I have spent time in L&D teams in different organizations as an employee and as a consultant. If you have a Corporate L&D team, you know how they will hound you to complete the “mandatory training”. If upskilling is such a priority, then why has this competitor been winning for a while?
The Employees Are Going Direct
When Sam Altman was thrown out of OpenAI, he decided to bypass any PR firm and took to social media to share his views to 2 million followers. (more of that later in this newsletter). Zuckerberg is making reels to tell you about the new product launches. Is traditional PR too risk averse or does the employee and the shareholder want unfiltered but authentic communication? Read this
Check this with your L&D Team
If the employees had to pay to take a course developed by the company’s L&D team, would they get employees to sign up? Answer: No they won’t. Why don’t people complete the courses that L&D recommends and mandates? Answer: Adults HATE being mandated to do anything. But they are naturally curious.
Employees aren’t waiting for L&D to assign them a course. They’re learning on their own terms
Don’t blame short attention spans. People binge-watch stuff through the weekend
Most corporate content is not timely. When it is available, it is not boring, devoid of humor and frankly uninteresting. Employees are learning from YouTube, Quora, Reddit and doing courses that will keep them relevant in the job market. Employees choose platforms that offer immediate answers, variety, and engaging delivery. Most corporate LMS platforms? Not so much.
Two Ideas To Make Corporate L&D Employee Friendly
1. Stop measuring course completion
That is simply digital attendance. Clicking through slides isn’t the same as learning. Stop forcing people to learn. See reason 3 below for details.
What to track
Performance improvementsPromotions or internal mobilityPeer referrals and completion after referralReal-life application stories
2. Your Real Competition Is YouTube (And It’s Winning)
Employees choose platforms that offer immediate answers, variety, and engaging delivery.
What to do
Design learning like your audience expects: short, visual, modular, and binge-worthy. Ask yourself: would someone watch this voluntarily?
3. Make it INTERESTING enough to make them want to learn
Most Corporate L&D teams obsess about the principles of Instructional Design. They use ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate) to create content. The model has been in use since the 1950. Back then people did not have Netflix, YouTube, ChatGPT, TikTok and more to choose from. If it is not interesting, people will not listen to announcements on how to save their lives. Make your content interesting, relevant and authentic (in that order if you have to choose).
47 MILLION people watched this video – including those who have never traveled by this airline.
Who will help you make this content? No it is not the maker of this video, here is the group that really knows how.
Click this link
https://tinyurl. com/2szybpr9
Click to subscribe to this newsletter https://bit. ly/3ZwsrZF
Book Review: Brave New Words
The big idea of this book: The promise of a “2 Sigma” improvement that could be possible for every student.
What is a 2 Sigma Improvement?
The “2 sigma improvement” refers to a fascinating concept in education. Imagine a classroom where students learn in a traditional way—lectures, group activities, and homework.
Now, picture ONE student who gets one-on-one tutoring instead. Research by Benjamin Bloom showed that students who receive personalized tutoring outperform about 98% of their peers! It’s like going from being an average student to being one of the top achievers.
AI tutoring platforms transcend novelty by enhancing education. They free teachers from mundane and repetitive tasks like grading, allowing personalized interactions to inspire confidence. That also means that teachers must master generative AI to create tailored plans for all learners.
There is one criticism I have for the book and a video of Sal Khan
Click to subscribe to this newsletter
I spent a week at a Writers Colony
I have never been to a Writers Colony ever before. I was seriously delighted to get an invitation to be at one. This is a place called Dairy Hollow, Arkansas
Tucked away almost an hour and a half away from the nearest airport, it is a wonderful place where you could go to complete your novel. Or start a new book like I did. I met some terrific people there. Attended a poetry reading session by some local poets. I read out an old poem of mine. And then one of the resident writers invited me to join him at New Delhi cafe. It is the only restaurant in the town that serves Indian food. And is run by the one solitary Indian person in the town called Billo.
This is one of the two dishes you must have. This samosa is made in a unique way. I had never had this version of a samosa ever before.
Adam Grant speaks to Sam Altman
Adma Grant interviewed Sam Altman. They spoke about
The risks come with advanced AI, and how can we avoid them?
How will AI change jobs and work in the future? This looks at how AI could replace some jobs while creating new ones, and how we can prepare for these shifts.
How should we regulate AI? This asks how to balance encouraging innovation with responsible use, discussing how laws can ensure ethical AI development without slowing progress.
It began with Adam talking about the outpouring of loyalty and support for Sam Altman when he was ousted by the Board of OpenAI.
Are you suprised at how fast this has happened, Adam asked, “Humans are already losing faster (to AI) than I hoped. We are already behind on creativity, empathy, judgement and persuasion.”
Over time the whole economy transforms. And we will find new things to do, says Sam.
Leave me a comment and tell me what you liked about the conversation between them.
Till the next week, goodbye
Stay in touch
AbhijitBhaduri@live. com
