Chief Learning Officer Podcast

This is a conversation you won’t hear anywhere else. Technology is indisputably transforming learning. Artificial intelligence and powerful data and analytics tools are becoming more widespread. The scope of learning in the organization is growing, and sometimes shrinking, as a result. There’s a creeping sense of unease in the CLO role, with the future both uncertain and full of opportunity. It's understandable if learning executives are feeling a little bit shaky. Fortunately, Sarah Kimmel, vice president of research for Chief Learning Officer magazine, has some data to light the way. For the second year in a row, her research team conducted an in-depth survey and deep analysis of data from current and future learning executives to uncover the path forward. In this conversation, Sarah unpacks the results to provide insights for the future of the CLO role. Along with podcast co-host Justin Lombardo, they put the findings into context for day-to-day practice. Key topics include what skills are rising and falling in importance, how CLO roles are structured, how learning and talent management fit together and whether or not CLOs are falling into an aspiration gap. Show Notes: 2019 CLO Role of the Future Executive Summary Panel Discussion Video from Fall 2019 CLO Symposium. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters.

There is no single path to becoming a leader. Lisa Doyle is a case in point. She’s been a public servant, consultant, a Fortune 100 executive, as well as recipient of the CLO of the Year award from Chief Learning Officer magazine. Each situation was different. What is consistent is her approach to leadership – combining a passion to serve others with the courage to try new things and the humility to realize she doesn’t have all the answers. “In order to teach people you have to meet people where they are – where they’ll hear you, understand you and make it their own” said Lisa, now vice president of global learning at Booz Allen Hamilton. In this episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast, Lisa talks about her path from federal procurement officer to chancellor of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy as well as her head-first dive into the private sector as head of learning for Lowe’s Companies. Through it all is a commitment to serving others by building something that lasts, a mission that guides her new role as head of global learning at the Virginia-based management consulting firm. Lisa shares the leadership lessons she’s learned along the way, how she builds productive partnerships with business executives, why “Tea with Lisa” is a key team-building strategy and why so much of CLO success comes down to having an individualized exposure plan in addition to a development one. Plus, co-host Mike Prokopeak learns what the phrase “a pig looking at wristwatch” means and Justin Lombardo talks about the difference between being a builder CLO and a maintainer. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by the Chief Learning Officer Breakfast Club. The CLO Breakfast Club is part professional development and part hackathon, where you and other local learning leaders talk about what’s on your minds. The next Breakfast Club takes place in San Francisco on November 7, 2019. For more information, go to www.sanfrancisco.clobreakfastclub.com. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters.

It can be hard to say no. But learning how to do so effectively is one of the most critical skills a CLO can learn. It reinforces the point that not every problem is a training problem. “Executives like the shortcut of, ‘I have an issue, put training program X together,’” said Greg Friedman, vice president of HR, organization and leadership development at Parexel, a Boston-based specialist in clinical drug trials. “And I think we need to be strong enough to say what result are you going for?” In this episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast, Greg talks about the perspective his background as an organizational development professional brings to the work of employee learning and what CLOs can do to set aside busy work to do what's meaningful. Greg also shares why culture change is risky ground for CLOs and how and why he’s rethinking performance management to focus less on ratings and more on meaningful conversation. Plus, co-hosts Mike Prokopeak and Justin Lombardo discuss the differences between learning, OD and HR and why they sometimes come into conflict. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by the Chief Learning Officer Symposium, the premier gathering for senior learning executives. The fall event takes place in Chicago from Oct. 14-16, 2019. For more information go to CLOsymposium.com. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters.

Something’s not working at work. Record-high stress and rock-bottom engagement show that pretty clearly. Across the board, workers are burnt out, disconnected and struggling to maintain work-life balance. Fortunately for employees, organizations and chief learning officers alike, there’s something that can be done. A culture of resilience is “a form of psychological immunity” and key to bouncing back from the inevitable effects of adversity, says Tim Mulligan, chief human resources officer at Seattle-based Vulcan, the umbrella company for a number of investments and projects created by late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. “It's our role as leaders in the business world to create an environment that is realigning conditions in a way that people are able to balance the stress level, be productive, to leave work every day knowing you got a lot of stuff done and to look forward to coming back to work the next day,” Tim said. In this episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast, we talk to Tim about Vulcan, the lessons he learned from twelve years at the San Diego Zoo as documented in his book “Roar: How to Build a Resilient Organization the World Famous San Diego Zoo Way” and how other companies can build a toolkit for resiliency.  Plus, co-hosts Mike Prokopeak and Ashley St. John talk with Tim about what a resilient leader looks like, why branding is so important in learning and development work and how simple, catchy phrases can be the difference between a good program and a great one. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters Book: Roar: How to Build a Resilient Organization the World Famous San Diego Zoo Way

