Lisa Bodell on Simplifying Complexity to Drive Innovation In this episode, Lisa Bodell—founder of FutureThink—shares how simplification became her unexpected path to driving innovation. From “kill the crap” committees to eliminating time-sucks, Lisa explores practical ways to cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. We dive into why people struggle to say no, how to reclaim time from meetings and emails, and what leaders can do to reduce fear and friction. Plus, we unpack the role...
Jul 14, 2025•44 min•Ep. 86
In this episode, we embark on a journey with Alex Beard, author of 'Natural Born Learners,' as he shares his experiences and insights into the future of learning. Alex discusses his global exploration to understand innovative learning practices and speaks on the importance of play, adaptability, and creative thinking in today's fast-changing world. We delve into the differences in educational approaches across countries, the role of AI in learning, and how to prepare the next generation for futu...
Jul 07, 2025•37 min
In this episode, Paul is back to dig into one of L&D’s biggest challenges: shifting from content overload to real behaviour change. We explore how L&D teams can move beyond delivering training to actually driving impact that aligns with business goals. From engaging stakeholders with the cost of inaction to using the sat nav analogy for navigating change, Paul shares sharp insights and practical takeaways for L&D pros who want to make learning stick and matter.
Jun 30, 2025•35 min
In this episode, we sit down with Menna, a seasoned L&D leader with nearly a decade of experience, to uncover what really drives impact in Learning and Development. From her early days as a training coordinator to building strategies that align directly with business goals, Menna shares a practical, experience-rich playbook that challenges the one-size-fits-all approach. We explore the importance of tackling unique organizational challenges, decentralizing learning, and embedding L&D acr...
Jun 23, 2025•36 min
In this episode, Henry, the Head of Talent at Lucid Group, shares his journey from outdoor education to corporate learning and development (L&D). He discusses the evolving landscape of L&D, the importance of adaptability, and the impact of AI on the profession. Henry emphasizes the need for intentionality in using AI tools, the shift towards being more strategic in aligning learning with business outcomes, and the importance of maintaining a human touch in communications. He also address...
Jun 16, 2025•34 min
Leadership isn’t just about what you know - it’s about how you show up, do the inner work, and integrate personal growth into your impact on the world. Dr. Lucrecia Grandolini, Global Head of Learning at Investec, goes beyond strategy to explore the deeper, more human side of leadership. From self-awareness and emotional intelligence to ethical and spiritual dimensions, we dive into what it really takes to lead with integrity. Tune in for a refreshingly real conversation on leadership that goes ...
Feb 17, 2025•34 min•Ep. 80
To celebrate his final episode as host of L&D Disrupt, Gary shared some of the best lessons from recent guests. If you want to connect with Gary on LinkedIn, you can find him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter And to be clear, this is not the final episode of the podcast, so we'll see you with another great episode soon!
Jan 20, 2025•17 min
Heather Burright is the Community Manager for the Non-Profit L&D Collective, host of the Learning for Good podcast, and delivers instructional design and leadership development for nonprofits. So, it’s safe to say she knows this space well! And she joined us to explain some of the best insights and lessons other L&D pros can take from the nonprofit space. Expect to learn whether it’s easier to connect people to purpose in non profit organisations. Lessons on building leaders in these org...
Jan 06, 2025•40 min
Behaviour change is driven by everyday action, continuous feedback and incremental improvements over time… The trouble is, most of the ways we approach it not are flawed! Whether it’s the personality tests that have no practical application or the lack of clear success behaviours and measurement of those. Will Murray created Packtypes to change all that, and he joins us today to explain how you can do it too. 0:00 Intro 3:52 The problem with personality tests 12:55 The need for practical applica...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 9 min
When it comes to employee wellbeing and mental health, Megan Kille is pretty much our dream guest! Megan is the VP of People & Talent at Unmind, who are on a mission to transform mental health at work through the power of science and AI. And she shared insights from both perspectives: how the companies who use Unmind approach wellbeing, and how she’s facilitating that internally within the company. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro to Megan 3:18 The current state of wellbeing 8:52 Unmind’s approach and...
Nov 25, 2024•39 min
Liggy Webb's Empowering Minds series takes you through five approaches your mind needs to stay strong and well-prepared for future challenges. We go through all five and how you can build them in this episode! Get ready to become more resilient, curious, flexible, creative and kind - as a person, but also in your teams. Timestamps 0:00 Intro to Liggy Webb and the Mind Fit series. 5:55 Building the resilient mind. 12:50 Curiosity and how to improve it. 17:47 Don’t confirm your biases. 20:33 Becom...
