Leading Learning Podcast

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 Leading Learning Podcast offers a real-world example of how to do just that. Mike Moss, president of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), joins co-host Jeff Cobb to talk about how SCUP is reshaping itself around learning. They discus...

If you’re concerned about how your learning business can keep pace with rapid change—AI, growing risks, shifting learner expectations—this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast can help. Associations, credentialing bodies, and other learning businesses face mounting pressure to do fewer things of greater value, and success requires both courage and careful risk management. Glenn Tecker, chair an...

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 effectively—this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast is for you. Many learning businesses are just beginning to grapple with AI’s implications, and the gap between the potential and the current reality is big. Amith Nagarajan, chairman of Blue Cypres...

Associations have long played a role in supporting learning and education, but they may be overlooking the full extent of their potential. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele explore why associations are education’s sleeping giant and how they can awaken to the opportunity before them. They discuss the distinction between learning and education, ex...

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 Learning Podcast can help. Whether you’re struggling with risk tolerance, engagement, or relevance, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to figure it out alone either. Mary Byers is an association consultant and author of the books Race for Relevance and...

If you’re a leader navigating change, shifting expectations, or questions about your organization’s identity and future, this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast is for you. It features Lowell Aplebaum, CEO of Vista Cova. Lowell works with association leaders and boards on visioning, governance, and strategy—and he brings a thoughtful, deeply human approach to the challenges facing organizatio...

If you’re leading a learning business right now, you’re almost certainly navigating uncertainty—political, economic, technological. It can be hard to know how to lead well, plan strategically, and stay responsive without burning out. Our guest in this Leading Learning Podcast episode, number 457, is someone who has spent years helping association leaders. Seth Kahan is the founder of Visionary Lea...

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 and Celisa Steele unpack seven strategic shifts that are reshaping continuing education—from personalization and AI to credentials and commoditization and more. You’ll come away with ideas to apply now and questions to help you think more strategically...

Udemy, Coursera, and edX are part of the competitive landscape your learning business operates in, so it’s valuable to understand how your learners might view your catalog in light of the catalogs of Big Learning providers. This episode, number 455, features a conversation with Dhawal Shah, founder and CEO of Class Central, which Dhawal describes as a Tripadvisor for online education. Class Centra...

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 uncertainty. Co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele discuss five practice levers: pulse monitoring, scenario planning, revenue model innovation, ecosystem partnerships, and tech awareness. These levers can help you translate the four habitsets discussed...

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 453, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele discuss four habitsets that can help learning businesses navigate uncertain times: informed agility, strategic foresight, stakeholder intimacy, and portfolio thinking. Show notes and a downloadable transcript ar...

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 subject matter experts (SMEs) in learning businesses. Both are mainstays, but they can restrict innovation, often unintentionally. This episode unpacks how credit and SMEs function as enablers and as limiters—and what learning businesses can do to n...

Drawing on their own experience and insights from experts like Richard Rumelt, Roger Martin, and Michael Porter, Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele look at the importance of coherence and posit that strategic coherence occurs when a learning business’s choices and actions reinforce each other in the service of its strategy. They unpack what coherence means, how to spot w...

Flexibility is an essential skill for those leading learning businesses. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 450, we talk with Kevin Eikenberry about flexible leadership. Kevin Eikenberry is chief potential officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group and an author, most recently of Flexible Leadership: Navigate Uncertainty and Lead with Confidence . The conversation covers three pill...

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 practice and how it can lead to more engagement, better learning outcomes, and, yes, better business results. If you’re already segmenting learners, the episode will provide food for thought and an opportunity to reassess your approach. If you’re new to...

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 Steele define strategic momentum as the product of an initiative’s strategic weight and its execution speed, and they discuss why momentum matters, common barriers to maintaining momentum, and strategies for creating and maintaining momentum. Show notes...

Because good strategy is organic and responsive, it needs to be revisited periodically. There are predictable, recurring whens that are be natural times for you to reassess your strategy, like the start of a new budget year. There are also less predictable whens that are important times to revisit strategy, like a global pandemic or government policy changes. While it’s easier to plan for revisiti...

For learning businesses, bringing in revenue is an essential function. Revenue is what keeps the organization going and delivering on its mission, whether that mission is solely focused on learning and training or whether it’s a broader mission tied to improving a field, industry, or profession. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele offer five ways t...

Culture, mindset, money—these are big and important concepts for any learning business. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 445, we talk with Erin Pressley about all three. Erin Pressley is senior vice president of education, training, and events at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Erin describes herself as being passionate about serving NRECA’s members and...

Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele share four actionable ideas grounded in survey data collected by Leading Learning and informed by their experience with and observation of learning businesses and the global market for continuing education, professional development, and other lifelong learning. All four ideas tie to the common theme of resourcefulness—Cobb and Steele’s watchword for lea...

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 top strategic goals and the strategic drivers behind those goals, trends and issues impacting strategy, challenges with maintaining or growing enrollments and registrations, barriers to innovation in education offerings, and top areas of investment fo...

Innovation is an aspiration of many organizations, including learning businesses. This episode, number 442, features a conversation with Mary Byers. Mary is an author, speaker, facilitator, consultant, CEO coach, and mastermind facilitator, and she’s deeply knowledgeable about innovation. Mary wrote Race for Relevance: Five Radical Changes for Associations , and her work focuses on helping organiz...

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 impact. This episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 441, features a conversation with instructional psychologist Dr. Ruth Colvin Clark and co-host Celisa Steele. Ruth has spent her spent her career translating academic research into practica...

In Leading Learning Podcast episode 440, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele share the questions and topics probed in Leading Learning’s annual survey on learning businesses—questions and topics that can provide a solid basis for strategy conversations in your learning business. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode440 .

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. Wayne Turmel is part of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, and he and Kevin co-wrote The Long-Distance Leader , originally published in 2018, with a revised edition out in 2024. Wayne’s work focuses on remote and virtual communication in the evolving workp...