Leading Learning Podcast
Episodes
477: What Learning Business Leaders Need to Stop Doing
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Learning businesses are operating in an environment that feels more demanding, more uncertain, and harder to parse than ever. It’s natural to rely o...
476: Who Decides? Bringing Sanity to Managing Your Learning Portfolio
14 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Many learning businesses struggle with decisions about what to create, improve, and retire. With input coming from committees, volunteers, subject mat...
475: Pricing Association Education with Dr. Michael Carr-Tatonetti
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Many associations struggle with pricing their education offerings. Should education be bundled into membership? Sold à la carte? Packaged as a subscr...
474: Revisiting Reach, Revenue, and Impact—Ending with Impact
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb wrap up their three-part look at reach, revenue, and impact by f...
473: Revisiting Reach, Revenue, and Impact–Continuing with Revenue
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb focus on revenue and why it—along with reach and impact—is f...
472: Revisiting Reach, Revenue, and Impact—Starting with Reach
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Reach, revenue, and impact are familiar concepts to long-time listeners of the Leading Learning Podcast. But they’re often treated as separate chall...
471: Social Learning Objects: From Content to Collective Learning
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most learning businesses are rich in content, but far fewer are intentional about which pieces of content sparks collective learning?In this episode, ...
470: Lean Startup, Design Thinking, and Culture with Elizabeth Engel and Jamie Notter
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Many learning businesses know they need to innovate, but moving faster and experimenting can run headlong into culture and the fear of being wrong. Th...
469: The Strategic Outlook for Learning Businesses 2026
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Strategy is about making choices—where to focus, what to invest in, and what to stop doing. Data can help bring clarity to those decisions, especial...
468: Redux: Maximizing Learning with Mindset
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mindset shapes how adults approach learning, challenge, and change—and it has important implications for learning businesses. In this episode of the...
467: Associations as Architects of Learning
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Content is everywhere, governance is slow to change, and technology expectations keep climbing—association learning businesses are feeling squeezed....
466: Cert Prep, Pricing, and Impact with Letty Kluttz
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Building or refreshing certification prep, reviewing prices, or expanding into new formats? This conversation offers concrete examples of how to move ...
465: Responsible, Pragmatic AI with Tori Miller Liu
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Unsure about AI guardrails, AI data risks, or which artificial intelligence project to pick first? You’re not alone.Tori Miller Liu, president and C...
464: AI in the Learning Business Maturity Model
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence often magnifies what’s already happening in an organization. If your metadata is a mess, an AI recommendation engine might h...
463: Becoming a Learning-Centric Organization with Mike Moss
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do you want your learning business to be more than a provider of programs, to truly operate as a learning-centric organization? This episode of the Le...
462: Governance, Risk, and the Future of Learning with Glenn Tecker
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re concerned about how your learning business can keep pace with rapid change—AI, growing risks, shifting learner expectations—this episo...
461: Building AI Capacity with Amith Nagarajan
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re wondering what role artificial intelligence should play in your learning business—or how to prepare your people and processes to use it ...
460: Why Associations Are (Still) Education's Sleeping Giant
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Associations have long played a role in supporting learning and education, but they may be overlooking the full extent of their potential. In this epi...
459: Evolving Through Innovation with Mary Byers
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you know your learning offerings need to evolve, but you’re not sure where to start or how to bring others along, this episode of the Leading Lea...
458: Curiosity, Clarity, and Courage with Lowell Aplebaum
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re a leader navigating change, shifting expectations, or questions about your organization’s identity and future, this episode of the Leadi...
457: Leading Through Disruption with Seth Kahan
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re leading a learning business right now, you’re almost certainly navigating uncertainty—political, economic, technological. It can be ha...
456: CE in 2030: Strategic Shifts and Emerging Realities
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What will it take to keep your learning business relevant and thriving in 2030? In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb an...
455: A Look at the Learning-Verse with Dhawal Shah
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Udemy, Coursera, and edX are part of the competitive landscape your learning business operates in, so it’s valuable to understand how your learners ...
