Chief Learning Officer

I was working on a detailed research project recently, using Claude to support the process. The work was moving fast, faster than it had any right to. I was making connections, surfacing themes, building arguments. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I caught myself thinking: “I really understand this material now.” Then I paused. Did I? Or did I understand what Claude had organized for me? That distinction is small, almost imperceptible.

Chief Learning Officer’s “Learning Insights” series is dedicated to showcasing the thoughts and career journeys of chief learning officers and learning executives—the tireless trailblazers who are transforming the landscape of corporate learning and workforce development. In this Q&A series, we garner strategic insights, innovative approaches and challenges overcome from visionary leaders worldwide.

Organizations want employees to be creative problem-solvers, yet training environments can unintentionally mimic business pressures that push learners toward rapid solutions. This tendency undermines the ability to teach a truly necessary capability: deep, creative problem-solving. It seems paradoxical, but effectively teaching the skills to creatively problem-solve requires insulating learners from the pressure to rapidly meet business needs. At least, for a while.

Leadership has never been more complex. Organizations are navigating rapid technological change, workforce disruption, economic uncertainty and shifting employee expectations. Amid these challenges, leaders are often continuously searching for solutions to increasingly complicated problems.

I was in the room where it happens. I was part of the first cohort of Arizona State University’s The Agentic Self course, something will.i.am (the front man for the hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas) and ASU imagined in 2025. Professor Will, as we called him, had already created the FYI campus in Hollywood: a magical hip-hop version of Willy Wonka’s factory, but instead of chocolate bars, it manifests music, products and now … people empowered to build in an AI world to make a better real world.

I am a content junkie. Podcasts, books, articles, talks…if leadership or artificial intelligence is in the title, I am probably consuming it. And, most of it wraps up in the same place: When AI is doing the tasks, leaders may need to lean harder into human skills like empathy and emotional intelligence. I agree, but I find myself frustrated with how this content is framed. It either predicts a future that has not arrived yet or speaks about that future as though it is already here.

For decades, learning and development leaders have been asked a deceptively simple question: “How do we know learning is working?” The answers have often been equally simple. Number of participants trained. Completion percentages. Learning hours consumed. Course satisfaction scores. Certification counts. While these metrics have served a purpose, they have also created an unintended consequence.

Organizations are investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence. New tools are being deployed across nearly every function, from recruiting and learning to operations and customer service. Yet many leaders are finding that the productivity gains they expected have been slower and smaller than anticipated. The problem is rarely the technology itself. The challenge is helping people understand how AI fits into their work.

Our Shih Tzu puppy, Carmella, was four months old when we brought her home. We were excited to have a new puppy, but she was not as enthusiastic about the new arrangement. Her world had just been turned around; she was living with strangers and placed in unfamiliar surroundings. Her behavior was guarded, and she minimized interactions with us. She was not willing to show her whole self or personality, and it was clear she did not trust us.

Chief Learning Officer’s “Learning Insights” series is dedicated to showcasing the thoughts and career journeys of chief learning officers and learning executives—the tireless trailblazers who are transforming the landscape of corporate learning and workforce development. In this Q&A series, we garner strategic insights, innovative approaches and challenges overcome from visionary leaders worldwide.