Like many bosses, Jon Kaplan thought he was a good leader. The results seemed to prove it. He worked his way up from aspiring academic to public school teacher to corporate instructional designer and eventually into the top learning job at Discover Financial Services, a Chicago-area firm with 17,000 employees. The only problem? His team didn’t agree with his assessment. “I was there for about three or four years and I had managed to take a team that should have been high performing and I just drove them into the ground,” Jon said. “It just was really unpleasant.” What he did in response catapulted his career forward and led to some of the learning organization’s greatest successes. In this episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast, Jon talks about that “crucible of leadership,” how he rebuilt himself and his team in the wake of his failure and how they came to establish the Discover College Commitment, an industry-leading tuition assistance program that all Discover employees are eligible for starting on their first day. Plus, Jon and Justin Lombardo talk about why they left academia for the corporate sector and guest co-host Ashley St. John, managing editor for Chief Learning Officer, shares what she’s learned in her first two years on the job and what she looks for when selecting a magazine profile candidate. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters April 2019 Profile: Discover Financial’s Jon Kaplan

In the list of professions, corporate education isn’t a particularly risky endeavor. It’s not firefighting or high altitude mountain climbing. That’s why it’s particularly important to inject an element of risk into learning and talent development work. There is no growth without it. “You're either disrupting, being disrupted or dying,” says Reece Roberson, vice president of HR, global talent management and learning at Interface. That means trying new things, failing and sometimes saying no to executives who have a pet program or initiative they’d like you to build. “If you say yes to everything, you’ll just turn up a bunch of crap,” Roberson says. That same willingness to challenge the status quo goes for personal development, too. He knows that firsthand. In this episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast, Reece describes whey he left a comfortable job at Home Depot to start up a new talent and learning function at Interface, an Atlanta-based maker of commercial flooring. The bottom line: sometimes you need to go from getting stuff done to doing big things. Plus, co-host Justin Lombardo shares why complacency is a dangerous thing in learning and development work and when it’s OK not to take a risk in your career. Episode Sponsors: This episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast is brought to you by DXC Technology. DXC's human capital management solutions are powering the next-gen workplace. Learn more by visiting dxc.technology. This episode is also brought to by Bridge, the makers of Practice. Practice can scale the competency and confidence of your teams to ensure your organization thrives in today’s fast changing, unpredictable world. Visit getbridge.com to learn more. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters.

Talented people don't want to work for your company for decades. Simply put, the incentives to do so no longer exist. "There's no gold watch for anybody anymore," says Zoe Harte, senior vice president of HR and talent innovation for Upwork, a Silicon Valley-based technology company that matches companies and freelance workers. So why wouldn't you consider freelancers when designing your learning and development programs? In this episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast, Zoe makes the case for crafting targeted programs to onboard and develop them as part of your learning strategy. How do you do that? Here's a hint: Freelancers are people, too. Just like everyone else, they need to understand the purpose and mission of your company in order to do their best work. Plus, she and co-host Justin Lombardo talk about the value retired executives can bring to the company and how to make sure your internal team is ready to work with freelancers. This episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast is brought to by Bridge, the makers of Practice. Practice can scale the competency and confidence of your teams to ensure your organization thrives in today’s fast changing, unpredictable world. Visit getbridge.com to learn more. This episode is also sponsored by BetterUp. Help your organization cultivate a coaching culture with BetterUp, the industry’s first mobile platform that provides personalized coaching at scale. Learn more by visiting betterup.co.  Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters. 

Centralization. Decentralization. Consistency. Flexibility. There’s a constant push and pull taking place in the learning function. Sometimes there’s a need for more control and consistency across the organization. At other times, flexibility and local ownership takes precedence. Stephanie Speights has been at the forefront of that debate for more than a decade. In this podcast recorded live in front of an audience at the House of Blues in Dallas, the chief learning officer of Children’s Health shares how to navigate centralization conversations with executives, tips to overcome organizational skepticism and how important it is to focus on getting the right people on the learning team. Her insights are practical, useful and informed by experience. And that ability to tie learning into the organizational strategy is in demand. Since this episode was recorded, Stephanie took on the CLO role at Parkland Hospital and Health System, one of the largest health systems in Dallas. Plus, co-host Justin Lombardo talks about the three things to look for in a new CLO role and why he thinks centralization is the way to go for the modern learning function. Thank you to our episode sponsors: This episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast is brought to by Bridge, the makers of Practice. Practice can scale the competency and confidence of your teams to ensure your organization thrives in today’s fast changing, unpredictable world. Visit getbridge.com to learn more. This episode is also brought to by O’Reilly Media. O’Reilly’s online learning platform can help your employees learn on the job, get quick answers on the fly and advance your organization’s goals. Learn more at oreilly.com.  Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters.

