John Helmer explores the future of learning with Anne-Valérie Corboz (HEC Paris), Jane Underwood (Reckitt), and Sarah Otley (Akkodis Academy). They discuss leadership evolution, generative AI’s impact, and strategies for building future-ready skills. From innovation challenges to aligning L&D with business goals, this episode offers actionable insights for learning professionals navigating rapid technological change and preparing for tomorrow’s workplace. A must-listen for those shaping the future of education and work.

• 00:00:00 – Start
• 00:01:11 – Intro
• 00:01:50 – Anne_Valerie Corboz
• 00:22:45 – Ad – iVentiv
• 00:23:26 – Jane Underwood
• 00:43:32 – Sarah Otley
• 01:13:49 – End

 Guest contacts:

Anne-Valérie Corboz: Associate Dean for Executive Education at HEC Paris.

• Email: annevaleriecorboz@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/corboz
• X: @AnneVCorboz

Jane Underwood: Global Head of Learning at Reckitt.

•   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/janeunderwoodorganisationaldevelopment
• X: @JaneUnderwood

Sarah Otley: Global Head of Akkodis Academy.

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarah-otley-0a065620
• X: @SarahOtley

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer
• Website: learninghackpodcast.com

Check out this episode!

The Future of Learning with AI: Moving Past Simple Applications to Transformational Impact (Learning Leaders pilot)

This episode premieres the newest podcast from the Learning Hack stable, Learning Leaders, produced by NIIT in association with The Learning Hack. In this pilot episode, John explores the future of AI learning with Gregg Collins and Sailesh Lalla. Moving beyond content creation, they discuss how AI can drive performance by delivering personalized, real-time learning experiences. Discover the next wave of AI-powered simulations, intelligent tutoring, and immersive learning that goes beyond traditional courses, aiming to transform how organizations approach skill-building and unlock true business impact.

• 00:00:00 – Start
• 00:00:18 – Intro
• 00:02:03 – Will AI only intensify L&D’s addiction to courses
• 00:07:12 – Will AI be a solution looking for a problem in learning (like VR?)
• 00:19:44 – Does interacting with AI teach management skills?
• 00:38:10 – Learning and The Business
• 00:44:04 – What is the next step in AI for learning?
• 00:51:35 – What is the top level or goal of NIIT’s maturity model for AI?
• 01:04:36 – How do we preserve humanity in AI-driven learning?

Sponsored by NIIT

• Website: https://www.niit.com/en/learning-outsourcing/

Follow Greg:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gregg-collins-54a3971
• Email: gregg.collins@niit.com 

Follow Sailesh:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sailesh-lalla-3224b2
• Email: saileshl@niit.com

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer
• Website: learninghackpodcast.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/LearningHack

Check out this episode!

In this episode, John Helmer is joined by Brigid McCormack, podcast producer and researcher, to discuss her study on podcasting in the Appalachian region of the United States. Brigid shares how local podcasters in this culturally rich yet often stereotyped region are using the medium to tell authentic stories and challenge long-standing negative narratives. She also touches on the power of oral storytelling and podcasting as a learning medium and reflects on her role at Assemble You.

For her research, McCormack focused on four podcasts created by five podcasters from the Appalachian region:

1. Appodlachia by Chuck Corra: A podcast that takes a critical look at politics and economics in Appalachia, often addressing current issues and challenging stereotypes.
2. What’s Appalachian? by Gabe and Cody: A more casual, conversational podcast where the hosts discuss their daily lives, providing an authentic glimpse into contemporary Appalachian experiences.
3. Now Appalachia by Eliot Parker: This podcast focuses on storytelling and also touches on political and social issues in the region.
4. Appalachian Imagination by Jason: A conversational podcast featuring local friends and community members, offering diverse perspectives on Appalachian life. 

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro
• 03:44 – Brigid’s research work on digital futures
• 06:03 – About Appalachia
• 07:49 – Appalachian stereotypes
• 16:47 – What did she learn about Appalachia?
• 19:19 – What podcast formats did they use?
• 23:23 – What conclusions did she draw from her work?
• 29:22 – What did she learn about learning?
• 39:51 – Her role at Assemble You
• 43:31 – End

Follow Brigid McCormack:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brigid-mccormack
• Website: podsandprose.com

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer
• Website: learninghackpodcast.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/LearningHack

Check out this episode!