454: Five Practice Levers for Navigating Uncertainty
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 454, is the second installment in a two-part look at how learning businesses can best navigate un...
453: Four Habitats for Navigating Uncertainty
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If one thing is certain these days, it’s that uncertainty is top of mind for many leaders. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 4...
452: Beyond Credit and SMEs: Unlocking Learning's Full Potential
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele discuss the powerful and sometimes limiting role of credit (CE, CME, CLE, CPE, etc.) and...
451: The Power of Coherence: Making Strategy Stick
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Drawing on their own experience and insights from experts like Richard Rumelt, Roger Martin, and Michael Porter, Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jef...
450: Flexible Leadership with Kevin Eikenberry
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Flexibility is an essential skill for those leading learning businesses. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 450, we talk with Kev...
449: Segmenting Learners to Grow Engagement, Retention, and Revenue
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode of the Leading Learning Podcast looks at why and how learning businesses can and should segment their audience—what it looks like in pr...
448: Why Momentum Matters
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In physics, momentum is the product of a body’s mass and velocity. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa St...
447: Strategy Triage for Learning Businesses
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Because good strategy is organic and responsive, it needs to be revisited periodically. There are predictable, recurring whens that are be natural tim...
446: Five Ways to Increase Your Education Revenue Right Now
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For learning businesses, bringing in revenue is an essential function. Revenue is what keeps the organization going and delivering on its mission, whe...
445: Culture, Mindset, and Money with Erin Pressley
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture, mindset, money—these are big and important concepts for any learning business. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 445,...
444: A Year for Resourcefulness
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele share four actionable ideas grounded in survey data collected by Leading Learning and informed by their e...
443: Benchmarking for Learning Businesses
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele share key data points from Leading Learning’s latest year-end survey of learning businesses. They cover...
442: Redux: Studying Innovation with Mary Byers
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation is an aspiration of many organizations, including learning businesses. This episode, number 442, features a conversation with Mary Byers. M...
441: Redux: Designing Content Scientifically with Ruth Colvin Clark
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A learning business must understand learning theory and put that theory into practice if it is to create offerings that result in positive change and ...
440: No Time Like Now for Strategy
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Leading Learning Podcast episode 440, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele share the questions and topics probed in Leading Learning’s annual sur...
439: Long-Distance Leadership with Wayne Turmel
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
COVID changed how we live and work in many ways. One example is the increased need for remote communication and for managing and leading hybrid teams....
438: This Is Hard, and That's Not Bad
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Effort contributes to lasting, durable learning, which means learning businesses have a responsibility to expect learners to put in effort and an ince...
437: Awareness Through Content Marketing with Deirdre Reid
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Content marketing at its core is educational. It’s about raising awareness not only of a brand but of that brand’s ability to help and to act as a...
436: Measurement and Evaluation with Alaina Szlachta
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Impact is a theme we circle back to again and again on the Leading Learning Podcast because we believe that any learning business needs to create impa...
435: Reflecting on Practice with Annasofie Wædeled-Møller
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If the goal of so much professional learning is improving the skills and abilities of learners on the job, then why put theory and methods before prac...
434: The Small Matter of Time
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As parents, as partners, as colleagues, as professionals, people are constantly being asked for some of their time, and learning businesses are part o...
433: Talking PCO Power with Amrit Ahluwalia
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amrit Ahluwalia is executive director of Continuing Studies at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, where he’s focused on growing Western’...
432: Talking Education with Nuno Fernandes
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nuno Fernandes is president of American Public University System. One of the pioneers of online education in the United States, APUS now offers 200 pr...
431: Why Motivation and Mindset Matter
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Motivation and mindset are two of the baseline requirements for effective, lasting, and enjoyable learning. Through thoughtful design and delivery, le...
430: A Bullseye for Learning
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Impact is one of the core goals at the heart of most learning businesses, and we believe that impact should be as broad as possible—meaning ideally ...
429: Developing Education Strategy with Pam Rosenberg
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Having a strategy is part of what any learning business needs to thrive. But what does establishing a strategy look like? In this episode, number 429,...