If you don’t already know Karie Willyerd's work, you should. She’s been at the forefront of corporate learning for a couple of decades, leading the learning function at companies like Lockheed Martin, Heinz, Sun Microsystems and SuccessFactors/SAP. She's an author, futurist and a successful tech entrepreneur who took her education technology company from startup to sale in just over a year. And now, after years away, she's a chief learning officer again. She took on the brand new role of global CLO at Visa in 2019. In this conversation recorded on stage at the Spring 2019 Chief Learning Officer Symposium, Karie talks about why she decided to take the job at Visa, what it means to be strategic in corporate learning and how she manages the function at a high-growth company. But what's most important about this conversation is what she has to say about the future of the chief learning officer role. Her insights are sharp, practical and informed by her years of experience.  Thank you to our episode sponsors: This episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast is brought to by Bridge, the makers of Practice. Practice can scale the competency and confidence of your teams to ensure your organization thrives in today’s fast changing, unpredictable world. Visit getbridge.com to learn more. This episode is also brought to you by DXC Technology. DXC's human capital management solutions are powering the next-gen workplace. Learn more by visiting dxc.technology. Podcast Producer: Jesse McQuarters.

It might surprise you to learn that one of the best companies for learning and development is also one of the smallest. Vi, the Chicago-based company that runs 10 senior living communities across the country, ranks up there with corporate giants like AT&T, Deloitte and Nationwide Insurance, among others. How does a company with less than 3,000 employees compete with firms with more than 10x the resources? With creativity and persistence and a lot of marketing savvy. Judy Whitcomb, senior vice president of human resources and learning and organizational development at Vi, shares what she's learned from a career spent delivering big results on a small budget. In this podcast, she talks about the moment when she realized the powerful connection between marketing and corporate learning, why there's never a 'one and done' solution and how to keep an eye open for opportunities to make a a big impact. Plus, co-host Justin Lombardo talks about how important it is that CLOs be able to speak truth to power in the C-suite. Thank you to our episode sponsors: This episode of the Chief Learning Officer Podcast is brought to by Bridge, the makers of Practice. Practice can scale the competency and confidence of your teams to ensure your organization thrives in today’s fast changing, unpredictable world. Visit getbridge.com to learn more. This episode is also brought to you by DeVry Works and DXC Technology. DeVryWORKS can help with workforce solutions to attract, acquire and develop the leaders of tomorrow. Learn more at devryworks.com. DXC Technology human capital management solutions are powering the next-gen workplace. Learn more by visiting dxc.technology.

Despite years of experience and a wealth of research on practice, learning organizations still stumble when rolling out development programs on a global scale. Quite often, culture is the cause. Mandates and directives from headquarters fail to take into account the nuances of work at the local office. But it’s not just geography or nationality that can sink a global learning program. Internal cultures play a significant and often underestimated role. Even within a single company, there can be scores of different cultures spread across divisions and functions, each with their own norms and rules. Engineers are different from salespeople, IT and HR don’t always align. Jim Irvine, global program manager for learning and development at Renault-Nissan Alliance, knows the challenges firsthand. With operations in nearly every country in the world, his learning organization grapples with the geographic diversity of culture daily. But they also have learned to recognize and work through internal cultures as well. In this podcast recorded live at the CLO Breakfast Club event in Nashville, Jim shares why culture is such an important consideration for learning organizations and why lack of budget and power are no barrier to being an effective learning leader. Plus, co-host Justin Lombardo shares his biggest mistakes when it comes to culture and what they taught him about being a more effective learning executive. Thank you to our episode sponsors: This episode of the CLO Breakfast Club Podcast is brought to by DXC Technology. DXC Technology human capital management solutions are powering the next-gen workplace. Learn more by visiting dxc.technology. This episode is also brought to you by Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and BetterUp. Learn how you can partner with Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business create a one-of-a-kind executive development program for your leaders at choosegeorgetown.com/clo. Help your organization cultivate a coaching culture with BetterUp, the industry’s first mobile platform that provides personalized coaching at scale. Learn more by visiting betterup.co.

