Why L&D is Now Your Company’s Competitive Advantage with Brandon Carson, Chief Learning Officer and Founder of L&D Cares
To celebrate our 100th episode, Brandon Carson, Chief Learning Officer and Founder of L&D Cares, joins us to discuss the three shifts redefining L&D in the AI age, why the content factory model is ending and what it means for leaders to truly create value in the workforce.
Brandon is the award-winning author of “L&D’s Playbook for the Digital Age” and a frequent keynote speaker and executive advisor, helping organizations redesign work, leadership and learning for the AI era.
He, also, co-authored an article series with Markus Bernhardt worth bookmarking, The AI-Powered Workforce: A CEO’s Roadmap to Competitive Advantage. If today's conversation sparked ideas about AI and workforce strategy, this is a great next read.
Key Takeaways:
00:00 Introduction.
03:03 We are in a period of asymmetric acceleration: learning moving into the workflow, the collapse of the course as the primary unit of value and L&D taking a seat in redesigning the work operating model.
06:10 L&D is exiting the content business and entering the workforce capability business.
08:12 Learning must be continuous, embedded and democratized but governed — every company needs to become a learning company to survive AI transformation. 10:17 L&D must reclaim its seat at the table.
13:07 Value creation is not about better learning — it’s about better performance for the workforce and being held accountable for business outcomes.
18:14 Managers are no longer order-takers for training; they are responsible for the conditions under which intelligence flows and for designing how decisions get made. 22:22 Skill strategies succeed because of culture, not technology.
28:09 The uncomfortable question every L&D leader should ask: if your L&D function disappeared tomorrow, what would actually break in the company?
Resources Mentioned:
The AI-Powered Workforce: A CEO’s Roadmap to Competitive Advantage
"L&D's Playbook for the Digital Age" by Brandon Carson
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