruption, and how it relates to implicit bias. They also discuss the importance of unlearning and what learning businesses need to know about supporting DEI and succeeding in these disruptive times. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode253.

Seth Kahan is founder of the consulting firm, Visionary Leadership and author of  the business bestsellers, Getting Change Right, Getting Innovation Right, and, most recently, Visionary Leadership: How Association Leaders Embrace Disruption in the 21st Century . He's worked with leaders of large multinational organizations and over a hundred association CEOs. Some of his most exciting work with those CEOs involves Grand Challenges—big, bold goals that organizations take on, partnering with others to make a difference with problems that society has thus far not been able to resolve. And learning how to navigate the major disruptors we’ve seen unfold in 2020 related to the pandemic, politics, social issues, and our economic situation, have certainly created a new set of related challenges for organizations, particularly for those of us in the learning business. In this second episode in our seven-episode series on the learning business in disruptive times, Jeff talks to Seth about how organizations have responded and evolved due to recent circumstances surrounding not only the coronavirus pandemic, but to other major disruptors such as climate change and racial injustice. They also discuss Seth’s 100 CEOs and 100 Days initiative, the various resources he’s created to help organizations in this time of crisis, and the lasting – and in some cases, positive – impact that all of this will potentially have on society. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode252.

It’s been a couple months since we released episode 250 of the Leading Learning Podcast and we're excited to be back with a new, revamped series approach to the podcast (rather than single, independent episodes as we’ve done in the past). With our new approach, over the course of several episodes—seven in this case—we’ll explore a topic from a variety of viewpoints, drawing on multiple interviews as well as offering our own thoughts and providing context for the conversations with others. And the first topic we’re going to explore is that of the learning business in disruptive times. In other words, what’s going on in the world right now in 2020. We are all experiencing unprecedented levels of uncertainty and change and, of course, a major reason for that is the coronavirus pandemic. But there are also major social, political, and economic issues deeply impacting how we live and work. In this first episode of the very first series of the Leading Learning Podcast, we explore these key areas of disruption and their implications on learning businesses. We also preview the interviewees we will feature in the series and the varied perspectives they will bring to the topic of leading learning in times of disruption. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode251. 

In yet another exciting milestone for Leading Learning, we are thrilled to have officially reached episode 250 of the podcast. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been doing this for roughly five years at this point and have grown from zero listeners to more than 7,000 downloads a month! In this turning-point episode, we express our tremendous gratitude to everyone who has made the podcast possible. We also focus on input received from listeners that we think would be valuable to all learning businesses and the entire Leading Learning community. Finally, we share some recent reviews of the show submitted through Apple Podcasts as well as touch on our plans for the podcast going forward. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode250. 

As Vice President of Learning at Udemy, Shelley Osborne is a true learning leader who is passionate about building cultures of learning that enable the continuous upskilling of employees. She is also author of an upcoming book titled, The Upskilling Imperative: Five Ways to Make Learning Core to the Way We Work. And Shelley is even a Udemy instructor herself with seven courses currently available, ranging from topics such as fostering psychological safety, to best practices for working remotely. In this episode of Leading Learning, Jeff talks with Shelley about Udemy’s model as a global learning provider and why continuous upskilling is so critical to the success of individuals and organizations.  They also delve into the “five ways” outlined in her book including: developing agile learners, the important role of feedback in learning cultures, thinking like a marketer to drive learning, learning in the flow of work, and signaling the value of learning. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode249. 

Blake Boles is the founder and director of Unschool Adventures, a company that gives self-directed teens and young adults—mostly unschoolers—an opportunity to explore cities all over the world. Well-known for questioning our traditional approaches to schooling, Blake is a thought-provoking speaker, host of the Off-Trail Learning podcast, and author. His books include The Art of Self-Directed Learning, Better Than College, College Without High School, and the recently published, Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?. In this episode of Leading Learning, Jeff talks with Blake about key concepts from his latest book related to alternative paths of education in K-12, a particularly relevant topic given the current disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. They also discuss the importance of engagement, self-directed learning, and connection in young learners and how they inevitably impact adult learners. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode248. 

Micène Fontaine is the executive director at Design Arts Seminars (DAS), an accredited provider of continuing education for design professionals that aims to inspire their clients to become catalysts of change and to design a world in which all of us can thrive. With two decades of experience designing high-quality learning experiences, he is passionate about their call to action as a provider of continuing education to move beyond the transactional relationship, to a truly transformative one. In this episode, Celisa talks with Micène about what has – and hasn’t – changed in the decades he’s been at DAS, how he came to realize his interest in learning experience design (LXD), and what he sees as the major opportunities and threats for learning businesses. They also talk about the origin and purpose of DAS's Change by Design initiative, which aligns their educational offerings to match with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode247.