“There is only one success—to be able to spend your life in your own way.”
— Christopher Morley
I’ve always liked that saying: you either win or you learn.
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of learning. The kind that comes with friction — the kind that stretches you in ways you didn’t ask for. It’s not fun in the moment, but I keep reminding myself that discomfort often means growth is underway. I’m not exactly energized by the hard stuff, but I am encouraged by the thought that it’s leading somewhere good.
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Format experiment alert: I’ve trimmed things down a bit. Love it? Hate it? Want the longer reads back? Hit reply and let me know.
Today is for chill electronic stuff — think soft beats, smooth synths, and vocals that sound like they’re floating on a cloud made of coffee steam.
Plan your next course faster
An outline is where a good course begins and where your project might fall apart if you skip it. iSpring helps you make sure your structure is solid from the start.
This editable template helps you organize course objectives, plan content, and stay in sync with SMEs from the start. It also includes a filled-in example, so you know exactly how to use it.
We love to celebrate completion: the quiz checked, the certificate earned, the course marked as “finished.” But here’s the kicker — that’s often the moment learning dies.
Ending training with a passive “Congrats, you’re done” is a bridge to nowhere. Real change happens after completion — when learners connect what they’ve learned to what they do next.
Marketers use calls to action to nudge people onward. L&D often doesn’t.
The difference between weak and strong endings? One gives instructions like “use technique X this week and report results,” rather than just “you’re done.”
Four characteristics of effective CTAs: action verbs, specificity, time-bound urgency, and accountability built in.
👉 Takeaway: Don’t let your training die at the finish line — end with clear, actionable steps that push people into doing.
McKinsey’s latest piece on the “Future of the CLO” makes one thing clear: the line between work and learning is disappearing. And that’s good news for anyone designing learning experiences.
The next era of workplace learning isn’t about courses or catalogs—it’s about engineering development into the flow of work itself.
Here’s what that looks like:
Design work that teaches. AI, feedback tools, and embedded coaching can turn everyday tasks into real-time learning moments.
Collaborate across silos. L&D can’t live in its own lane anymore—partner with ops, HR, and tech to shape how capability is built.
Rethink your metrics. Completions are vanity numbers. The real win is visible behavior change—skills applied, problems solved, performance improved.
Build for business impact. Link what you create directly to agility, innovation, or customer outcomes.
👉 Takeaway: The best L&D pros won’t just deliver training—they’ll design the workplace as the classroom.
Deep Research: The AI upgrade you didn’t know you needed
Jeremy Caplan walks you through how Deep Research—the new AI feature in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity—is redefining what “research” means in the AI era.
Instead of isolated Q&A, Deep Research chases down dozens or hundreds of sources, weaves them together, and delivers a polished, synthesis-rich report.
Caplan offers 9 real-world ways to use it (e.g. deep dives, comparative analysis, niche topics), plus tips on how to frame your queries to get gold.
He also compares the major players: ChatGPT’s version gives you more depth (30–50 page reports), but take your time—it might take minutes per query.
One caveat: hallucinations and weak citations can slip in, especially in data-scarce areas—so don’t treat the AI as a final authority.
👉 Takeaway: Deep Research turns AI from an answer-factory into an investigation partner. Use it to offload serious uphill research work—but always bring your sense-checking hat.
This is the conversation that caught my ear this week. Check out previous episodes in the Friday Finds podcast playlist.
12 Habits of Successful L&D Professionals
What makes a successful L&D professional? From having meaningful conversations to following intuition and focusing on real business impact, Stephanie Lewington, Talent Development Lead at Perkbox, shares her daily habits and mindset shifts on the L&D Disrupt podcast and there’s a lot we can learn from her approach.
This book is for everyone tired of watching marketers effortlessly grab attention while we're over here begging people to care about compliance training.
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