The Science of Excellence

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Jolene Skinner, VP, Head of Culture, Talent and Development at MongoDB. Jolene is an organizational psychologist by training and has spent her career thinking about how to scale leadership in ways that truly transfer back to the day job. We talked about why traditional leadership training struggles to stick, how AI can reduce bias in fe...

In this episode, I sat down with Jayney Howson, Chief Learning Officer at ServiceNow, where she’s leading the company’s efforts to build an AI-native workforce. We talked about how people need to develop as more work gets redesigned around technology. A lot of it comes down to giving them enough space to keep thinking for themselves while building new capability through the work. These 5 insights...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Neil Morelli, Sr. Director of Workforce Transformation at Salesforce, where he works on their Agentic Workforce Strategy and Innovation team. Neil is an industrial organizational psychologist by training and thinks about AI transformation through the lens of human behavior and organizational readiness. We talked about why occupational i...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Eric Halvorsen, Global Director of Leadership & DDAI Academies at Danone and Host of The Learning Edge Podcast. Eric's background is in language education and second language acquisition, and he's spent years thinking about what makes people effective learners. We talked about AI's potential as a super learning coach, th...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Carlee Wolfe, AVP of Talent and Organizational Effectiveness at Hyatt Hotels. She also serves as a member of the Baltimore Workforce Development Board. We talked about why most AI strategies are just "implement and hope," how to move from tool thinking to systems thinking, and why competing on efficiency alone is a race to the...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Neil Hunter, Chief Learning Officer at Deloitte Canada. Neil has spent his career building talent in professional services and is now leading the change on how organizations develop people in the age of AI.We talked about why AI is hollowing out junior expertise, how to scale apprenticeship, and why the highest form of learning is actua...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Benoit Hardy-Vallee, Director of Human Capital at Deloitte Canada. Benoit has spent years helping organizations move beyond content delivery to build real capability. We talked about why consuming content doesn't develop skills, how to bring back the apprenticeship model in distributed work environments, and why L&D needs to bec...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Kim Eldred, Director of Talent Development & Management from RSM, where she leads L&D for the consulting practice. Two and a half years ago, she inherited a delivery center. She’s been turning it into an advisory function ever since, against resistance from both the business and her own team. We talked about why AI has made this...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Ryan McCrea, President of the St. Louis Organization Development Network and author of Quick Bites of Insight. Ryan has spent 22 years in HR with the last 15 focused on leadership development. Managers are massively undervalued. The Workforce Institute found that leaders impact employees' mental health nearly as much as their spouse...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Laura Bartus, Head of Learning and Development at Humana, a Fortune 50 healthcare company. We talked about how change is emotional before it's organizational, why cohort-based learning with accountability partners drives results, and how to measure impact with metrics leaders care about. These 4 insights stood out:-Address the Emoti...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Michael Trinder, Director of Workforce Solutions & Capability Architecture at AlixPartners, a global consulting firm. We talked about why L&D struggles with credibility, how validation-seeking creates transactional relationships, and why inaccessible language alienates the business. Michael shared his S.E.A.T.S. framework that h...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Heather Balcerek, Sr. Manager of Corporate L&D at Maximus, a government contractor with over 250 contracts across federal and state health and human services. We talked about why their contracts operating like individual companies forced Maximus towards a skills-based model, how they justify ROI beyond pure dollars, and why adoption...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Kelly Stuart-Johnson and Jamie Forman from global learning and development at VML, one of the world's largest creative agencies. Kelly and her team of five support 26,000 employees, delivering outsized impact through creative approaches to learning. We talked about how they moved VML from 9% to number one in adopting WPP Open, their...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Florence Evina-Ze Baez, EVP at Bain Capital, where she partners with portfolio company executives to drive strategy and performance. Florence brings experience from leading distributed teams at Ipsy and consulting at McKinsey. We talked about what unlocks human potential, how simple goals create alignment at scale, why getting people in...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Kevin Bishop, Director of Talent Development at LinkedIn. He shared their workplace research on how careers are becoming increasingly non-linear and why organizations need to rethink how they develop and deploy talent. We talked about their finding that 70% of skills will change by 2030, why pods and squads are replacing traditional tea...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Dr. Grace Chang at EY, who brings a neuroscience and behavioral science background to learning design. She's spent years translating brain research into practical principles that L&D teams can use to create learning that actually sticks. We talked about what separates exceptional learning from ordinary training, the gap between...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Arkesh Mishra, who leads skills-based transformation for Walmart's 12,000-person tech organization. He's spent years building a capability framework that connects skills to hiring, rewards, promotions, and learning—and now he's refreshing it for AI.Our conversation explored why skills have become essential for AI adoption. A...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Jenn Nicks, who leads L&D for CBRE's property management division. She's done something most L&D leaders only dream about—turned her team into a revenue-generating function by creating customer experience training that they sell to clients. We talked about how she built credibility through internal work first, why the ma...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Caro Paduch, Global People Programs Lead at GlobalLogic, where she specializes in career growth and talent strategy. Caro brings a global perspective to her work helping leaders navigate complexity across cultures and functions. Our conversation explored why collaborative leadership has become essential in today's rapidly changing w...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Michael Frino and Katie P. Desiderio, co-authors of "The Stargazer," a leadership fable that introduces their COMPASS framework for team development. Michael and Katie bring a scholar-practitioner perspective, combining academic rigor with storytelling. Their work focuses on the "tri-level of leadership"—individual,...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Dominik Rus, Global Head of L&D Innovation and Technology at TTEC, who presented "Science First, AI Second: Building Learning Experiences with the Right Foundation." His core argument: before augmenting learning with AI, we need to understand the fundamentals of how people actually learn. Dom is not too keen on L&D pro...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Hillary Miller, who leads learning initiatives at HCA Healthcare. Hillary shared hard-won lessons about communication, change management, and building empathy across enterprise-level organizations. Her approach focuses on reducing noise, building champion networks, and creating federated models that balance central governance with local...

In this episode, I spoke with Femi Adebayo, who leads talent development at DHL where they support personal growth for 600,000 employees globally. His approach centers on what he calls the "inner journey" and "outer journey" of development, balancing individual reflection with external challenges and feedback. Femi shared how DHL has built a culture where personal development isn't just encouraged...

In this episode of The Science of Excellence, I sat down with Allison Brotman, who leads learning at UKG where they train over 800,000 learners per year with ~95% satisfaction. Allison shared how UKG supports learning at a massive scale through a blend of formal training, social learning, and performance support. What also stood out in our conversation was her perspective on the role that human-to...

In this episode of the Science of Excellence, I sat down with Rashi Kakkar, who's leading a transformation at McKinsey's L&D function by applying product operating principles to learning and development. he's tackling one of the most common frustrations in L&D: how to move from being order takers to strategic advisors. The conversation revealed a powerful insight: the order tak...