In this episode, John Helmer is joined by Saskia Huusen, Sanne Mateman, and Callum Clark to discuss a groundbreaking AI-powered learning project at the Alrijne Healthcare Group. This practical conversation dives deep into the real-world application of AI in learning, demonstrating eye-opening time savings and efficiency improvements in a healthcare setting.

The team shares how they implemented AI to improve workflow learning for surgical assistants, reducing SME time by 70% and shortening project timelines by 40%. They discuss the challenges of working with AI, how it differs from traditional performance support, and what they’ve learned through this innovative project. For anyone interested in AI for learning, this episode is packed with valuable insights on integrating AI into workplace learning.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro
• 02:57 – Introducing the project
• 06:11 – Meet the team
• 09:51 – What part did AI play?
• 12:13 – What couldn’t be done by more traditional means?
• 14:54 – How different was project management?
• 20:41 – Did it help that they are young?
• 23:01 – The solution
• 29:14 – What did they learn as a team from doing the project?
• 43:02 – What are they doing next?
• 50:33 – Who to follow on AI (and who to avoid!)
• 54:58 – End

Follow Saskia Huusen:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/saskia-huussen
• Website (company): https://xprtise.com/en/

Follow Sanne Mateman:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sanne-mateman

Follow Callum Clark:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/callumclark

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer
• Website: learninghackpodcast.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/LearningHack

Check out this episode!

John Helmer speaks with Charles Jennings, managing director of Duntroon Consultants and a founding partner of the 70:20:10 Institute. Charles has over 40 years of experience in corporate learning and performance improvement and is widely known for advocating the 70:20:10 framework. The conversation delves into the future of workplace learning, exploring how L&D professionals can evolve their strategies to drive organizational success in a rapidly changing environment.

Charles shares his thoughts on generative AI and its potential role in reshaping learning. He also discusses the importance of shifting focus from individual learning to team performance, emphasizing that teams are the “atomic units” of delivery in any organization.

The episode further explores the current obsession with skills mapping and competency frameworks, with Charles offering a more holistic approach. He challenges the idea that skills development alone can drive organizational excellence and highlights the broader systemic factors that contribute to high performance.

• 00:00 – Start
• 03:16 – Is his a ‘restless intelligence?’
• 06:19 – Will Gen AI prevent or reinforce bad habits in L&D
• 09:39 – Implications of AI for L&D’s role in the organisation
• 12:54 – The ‘skills obsession’ of L&D
• 17:17 – Are skills mapping exercises a waste of money
• 21:08 – Are we getting any better at thinking systemically
• 25:52 – Performance support: what are we waiting for
• 35:26 – Teams and social media
• 39:56 – Introducing the iVentiv conference Charles is Chairing
• 45:27 – Who does he follow?
• 50:41 – End

Sponsor link:

• https://iventiv.com/learninghack

Follow Charles

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/charles-jennings
• 70:20:10 Institute: https://702010institute.com/
• Duntroon: http://www.duntroon.com/
• Blog: https://charles-jennings.blogspot.com/

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack

Check out this episode!

In this special 100th episode of The Learning Hack podcast, we celebrate a milestone by diving deep into curiosity and corporate learning with Simon Brown, Global Learning and Development Leader at EY and best-selling author of The Curious Advantage. Simon, formerly CLO at Novartis, shares his insights on the pivotal role curiosity plays in driving personal and organizational growth. We explore how AI is reshaping learning landscapes, and Simon offers invaluable lessons on fostering innovation, building effective learning strategies, and navigating rapid change. Join us for an engaging conversation that marks our centenary episode with a true thought leader.

• 00:00 – Start
• 00:41 – Intro
• 03:26 – Why curiosity?
• 11:22 – Simon’s journey to top CLO
• 16:09 – How did he form his team at Novartis?
• 21:15 – How did he get the resources and C-Suite buy-in for the change?
• 26:58 – How specific is his take on strategy to the sectors he has worked in?
• 31:34 – His role at EY
• 36:07 – Is there substance behind the skills hype?
• 39:34 – Will AI-driven learning shut down curiosity?
• 47:47 – How does he pursue his own learning, and what sources does he follow?
• 53:25 – End

Sponsor link:

• https://iventiv.com/learninghack

Follow Simon

• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/simoncbrown1
• The Curious Advantage (podcast): https://open.spotify.com/show/0fhW2Xj66JcumYeh6gljZ
• The Curious Advantage (book): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53731453-the-curious-advantage

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack

Check out this episode!

