When Experts Converge, It’s Good To Notice
What does it take to be a leader? It’s this very question that drove us to explore the fundamental connection between leadership and learning by amplifying the voices of industry trailblazers in our award-winning series, Leaders in Learning. In this article, we highlight 5 essential L&D lessons that came up again and again in our conversations, showcasing the inextricable link between learning and leading.
5 L&D Lessons From Experts In The Field
1. Embrace The Fear Of Failure
It’s common advice to face our fears, but that’s because the fear of failure is a significant roadblock to innovation and progress.
“I don’t know how to do this; I’m gonna fail. We need to get over that (fear),” emphasizes Josh Bersin, renowned industry analyst, who advocates for a workplace where the fear of failure is replaced by curiosity and experimentation.
Indeed, “it’s about progress, not perfection,” Jason Weeman, Leadership Development Consultant at LinkedIn, reminds us. When we feel safe to fail, we’re more likely to take risks, innovate, and grow.
Maureen Lonergan, VP, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Training and Certification, also urges others not to let their perceived lack of knowledge limit them. Despite not being the strongest academically, it was Lonergan’s willingness to work hard, accept feedback, and reset and reframe that led her from training coordinator to leading global training initiatives at AWS.
Weeman, Bersin, and Lonergan’s accounts are powerful reminders that with the right mindset (and culture), people can learn and adapt—even in challenging roles and situations. Ultimately, facing their fears makes them better leaders.
2. Cultivate Adaptability Through Change
Change is inevitable, but many people fear it. That’s why leaders who embrace it are the ones who thrive. Daniel Garcia Alfisi, a global expert in L&D, sees adaptability as a skill to be cultivated.
It’s a muscle that grows stronger through exposure. According to Alfisi, that includes encouraging people to take on challenges, even if it means they eventually leave for new roles. “An individual will feel successful if they can change careers at any time,” adds Alfisi.
Leaders who enable growth—even growth that leads employees away—gain a powerful network of advocates and a richer, more dynamic workforce.
Jessica Winder, Senior VP of People and HR expert, also challenges the notion that long-term loyalty to one job equates to success. In her view, job-hopping isn’t just a career move; it’s a strategy for innovation as it allows employees to build a myriad of skills and perspectives.
Both Alfisi and Winder emphasize how this ultimately benefits companies because employees often return to where they are empowered to succeed.
Leaders who see value in change and allow their people the freedom to explore find themselves at the helm of teams—and organizations—that are both resilient and continuously evolving.
3. Fall In Love With The Problem, Not The Solution
Change isn’t the only thing that’s inevitable, and so are problems. But the most successful leaders don’t immediately jump to the solution, says Bersin, they first fall in love with the problem.
According to Bersin, the most successful L&D initiatives are those which were built around real business problems.
L&D teams that partner with leaders to diagnose and target specific issues (like turnover or performance gaps) are the secret weapon to ROI, he states. Addressing the root cause ensures that learning interventions actually move the needle.
John Zurovchak, PhD, Senior Director, Ops Training at Burger King also agrees that it’s not enough to deploy training and hope it sticks. L&D professionals must go beyond being “order takers” to being strategic partners that align closely with the broader business strategy.
It’s about understanding what really drives results and addressing the problem head-on.
4. Assess The Data, But Manage By Behavior
To address problems, we have to look at data. Taggart McCurdy, Director, User Success at Databricks, emphasizes that without data on learning outcomes, planning for growth becomes difficult.
Data should be leveraged to not only track progress but also to guide L&D efforts to target real business needs.
But is that enough?
Zurovchak beckons us to explore further. Instead of relying solely on numbers, we should focus on the behaviors driving the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) we’re after.
It’s this interaction between KPIs and behaviors that can really help us address challenges in the workplace and properly nurture employees.
5. Document Everything
Sounds boring, doesn’t it?
But preserving behaviors, experience, or knowledge is vital for many industries that are currently witnessing tacit knowledge walking out the door with retiring baby boomers.
For companies like a defense contractor for which Bersin consults, failure to transfer tacit knowledge fast enough could mean the eventual downfall of the company. (In fact, we’ve seen this before. Without proper knowledge management practices in place, NASA reportedly lost its ability to go to the moon.)
When the Apollo program concluded, the expertise, infrastructure, and tools for building the Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft were lost, making it impossible to simply reconstruct those systems today.
Even with the blueprints, rebuilding requires redesign, retesting, and reclaiming lost expertise, highlighting the critical role of tacit knowledge and the challenges in preserving complex capabilities over time.
But it doesn’t just impact daily operations; it also shapes an organization’s ability to grow and expand.
Courtney Sembler, Senior Director of HubSpot Academy, encountered the knowledge management problem when she was trying to scale HubSpot Academy globally. Without a centralized system for preserving institutional knowledge, scaling the organization is a near-impossible task to do, she emphasizes.
“If someone leaves the team, can someone else come in and do it the same way?” she asks. It’s not enough to have talented people; companies must create structures that allow knowledge to be captured, documented, and passed on, ensuring that new hires can step in without missing a beat.
A Leader Is A Lifelong Learner
The lessons from Leaders in Learning point to a powerful conclusion: leadership and learning are deeply intertwined. Effective leaders aren’t just knowledgeable—they’re constant learners, willing to adapt, evolve, and change course when needed. They aren’t afraid of failure; they see it as part of the process.
Whether it’s falling in love with the problem, focusing on behaviors over numbers, preserving knowledge, or adapting to inevitable change, learning is at the heart of leadership. We might not have a definitive answer about what it takes to be a leader, but it’s clear that in today’s world, the leaders who thrive are those who embrace learning as their most important tool.
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Docebo is the world’s most powerful learning platform, built for the business of learning.
