The promise of self-directed learning is that employees will take charge of their own development, if we only create the environment for them to do so. But does this actually happen?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Mindtools Kineo Head of Product Daniel Potter joins Ross G and Gemma to discuss self-directed learning, with a focus on:

• what self-directed learning journeys look like
• how motivation is different for mandatory vs self-directed learning
• how our approach to learning design needs to align with learner motivation.

During the discussion, Gemma referenced self-determination theory.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed the end of the American penny.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, and our off-the-shelf courses.

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• Ross Garner
• Gemma Towersey
• Dan Potter

What a year it was! In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, HowNow's Nelson Sivalingam joins Ross G and Ross D to reflect on 2025 and look to emerging trends in 2026. We discuss:

• AI (obviously) and how it's evolving
• the rise of instructor-led training
• how market consolidation is changing the choice of suppliers for L&D leaders.

During the discussion, Ross G referenced a number of new stories:

• Only 22% of organizations have a visible AI strategy
• Three in five workers say they use unapproved AI tools at work
• 95% of organizations see no measurable return on AI, partly due to 'workslop'

We also discussed Don Taylor's Global Sentiment Survey 2025, Don's AI in L&D report written with Eglė Vinauskaitė, and Hemsley Fraser's 2025 L&D Impact Survey.

Finally, Ross G referenced the 'enshittification' of AI products.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D shared an example of learning through lyrics.

Nelson discussed Gmail's new 'Manage subscriptions' tool.

And Ross G discussed the process of making a teaser trailer for his novel, Centauri's Shadow. You can view the trailer on LinkedIn.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

And for more from HowNow, visit getthehownow.com.

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• Ross Garner
• Ross Dickie
• Nelson Sivalingam

How do you run an organization-wide learning function with just two people? At LV=, that's the main focus for Talent, Learning and Development Partner Rob Foster.

This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Rob joins Claire and Ross G to discuss:

• how building relationships throughout the organization helps support induction, mentoring and reverse mentoring programs
• how internal champions expand the impact of digital resources (like Mindtools!)
• advice for teams working on a similarly small scale.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed the structure of Taylor Swift's 'The Fate of Ophelia'.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

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• Ross Garner
• Claire Gibson
• Rob Foster

The L&D industry has always talked about 'business value' as an elusive concept. Now, a new book from Laura Overton and Michelle Ockers, The L&D Leader: Principles and Practice for Delivering Business Value, articulates what that looks like in practice.

This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast, they join Ross D and Dr Anna to discuss:

• how L&D teams can transition through different stages of maturity
• the role of data in shaping business value
• the role of community and where to find it in the post-Twitter world.

The book, The L&D Leader: Principles and Practice for Delivering Business Value, is available now from Kogan Page.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

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• Ross Dickie
• Dr Anna Barnett
• Laura Overton
• Michelle Ockers

In many organizations, not least within L&D, urgent and important short-term challenges often crowd out the bigger picture. So, how do we step back and take the long view?

In this week's episode, Ross D and Claire are joined by Nina Bressler, founder of Reimagined Value, to discuss:

• Nina's background and what she means by the term 'societal learning'
• How to work with business stakeholders to help them decide what to focus on
• How to measure the impact of long-term initiatives.

To find out more about Nina's work, check out Reimagined Value.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D mentioned the article 'Hollywood's Music Biopic Boom: Quantifying the Rise of a Soulless Genre' from the Stat Significant newsletter.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Ross Dickie
• Claire Gibson
• Nina Bressler

Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, Donald Taylor and Eglė Vinauskaitė have released four reports exploring L&D's use of AI.

In this week's episode, Don joins Ross D to discuss the latest report — AI in L&D: The Race for Impact. We cover:

• What's changed over the last three years, and why we're at an inflection point
• How L&D's use of AI has slowly matured over time, evolving into more sophisticated use cases
• A vision for the future of L&D, beyond content-creation.

You can download a copy of the full report here.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Don recommended the book Amorous or Loving?: The Highly Peculiar Tale of English and the English.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Ross Dickie

• Donald Taylor

In his book Targeting Turnover, Dick Finnegan argues that, as the global population ages and more people enter retirement, it is imperative for organizations to retain the talent they already have.

In this week's episode, Dick joins Claire and Cammy to discuss:

• Why turnover is a problem for businesses
• The strategies organizations can deploy to reduce turnover
• The impact this might have on the L&D industry.

You can pick up a copy of Targeting Turnover here.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Claire Gibson
• Cammy Bean
• Dick Finnegan

Hello listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to take the opportunity to revisit our 2021 'documentary special' on product management.

It took a lot more work than our usual roundtable format, but we think it paid off. ;)

To make this episode, we spoke to Myles Runham, Sukh Pabial, Danny Seals, and Gemma Paterson, discussing:

• what product management is
• what L&D can learn from product management
• what 'the product' is in L&D - is it L&D itself?

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Ross Dickie
• Ross Garner
• Owen Ferguson
• Myles Runham
• Sukh Pabial
• Gemma Paterson
• Danny Seals

When Dr Anna Barnett, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie discussed the role of empathy in decision-making in Episode 463, they started to ponder the role that AI plays in our decisions.

In this week's episode, Ross Garner, Anna and Gemma return to the topic of smart decisions to continue that conversation. We discuss:

• The impact AI is having on our decisions and decision-making processes
• The pros and cons of using AI to help us make decisions
• How we might use AI to make more effective decisions.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Anna recommended using the 'Maps. the hug' app to plan your outdoor adventures.

Ross introduced us to Quipu. You can read about this cluster of universes in EarthSky's article 'Meet Quipu, largest known structure in the universe'.

To read all of our reports, visit mindtools.com/thought-leadership/reports

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Gemma Towersey
• Dr Anna Barnett
• Ross Garner

According to Donald Taylor and Egle Vinauskaitė's recent AI in L&D: The Race for Impact report, 'creating learning content' and 'learning design tasks' remain the primary use cases for AI in learning and development. But should they be?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, L&D consultant Heidi Kirby joins Ross D and Claire to discuss:

• the obvious appeal of using AI to scale learning content;
• why Heidi believes outsourcing development to AI is a mistake;
• what L&D could or should be using AI for, if not content generation.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross mentioned the website mcbroken.com.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Ross Dickie
• Claire Gibson
• Dr Heidi Kirby

All children play but, over time, that instinct goes away. We don't lose it, we don't forget. Instead, we get taught to stop.

For author and toy designer Cas Holman, that's a problem. With a very real impact on business performance.

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Cas joins Ross G and Gemma to discuss:

• how traditional workplaces surpress play
• the business benefits of play at work
• how to encourage play when your organization won't tolerate it.

You can find out more about Cas and her book Playfulness at casholman.com/book. You can also see her in the Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed peculiar experiments involving moths, via The Economist.

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

Like the show? You'll LOVE our newsletter! Subscribe to The L&D Dispatch at lddispatch.com

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• Cas Holman
• Ross Garner
• Gemma Towersey