L&D Must Change
Episodes
53. AI in L&D: Overreliance, Resistance, or Exuberance? with Timothy Frost
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Many L&D teams are being asked to "train the business on AI"… but what does that really mean? In this episode, Jess and Timothy Frost unpack the ten...
52. The Role of L&D in Frontline Success with JD Dillon
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Eighty percent of the global workforce is doing frontline work, yet, most L&D strategies are built from a corporate perspective. That's a mismatch. In...
51. Rethinking Microlearning with Robyn A. Defelice
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Microlearning sounds simple. It's not. In this episode, Jess sits down with Robyn Defelice to unpack why microlearning often fails and what L&D pros a...
50. Design Learning Beyond Courses with Mark Britz
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if your real job in L&D isn't to build better courses, but to design better conditions for learning? In this episode, Mark Britz challenges us to...
49. World Learning Content Cleanup Day with Ger Driesen
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is your L&D content closet getting a bit cluttered? When was the last time you cleaned it up? In this episode, Jess sits down with Ger Driesen, founde...
48. Choosing the Right L&D Tech with Becky Willis
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Choosing the right L&D technology can feel overwhelming when every platform promises transformation. In this episode, Jess and learning strategist Bec...
47. Robots vs. Humans: Storytelling and AI with Stephanie Hubka
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI can spit out an L&D outline in seconds, but it cannot create connection. In this episode, Jess Almlie talks with Stephanie Hubka about why storytel...
46. Using PIPs for Development, Not Discipline with Amy Kay Watson
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Let's be real. Most Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) don't actually improve performance. They're a legal termination plan in disguise. That doesn'...
45. Ensure Learning is Worth the Expense with Melanie Martinelli
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Your learners loved the course… and then nothing changed. In this episode, Jess talks with Melanie Martinelli (Institute for Transfer Effectiveness)...
44. Facilitating Engagement Isn't Enough with Brian Washburn
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Your learners don't need another "fun" workshop; they need results. In this episode, Jess and Brian Washburn unpack why engagement alone is a dangerou...
43. What AI Means for Your L&D Job with Josh Cavalier
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AI isn't coming for your L&D job... it's rewriting it. In this episode, Jess and AI-in-L&D veteran Josh Cavalier dig into his provocative "Human Machi...
42. Organizing L&D for Results with Guus van Deelen
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tired of L&D busywork that doesn't move the needle? In this episode, Jess and Guus van Deelen dismantle "course factory" thinking and show how to orga...
41. The Secret to Learning That Lasts with Katrina Kennedy
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the key to better learning isn't more content, but less? In this episode, Jess Almlie sits down with L&D expert Katrina Kennedy to explore ho...
40. LIVE! Securing Influence and Credibility in the C-Suite with David L. Jackson III and Dr. Alaina Szlachta
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do learning professionals earn a true voice in the boardroom? In this special episode, recorded live at the Learning Guild's Learning Leadership C...
39. Lead the Change, Don't Absorb the Burnout with Holly Burkett
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Change isn't an event, it's the air we breathe. In this episode, Jess talks with Holly Burkett about reframing change management as energy mana...
38. Build Learners, Not Libraries with Irma Horvath
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the real power of L&D isn't in the content we deliver, but in teaching people how to direct their own growth? In this episode, Jess is joined ...
37. Order Taker No More! with Jess Almlie
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The tables have turned! In this episode, Jess Almlie steps into the guest chair as Sarah Cannistra interviews her about her brand-new book, L&D Order...
36. Measuring Talent Intangibles with Colin J. Hahn
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you measure what you can't easily see? For L&D and talent development pros, measuring improvement in skills like leadership, collaboration, and...
35. Conducting Tiny Experiments in L&D with Anne-Laure Le Cunff
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the best way to change and develop isn't with big plans, but "tiny experiments"? Neuroscientist and author Anne-Laure Le Cunff joins Jess to e...
34. When Promotions Aren't Possible with Al Dea
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What can you do when an employee insists on a promotion, but you don't have one to give? Jess and Al Dea dive into one of the most pressing challenges...
33. Let Learning Roam Free with Anamaria Dorgo
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if learning didn't need to be controlled to be powerful? In this episode, Jess sits down with Anamaria Dorgo, a learning and community consultant...
32. When Customer Education and L&D Collide with Debbie Smith
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
L&D and customer education are similar, but not the same. There is a lot L&D can learn from this parallel profession. In this episode, Debbie Smith j...
31. Context Over Content with Candice Mitchell
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Too often, training misses the mark because it skips the most important step. In this episode of L&D Must Change, Candice Mitchell joins Jess Almlie ...
30. Think Like a Marketer with Mike Taylor and Bianca Baumann
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when L&D professionals start thinking like marketers? In this episode, Jess Almlie talks with Mike Taylor and Bianca Baumann about how a...
29. Flipping the Script on Your L&D Career with Sarah Cannistra
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Think you need a fancy job title to land your dream L&D role? Think again. In this episode of L&D Must Change, Jess sits down with Sarah Cannistra, L&...
28. Maturing the L&D Function with David James
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a world where L&D is a driving force behind business transformation, not just a provider of training. In this episode, David James, former Dis...
27. Rethinking Performance Feedback with Dr. Sandra Mashihi and Dr. Kenneth M. Nowack
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Good feedback fuels performance and behavior change. Poor feedback does the opposite. It's one of the most powerful tools in a leader's toolkit, yet ...