For many organizations, the extent of their campus outreach is a few college recruiting fairs and a summer internship program. That’s a big miss in a competitive economy where talent is the currency. Either due to a lack of vision or a short-sighted strategy, organizations simply don’t think long and hard enough about how to build a robust pipeline that delivers talented people from schools into the workplace. When Meredith Oakes took over BNY Mellon’s talent pipeline development in 2017, she set out to change that dynamic. That began with looking beyond the stereotypes to understand what early career professionals actually want from work and turning that into programs that deliver long-term value for them as well as the 200-plus year old Wall Street stalwart. In this podcast recorded live at the City Winery in New York City, Meredith shares why BNY Mellon made pipeline development a strategic priority and what other learning executives can learn from their programs about how to build long-term relationships with early career professionals. Plus, co-host and resident CLO Breakfast Club health expert Justin Lombardo offers his tips for navigating flu season and how working with schools and universities is exactly the type of work at which chief learning officers can excel. Thank you to our episode sponsors: This episode of the CLO Breakfast Club Podcast is brought to by O’Reilly Media. O’Reilly’s online learning platform can help your employees learn on the job, get quick answers on the fly and advance your organization’s goals. Learn more at oreilly.com.   This episode is also brought to you by BetterUp and DeVryWORKS. Help your organization cultivate a coaching culture with BetterUp, the industry’s first mobile platform that provides personalized coaching at scale. Learn more by visiting betterup.co. DeVryWORKS can help with workforce solutions to attract, aquire and develop the leaders of tomorrow in your organization. Learn more at devryworks.com.

Among the many goals organizations have for their learning and development team, building resilience and agility are near the top. Companies want agile leaders and nimble employees able to rapidly adjust to changing business conditions. For CLOs, building those capabilities is a critical part of the mission. For Tim Tobin, that mission became personal. After several successful years as a learning executive, he found himself on the outside looking in after a corporate reorganization at Marriott. How he bounced back after losing his job and what he learned in the process now inform his work as the head of learning for Choice Hotels International, the company behind a dozen hospitality brands including Comfort Inn, Cambria Suites and Econolodge. In this podcast recorded live in Washington D.C., Tim shares what setbacks have taught him about himself as well as the critical importance of paying attention to relationships and not just results in the quest to be a successful learning leader. Thank you to our episode sponsors: This episode of the CLO Breakfast Club Podcast is brought to by Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Learn how you can partner with Georgetown to create a one-of-a-kind executive development program for your leaders at choosegeorgetown.com/clo. This episode is also brought to you by DXC Technology and Bridge, the makers of Practice. DXC Technology human capital management solutions are powering the next-gen workplace. Learn more by visiting dxc.technology. Practice can scale the competency and confidence of your teams to ensure your organization thrives in today’s fast changing, unpredictable world. Visit getbridge.com to learn more. Show Notes: Tim’s Personal Website: Tobin Leadership Chief Learning Officer 2015 Profile: Checking Into Marriott’s Leadership with Tim Tobin

Cameron Hedrick wasn’t always on the path to being a chief learning officer. His career has taken twists and turns and includes stints as a stock broker and in sales and marketing roles. He even took a swing at being an entrepreneur and running his own company before settling into senior HR roles at New York-based financial giant Citi. It's not all business either. When Cameron first moved to New York City after college he earned money playing trumpet in jazz combos around town. And despite the many years between his time as a working musician and now, when he leads Citi’s learning and development organization, Cameron has never forgotten the lessons he learned from his time in the jazz clubs of New York. The ability to create something new and original on the fly as an ensemble is an experience that continues to inform his work in developing talent. In this podcast recorded live on stage at the City Winery in New York City, we talk to Cameron about the improvisational nature of organizational learning, the need to help others constantly evolve so they don’t become obsolete and how chief learning officers need to champion behavior change as much if not more than they emphasize transferring knowledge across the organization. This episode of the CLO Breakfast Club podcast is brought to you by BetterUp. Learn how you can cultivate a coaching culture with the industry’s first mobile platform that provides personalized coaching at scale by visiting betterup.co.

