6 uncomfortable truths told from the producer’s seat
The most honest conversation I’ve ever witnessed took place before anyone went on the record. It’s not a boardroom. This is not a keynote speech. A carefully prepared presentation will not. Five minutes into the quiet, a senior leader leaned into the microphone and said something he had never said before in public.
I coordinate, schedule, brief, and create conversations with senior learning leaders around the world, including CLOs, chief human resources officers, L&D executives, and talent leaders across industries and geographies. From the producer’s seat, a different kind of observation becomes possible. It’s not the view from inside the organization or the view from the doctor’s office. But the view from the room where leaders speak without a script. These observations are not always comfortable. But they are consistent.
Truth #1: Most organizations confuse learning activities with learning outcomes.
The most consistent concern among CLOs across industries and geographies is that the wrong things are being measured. Completion rates, attendance, satisfaction scores, etc. are participation metrics, not learning metrics.
And there’s a big difference.
Organizations that truly focus on performance are not the ones that run the most programs. They are the ones asking the toughest questions in L&D. Did this change people’s behavior when it mattered?
By 2026, AI-powered personalization and smarter learning analytics will be essential tools in any successful learning ecosystem. However, no analytical platform can compensate for incorrect outcome measurements. Moving from activity to impact is the most important strategic move in workplace learning today.
Truth #2: Psychological safety is not a cultural initiative. it’s a learning infrastructure
The great learning cultures observed throughout these conversations had one thing in common. It wasn’t the budget, it wasn’t the technology, it wasn’t the people. It was an environment where I truly believed that it was okay to not know. Acknowledging gaps was treated as the beginning of growth rather than evidence of inadequacy.
Psychological safety is not a nice-to-have. It is the infrastructure on which all learning is built. Without it, programs cannot function and technology cannot scale. And most importantly, without it, the world’s most sophisticated L&D function will create compliance, not capability.
You cannot build a learning culture on top of a fear culture. First, the foundation must change.
Truth #3: 70-20-10 is not a framework. it is the responsibility of the leader
Although the 70-20-10 model has been discussed in L&D circles for decades, the majority of learning investments still flow to the 10 model. It is a formal, structured program that represents the smallest part of how adults actually learn.
CLOs and learning leaders looking to truly transform their organizations have stopped treating the 70 as a theory and started treating it as a design brief.
The question changes completely.
It’s not “What kind of training do I need?” But, “What conditions do I need to create for learning to occur naturally?” not “How do I get people into a room?” But, “How can we make work itself a learning experience?”
This requires changing something most organizations don’t want to invest in: the behavior of top leadership. 70 does not occur within the program. It happens in the daily choices of every manager on every team and is shaped by what the leaders above them model every day. You can’t design your own path to 70 points. You have to lead your own way there.
Truth #4: Podcasts are the most underutilized asset in corporate learning
It’s worth naming the conflicts of interest here up front. Producing podcasts is my job, and of course I believe in its value. But this belief was not brought about by advocacy. It was born through observation.
When CLOs and subject matter experts share their thoughts in a conversational audio-video format, something changes in the listener. Content starts to feel less like training and more like access. It’s like being in a room with someone whose ideas you respect and being able to hear their thoughts out loud.
India has over 200 million podcast listeners, making it the third largest podcast market in the world. It has over 584 million listeners worldwide. Global podcast ad revenue is expected to reach $5 billion in 2026.
No medium has appeared. It has appeared.
However, most L&D departments still treat it as a marketing tool rather than a learning asset. Organizations that turn internal thought leaders into podcast guests, distribute conversations to Spotify and YouTube, and treat every episode as living, searchable, repeatable knowledge for the organization will have a learning asset that cannot be replicated in a course library.
Not because podcasts are trending, but because conversations are always the best way for humans to learn.
Truth #5: AI will not transform learning. Leaders who use it wisely
Every CLO had a view on AI. The range of those views was wide. The consensus was otherwise. AI is a powerful accelerator, but it cannot replace human judgment. Organizations that treat it as a substitute for instructional designers, facilitators, and the human relationships that are central to meaningful learning experiences are making strategic mistakes that will take years to undo.
In 2026, learning will no longer be about how much information you push, but how deeply you connect with the individual. AI personalizes delivery, surfaces patterns, and reduces administrative burden. However, this does not create psychological safety. You can’t model curiosity. You can’t sit with someone who has finished a difficult project and help them understand what happened.
Know what AI is and isn’t for. Never confuse the two.
Truth #6: Organizations that win at learning are playing a different game.
The CLOs with the sharpest perspectives and truly different organizations weren’t trying to build the best training programs. They were trying to build the strangest organization.
Training programs have a beginning and an end. Curious organizations don’t. It compounds. We attract people who are motivated to continue growing. Retain them because their growth is visible and measured. It’s great because the people inside it are constantly, quietly, consistently improving. These organizations are not built on a single initiative, platform, or technology. They are built on one belief: learning is not a department.
It’s culture, and culture is built conversation by conversation.
conclusion
From the producer’s seat, we find that the best learning organizations and the best podcast conversations share the same foundation. Trust, consistency, and a true belief that conversation, the exchange of ideas between humans, is worth protecting.
The question isn’t whether your organization values learning. Every organization says so. The question is whether your organization is willing to do the difficult, time-consuming, and unglamorous work of creating the conditions that enable learning.
That effort doesn’t start with a platform or program. It starts with a conversation.
Additional resources:
Share with