Deconstructing Continental Philosophy’s Impact on Modern Education.

At the end of the 19th Century, a split in Philosophy emerged that persists today. The Analytic tradition, led by Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein, emphasized clarity, logical rigour, and formal methods in language analysis. By contrast, Continental theorists such as Husserl and Heidegger went to a very different place. They focused on human experience and took on broader cultural and political themes, giving us terms like existentialism, structuralism, post-structuralism, and postmodernism. In this final episode of the season, we explore the impact of Continental Theorists. What influence have these radical thinkers, whose writings often seem almost wilfully obscure, had on education and learning?

• 00:00:00 – Start
• 00:00:46 – Intro
• 00:01:59 – Introducing the Continental Theorists
• 00:09:01 – Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
• 00:24:28 – Paul-Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
• 00:41:11 – Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998)
• 00:52:42 – Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
• 01:09:54 – Summing up

The Blog that started it all:

• https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

Contact Donald

• X: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• Email: john@learninghackpodcast.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack/

Check out this episode!

Learning in the post-Freudian age

At the beginning of the 20th Century, fundamental assumptions about the nature of the mind and how it learns were completely overturned by a new set of ideas. Pre-eminent among the thinkers and practitioners who spearheaded a new field of study called psychoanalysis was the Austrian neurologist, Sigmund Freud. Following his death in 1939, Freud’s followers continued and developed his ideas, and psychoanalysis grew ever more influential, not just in the treatment of mental illness, but in government, business, philosophy and education. Though most of Freud’s theories have since been discredited, he casts a long shadow. But what do the psychoanalysts have to say to our own time about the mind and learning?

• 00:00:00 – Intro
• 00:01:11 – Introducing the psychoanalysts
• 00:06:33 – Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1923)
• 00:25:33 – Anna Freud (1895-1982)
• 00:36:17 – Melanie Klein (1882-1960)
• 00:43:53 – Eric Erikson (1902 – 1994)
• 00:57:55 – John Bowlby (1907-1990)
• 01:05:14 – Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987)
• 01:10:41 – Summing Up

The Blog that started it all:

• https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

Contact Donald

• X: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack/

Check out this episode!

Is the mind flatter than we thought?

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the ‘Performance Journey Goes Dutch’ conference in Ermelo, The Netherlands, organised by Xpertise Learning. Donald and John explore a group of theorists who are giving us a new picture of how we think and learn that is distinctively different from what came before. They’re the Connectionists, and they see the brain as flatter than was previously thought, constantly trying to predict what will happen next, and to improvise a response. But what are the implications for learning of this New Psychology?

• 00:00 – Intro
• 00:58 – Introducing The Connectionists
• 11:15 – Daniel Dennett (1942 – 2024)
• 19:15 – Geoffrey Hinton (1947–)
• 24:38 – Nick Chater (1965–)
• 35:17 – Karl Friston (1959–)
• 39:19 – Joshua Brett Tenenbaum (1972–)
• 43:49 – Andy Clark (1957–)
• 46:54 – Summing Up

The Blog that started it all:

• https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

Contact Donald

• X: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack/

Check out this episode!

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the ‘Performance Journey Goes Dutch’ conference in Ermelo, The Netherlands, organised by Xpertise Learning. Donald and John explore a group of theorists who are giving us a new picture of how we think and learn that is distinctively different from what came before. They’re the Connectionists, and they see the brain as flatter than was previously thought, constantly trying to predict what will happen next, and to improvise a response. But what are the implications for learning of this New Psychology?

• 00:00 – Intro
• 00:58 – Introducing The Connectionists
• 11:15 – Daniel Dennett (1942 – 2024)
• 19:15 – Geoffrey Hinton (1947–)
• 24:38 – Nick Chater (1965–)
• 35:17 – Karl Friston (1959–)
• 39:19 – Joshua Brett Tenenbaum (1972–)
• 43:49 – Andy Clark (1957–)
• 46:54 – Summing Up

The Blog that started it all:

• https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html

Contact Donald

• X: @DonaldClark
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/
• Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Contact John Helmer

• X: @johnhelmer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/
• Website: https://learninghackpodcast.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LearningHack/

Check out this episode!