Education is the thread that ties Dave DeFilippo’s career together. After college, he taught Spanish at a high school and coached the track team. He worked his way up the training ranks at UPS and held corporate learning roles at Comcast and Capital One. He eventually became chief learning officer at BNY Mellon, helping navigate the financial services giant through the depths of the Great Recession and the subsequent recovery. In what spare time he had, Dave earned a doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s CLO program. Learning is in his blood. So in 2015 when he joined Suffolk, a Boston-based construction management company, as its first CLO, he looked forward to building out a first class learning function for the growing company. What he didn’t foresee was taking on the rest of the company’s HR operations. It wasn’t part of the initial plan. In this podcast recorded live in Boston at the Chief Learning Officer Breakfast Club event, we talk to Dave about the moment when his CEO asked him to become the company’s chief people officer, the particular strengths that CLOs like him can bring to the position and what his experience means for other learning executives. This episode of the CLO Breakfast Club podcast is brought to you by O’Reilly. To learn how O’Reilly provides individuals, teams, and businesses with expert-created and curated information covering all the areas that will shape our future, visit oreilly.com. Show Notes Chief Learning Officer 2013 Profile: Building a High-Performance Team Chief Learning Officer: David DeFilippo’s On the Front Line Columns

Defense Acquisition University may be the most significant learning organization you’ve never heard of. With more than 700 people serving a population of more than 160,000 employees, DAU is large. That size is matched by a big mission. DAU is the education arm of the U.S. Department of Defense’s acquisition function, providing a critical education resource for the people who buy the tools and supplies that support the men and women in uniform who protect the country. When Jim Woolsey took on leadership of the organization in 2014, DAU was in a good place. Their work had received many awards for excellence, including a 2017 recognition as the no. 1 organization for learning and development on the prestigious Chief Learning Officer Learning Elite list. Despite that success Jim and the team at DAU set out to radically re-engineer how the organization trains and develops its people. In this podcast recorded live in Houston at the Fall 2018 Chief Learning Officer Symposium, we talk to Jim about why DAU decided to change the way it operates, how to formulate an effective learning strategy and tips and ideas for keeping your organization focused on the things that matter. This episode of the CLO Breakfast Club podcast is brought to you by BetterUp. Learn how you can cultivate a coaching culture with the industry’s first mobile platform that provides personalized coaching at scale by visiting betterup.co. Show Notes: DAU website Chief Learning Officer: 2017 Learning Elite Issue

After a career spent primarily in internal learning and development roles, Karen Kocher took a new turn in 2017. As Microsoft’s general manager for 21st Century jobs, skills and employability, she has a broad mandate to work inside and outside the Seattle-based technology company to develop a pipeline of talented people who can fill the jobs companies like hers need to be successful. Microsoft is a company at an interesting place – it’s a massive legacy technology business yet simultaneously trying to be more more like a start-up disruptor. To make that shift, CEO Satya Nadella is pushing the company to operate in different ways than past leaders and Karen finds herself at the vanguard of those initiatives. In many ways, it’s the perfect meld of experience and opportunity. In this podcast recorded in Seattle at our CLO Breakfast Club event, we talk to Karen about what her new role means for other internal learning executives, how she built her credibility and confidence by focusing on evidence-based practice and what she sees as the critical capabilities of successful learning leaders. Show Notes: Chief Learning Officer 2013 Profile: Karen Kocher Quartz: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Takes Control of the Microsoft Narrative With His Book

When he stepped into the role as chief learning officer at McDonald's Corporation in 2014, Rob Lauber had a unique opportunity. The company was about to move from its longtime suburban headquarters into the heart of downtown Chicago. But it was more than just a simple change of location. McDonald’s wanted to inject fresh thinking into the business, spark innovation and attract the kind of young digital talent that would spur the company forward. Rob and his learning team took the opportunity to rethink the purpose of Hamburger University, the company’s storied corporate university, and design from scratch what a modern corporate learning institution should look like. In this podcast, we talk to Rob about that move, the personal and professional risks involved, and how the decisions he made reflect the trend of learning leaders playing a bigger and more influential role in business strategy. Show Notes: Chief Learning Officer 2013 Profile: A Taste for Growth McDonald’s: Archways to Opportunity program CNBC: McDonald’s Is Tripling its College Tuition Benefit

Companies have no shortage of problems that need solving. Chief among them is how to build the workforce of the future. In this episode, Aaron Olson, global head of HR for health and retirement solutions at Aon, talks about how his company is using apprenticeships to build a pipeline of talent and just how important is that chief learning officers think of themselves as problem solvers.

The chief learning officer role was born out of necessity. Visionary business leaders looked ahead and saw a problem: a future driven by innovation but an organization lacking in the essential skills. So they hired the first CLOs to take up the charge - but their success was never guaranteed. Veteran CLO Justin Lombardo was there at the beginning and recounts what that moment was like and how the role continues to evolve to meet the needs of modern organizations. Plus Justin and host Mike Prokopeak, editor in chief of Chief Learning Officer magazine, explain exactly why the world needs a CLO podcast.