26. AI Isn't a Tool; It's a Team Member with Josh Penzell
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone's talking about AI—but are we thinking about it the right way? In this special one-year anniversary episode, I finally dive into the AI con...
25. L&D in the Startup World with Tom Bowen
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When does the L&D function form in an organization? What's the first order of business when it does? Today's guest, Tom Bowen, is known as the L&D pro...
24. What L&D Can Learn From Product Management with Rashi Kakkar
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There's nothing I love more than when someone takes on an L&D role from another industry and becomes immediately confused as to why our profession fun...
23. Is It Time to Ditch Your LMS? with Sarah Mercier
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you feel about your LMS? If you're like most you may have a love + hate relationship with the platform. Today's guest, Sarah Mercier, found her...
22. Designing and Measuring on Purpose with Chris Taylor
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to clarify the purpose of our learning programs with our stakeholders, and I mean really clarify. Not just write the learning outcomes and ...
21. Should L&D be Adding, Subtracting, or Changing? with Lavinia Mehedintu
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for L&D to both amp up our toolbox and become a tad more critical of our own work. Instead of adding content, we need to think about subtrac...
20. The Intersection of L&D and Change Management with Jody Lumsden
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
L&D and change management may be different professions, but they are deeply interconnected. In today's episode, Jody Lumsden shares how the intersecti...
19.What It Takes to Hire and Develop an L&D Team with Laurel Schulert
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hiring and developing the best L&D team isn't easy. Determining needed roles, writing a clear JD, selecting the appropriate amount of prior expertise ...
18. Do You Have Trainer Bias? With Jay Johnson
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most L&D pros operate and design from a particular bias based on our primary behavioral (biological/neurological) drivers - the drive to learn and the...
17. The Simple Power of Book Discussions with Jeannine Lanoux
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, in L&D, we get buried in our thinking about fantastic, carefully designed, detailed programs. So much that we can miss the simple, inexpens...
16. Data Literacy and Business Acumen for L&D with Dr. Alaina Szlachta
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Data literacy and business acumen are important concepts for the L&D professional who works (or wants to work) as a more Strategic Business Partner. I...
15. What's a Digital Coach Anyway? with Chris King
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if there were tools available to everyone in our organizations that would answer our questions and guide us through complicated tasks exactly at ...
14. The Landscape of L&D Roles with Abigail Wheeler Charlu
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the last year, Abigail Wheeler Charlu (Abby) interviewed 50 L&D professionals in a variety of roles to learn more about the L&D landscape. She was ...
13. Career Development as a Team Sport with Julie Winkle Giulioni
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we try to navigate complex, ever-changing careers relying on only ourselves or a manager? Why do we tend to think that career development needs...
12. Upping Our Strategic Thinking Game with Mary Rapaport
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is a lack of strategic thinking holding us back? Today's guest, Mary Rapaport, believes that when we channel a more strategic mindset, the business cu...
11. L&D as an Organizational Contributor with Robyn A. Defelice
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if L&D showed up as an organizational contributor instead of a service provider? Today's guest, Robyn A. Defelice regularly models this approach ...
10. Designing for Neurodiversity with Jessica Michaels
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of different brains in the world and all of them are good. But they may process information in alternate ways that don't look "typical...
9. Measurement is a Change Effort with Peggy Parskey
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's one thing to try and gather a few numbers, it's another to integrate measurement into every fragment of L&D. But yet, this is where measurement b...
8.Online Training That's Better Than In Person with Kassy LaBorie
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Online training can be better than in person training. Are you a believer? Or are you thinking that will never be true? Today's guest is none other th...
7. Stop Onboarding, Start Everboarding with Amber Watts
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to ditch the way we view onboarding. In most companies, onboarding is a formal time period that ends when the L&D team walks out, and the ma...
6. The Power of Stories to Connect, Train, and Humanize with Rance Greene
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stories have the power to hold us in anticipation, motivate us to learn more, and connect with others on a human level. Rance Greene discovered this b...
The Performance Consulting Mindset Shift with Christopher Adams
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to dive into performance consulting with today's guest, Christopher Adams, Principal Consultant for Performance Change Strategies LLC. Perfo...
It's the Little Things: Cultivating Belonging Through Small Actions with Wendy Gates Corbett
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's episode 4 and we're talking all things belonging with researcher Wendy Gates Corbett. She's on a mission to show everyone who wants to make a dif...
Self-Compassion as a Key Leadership Skill with Massimo Backus
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Episode 3, I'm starting with a topic that's currently abuzz in the L&D Must Change community, check the box training. Then, I'll talk with Massimo ...
Development in Real Life (vs. Idealistic Pristine Environments) with Stephen Mostrom
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Here we go! Diving into Episode 2 of the L&D Must Change Podcast, I start off with a few thoughts on what's "abuzz" in the L&D Must Change community t...
Shifting L&D Mindsets with JD Dillon
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's Episode 1 of the L&D Must Change podcast and we are starting off with a bang! Today we welcome talent development leader, author, speaker, and Ba...
Welcome to the L&D Must Change Podcast
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why the L&D Must Change Podcast? In this brief introduction, Jess Almlie, host of the L&D Must Change podcast will share a little about her background...