Why the Future of L&D Belongs to Consultants, Not Content Creators with Alicia Turino-Sheppard of Cognizant
Alicia Turino-Sheppard, Director of Learning at Cognizant, joins us to talk about the shift happening inside L&D as AI takes over content creation and facilitation. Alicia leads a lean, consultative team supporting Cognizant's global Workday practice, and she makes the case that the professionals who stay relevant won't be the ones who build the best slide decks; they'll be the ones who think like business consultants.
She also explores the difference between change resistance and change exhaustion, why she reads historical fiction instead of traditional leadership books, and the mentor lesson about asking for what you want that still shapes how she leads her team.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
00:00 Why L&D’s future belongs to consultants, not content creators
01:35 Leading a lean L&D and talent team at Cognizant
03:53 Where AI ends and the human touch begins
06:25 From content creation to strategic consulting
09:09 The mentor who helped Alicia earn her first promotion
10:42 The career advice from her father she still follows
14:22 Why Alicia reads historical fiction, not leadership books
17:14 How to stay relevant in L&D
18:44 Change resistance vs. change exhaustion
21:10 Revisiting these AI predictions in a year
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RESOURCES MENTIONED
Harvard Business Review, cited by Alicia as a regular source of L&D and business insight
“Atomic Habits” by James Clear, one of the leadership books Alicia references
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