428: Education Revenue: Necessity, Reality, Opportunity
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most learning businesses have three goals at heart: reach, revenue, and impact. Reach deals with clearly identifying who you can and should serve and ...
427: Heutagogical Opportunity?
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Heutagogy might be the most important and powerful idea in learning that you never heard mentioned on the Leading Learning Podcast. Until today. If a ...
426: Talking Online Learning with Luke Dowden
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the U.S., higher education institutions are increasingly interested in serving nontraditional students, in providing credentials beyond degrees, an...
425: What's Necessary to Learn
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learning is both a natural, intuitive activity all humans engage in and a complicated process we haven’t yet fully appreciated or understood. While ...
424: Audiences and Products, Existing and New
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fundamentally there are only two factors to consider when looking to grow the reach, revenue, and impact of your learning business: audiences (those y...
423: Pursuing Quality with IACET's Randy Bowman
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a crowded and competitive market, high quality signaled by accreditation can help a learning business stand out. That’s why we wanted to talk wit...
422: Beyond Competitive Advantage
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Competitive advantage, whether sustained or transient, is becoming harder and harder to maintain. Collaborative advantage may be the answer. In this e...
421: Empowering Learning Business Leaders
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Self-reflection is an important tool for learners and an important activity for learning business leaders. Dr. Will Thalheimer includes a succinct lis...
420: Not Calling the Shots with Kemi Jona
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learning businesses are part of the third sector of education—the sector that serves the adult learner after they work through the K-12 sector and, ...
419: The Inquiring Mind, Part II
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In our Learning Business Maturity Model, marketing is one of the five fundamental domains learning businesses need to work on and in to mature and be ...
418: The Inquiring Mind, Part I
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For learning businesses, it’s important to truly understand the learners they aim to serve. To help with that understanding, in this episode of the ...
417: Connection with Ginger Johnson
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s gotten incredibly easy to produce and consume content. That means the market value of content is approaching zero. And that means that learning...
416: Engagement Is Everything
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re looking to improve the reach, revenue, and impact of your learning business, focus on engagement, not content. Content is no longer king. ...
415: Looking for Balance: Online and Off
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Finding the right balance of online and offline learning to have in a portfolio is one of the critical concerns facing learning businesses in our post...
414: The Duty of Foresight with Jeff De Cagna
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On January 1, 2025, we’ll enter the second half of the turbulent 2020s and come that much closer to the Threatening 30s, to borrow the terms of our ...
413: The Evolving Market for Lifelong Learning
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For learning businesses that want to thrive in the evolving lifelong learning market, identifying metatrends and unpacking what they might mean in ter...
412: Building a World That Learns Better
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does a world that learns better look like? It’s an intriguing question for learning businesses to consider because learning businesses have an ...
411: The Messy Middle with Geoff Stead
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve reached a point in history where it’s essentially a given that learning products will make use of technology to deliver, support, or deepen ...
410: AI Adoption: Barriers and Accelerators
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Capacity deals with the people and the technology a learning business has in place, and capacity has a quantitative and a qualitative aspect. How well...
409: Using Data to Drive Decision-Making
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are many ways to look at data. Two views that can be clarifying for learning businesses are the performance view and the potential view. You can...
408: Authenticity in Marketing with Michelle Brien
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Effective marketing is integral to a learning business’s success. But doing marketing well requires care and thought. In this episode, number 408, L...
407: Adding Value With Guides
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The third sector of education can be difficult for learners to navigate, and pathways can help learners. Having guides along the pathways can help eve...
406: Nondisruptive Creation, Part II
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the Tagoras Learning Business Maturity Model, strategy is one of the five fundamental domains learning businesses need to work on and in to mature ...
405: The Science of Engagement with Clark Quinn
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We often hear learning businesses say they want to better engage their learners. But what is engagement, and how does it work? In this episode, Leadin...
404: Nondisruptive Creation, Part I
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Strategy is one of the five fundamental domains in the Learning Business Maturity Model. And most learning business leaders know that strategy is impo...
403: Who or What Is Tagoras?
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can think of this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast as an origin story. Co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele talk about the relationship bet...
402: A Curious Conversation About AI with Julian Stodd
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If anything, we should all be able to agree that generative artificial intelligence is a curious thing, worthy of reflection and exploration. Julian S...
401: Developing Business for a Learning Business
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many skills are needed to create and sustain a successful learning business: financial know-how, marketing acumen, instructional design, to name just ...
400: 20 x 20 Vision for Lifelong Learning
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re at an important point in time for lifelong learning. Much is shifting and unsettled in how humans live and work. That unsettledness means oppo...
399: Transformational Partnerships with Bruce Rosenthal
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To realize their fundamental mission of developing and delivering learning products and services, learning businesses need revenue. Along with direct-...
398: The Difficulty of Desirable Difficulties
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learning businesses care about creating effective learning. Doing so is at the heart of why learning businesses exist. But what happens when effective...
397: Learning and Education
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learning, education, and professional development are not the same. Similar, yes, interrelated even, but fundamentally and importantly different. If l...
396: Storytelling for Businesses with Park Howell
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody loves a good story. It’s what draws us to good books, good movies, good podcasts. And we know that good stories can draw prospective learn...
395: Digital Credentials Aren’t Valuable Unless…
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Digital credentials aren’t as valuable on their own as they are in an ecosystem that uses open standards to connect learners and employers and where...
394: 3 Principles of Pricing
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learning businesses rely on the revenue that comes from their educational offerings. That means learning business professionals have to know how to de...
393: Personalization and AI with Erica Salm Rench
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, artificial intelligence broke into the mainstream and became a more practical rather than theoretical to...
392: Preparing for 2024
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just as taking time to look back and reflect is a good practice, so too is taking time to look ahead and plan. In this episode of the Leading Learning...
391: Reflecting on 2023
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reflection is a good practice, in life and in learning, especially for those working in and for learning businesses. But it’s all too easy to skip b...
390: Redux: Strategic Doing with Ed Morrison
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Strategy and collaboration in open, loosely connected, complex networks require a different approach than the top-down planning that has long dominate...
389: Redux: The Art and Science of Feedback
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Giving and receiving feedback is harder than most people think. Learning business professionals need to take the time to study the art and science of ...
388: Trustworthy Marketing with Melanie Deziel
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Trust is fundamental in marketing. Without trustworthy marketing, products and services, no matter how excellent, will languish because today, by defa...
387: Measuring Marketing with Greg Stuart
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marketing has arguably undergone more change in the last decade than any other field, which means learning businesses have to stay on top of their mar...
386: What Is Capacity?
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is capacity? The dictionary defines capacity as “the facility or power to produce, perform, or deploy.” But we dig deeper to look at what cap...
385: Awakening Organizational Culture with Catherine Bell
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve heard it said that culture eats strategy for lunch, and getting culture right is arguably even more important for learning businesses than fo...
384: Successful Decision-Making with Jack Flaherty
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On average, we make 35,000 decisions a day. The sheer quantity means a process for making effective, successful decisions is a foundational aspect of ...
383: Learning Styles and Learner Preferences
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Learning styles are a pernicious myth, but learner preferences are a reality that learning businesses disregard at their own risk. Learning businesses...
382: Design Learning for Behavior Change with Julie Dirksen
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Learning businesses that look for results strive to change behavior. They want to develop and deliver learning experiences that support learners in do...
381: Tripling Learning Effectiveness with Brian McGowan
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode will take 30+ minutes to listen to—or less if you like to speed up the audio. But, however long it takes you to get through the episode...
380: Do This Not That for Learning Businesses
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The average learning business does a lot. Add what a learning business could or should do to what it already does, and the list of possibilities is ov...
379: Learner Surveys and Learning Effectiveness with Will Thalheimer
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Developing effective learning products should be a central goal of all learning businesses, and one way to gauge effectiveness and then refine learnin...
378: Evidence-Based Learning with Jane Bozarth
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Learning businesses should base their design choices on evidence-based practices. But keeping up with the latest research takes time and energy that m...