Nov 11, 2024•45 min
Sustainability isn’t driven through volunteering days, one-size approaches, and top-down mandates!But by bringing social impact into people’s day-to-day roles, giving people the right skills, and empowering them from the bottom-up. Liv Sibony joins us to explain how we shift from the former to the latter in this episode. Expect to learn how you zoom out to get more context, using that to make better decisions, how to imagine a more hopeful future, how to build a top-down and bottom-up approach, ...
Oct 29, 2024•44 min
Agile L&D can help us get the things we’ve always wanted! Better learning engagement. More business problems solved. Greater L&D impact and buy-in. Natal Dank’s latest book, Agile L&D, gives you the playbook for doing it in practice! She joined us on L&D Disrupt to share some truly practical advice. Timestamps: 0:00 What is Agile L&D? 7:47 Delivering value early and often 15:52 Being product-led 22:25 Practical ways to be product-led 26:55 Human-centered design 31:53 Practi...
Oct 14, 2024•53 min
Get the L&D playbook to Skills-Driven Growth here: https://try.gethownow.com/skills-first-learning In this webinar, we go through 2024's best skills data and give you tactics to solve the key problems it presents. Timestamps: 0:00 Why skill disruption is happening so hard and fast. 5.25 Why employees have lost faith in organisations (when it comes to skills). 13:12 The shift from promotions to skills. 21.19 Barriers to closing skills gaps. 30:08 Why skills initiatives don't make it to the im...
Oct 01, 2024•39 min
How can organisations get out of their own way when it comes to wellbeing? And what can employees do to set good habits and strong boundaries? Ryan Hopkins, Author of 52 Weeks Of Wellbeing and Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ joins us to discuss it all. From why work-life balance is nonsense to working on your rest ethic, using the Definite Yes, and much more. Subscribe to our new L&D Newsletter here: gethownow.com/disrupt-with-hownow Timestamps 0:00 Intro to Ryan and the episode 2:09 Are compan...
Sep 17, 2024•49 min
Seat at the table. Strategic partner. Getting employees to give a 💩 L&D buy-in goes by many names, but how do we get it? 4 L&D experts give you their advice in this episode of the L&D Drop-In. The L&D Drop-In is brought to you by HowNow, your one home for learning and skills. Learn more about what we do here: https://hubs.la/Q02Cbv3r0 Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:15 Hannah Shelton, Global Engagement & Knowledge Lead at Denstu 10:52 Hannah Clark, Marketing Director at MAAS Marke...
Aug 05, 2024•56 min
A good understanding of your audience is the best platform for success. Whatever industry you’re in! But what does that look like in L&D? Anita Anthonj, Founder and CEO at Talaera, works with lots of L&D teams and joined us to share her best lessons on getting this right. With lessons on the difference between top-down and bottom-up initiatives, getting your message right, prioritising to deliver commercial impact and much more. How to connect: Learn more about HowNow: https://hubs.la/Q0...
Jul 17, 2024•48 min
How did Duolingo develop their Time Spent Learning Well metric? What's in Gallup's State Of The Workplace Report? And what can L&D learn from Netflix's new culture memo? Gary and Nelson sat down to discuss all three stories in the latest L&D Disrupt. How to connect: Learn more about HowNow: https://hubs.la/Q02Cbv6x0 Connect with Nelson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/ Connect With Gary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro to the show...
Jul 10, 2024•42 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Adam Slingsby shares his best advice, lessons and experiences from his first year in an L&D role. Expect to learn which transferable skills Adam used from his army career, the quick wins he found in joining a new L&D function, how he won people over, and much more. Learn more about HowNow: Learn more about HowNow: https://hubs.la/Q02Cbv3r0 Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamslingsby/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://w...
Jul 04, 2024•13 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Sam Taylor joins us to give practical advice on moving to skills-first L&D. Expect to learn the first steps you can take, why chucking content at people isn’t the answer, which AI pitfalls we need to avoid, and more. Learn more about HowNow: https://hubs.la/Q02Cbv6x0 Connect with Sam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samtaylorel/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/...
Jul 01, 2024•15 min
Here's the problem with how L&D uses AI right now 👉 It's driven by efficiency. Now there's no problem with being efficient, as long as the thing you're trying to do more efficiently is the right thing you should be doing. Learn how to find practical uses for AI in this webinar with HowNow's Nelson Sivalingam and Talaera's Mel MacMahon. 👉 Learn more about HowNow: https://hubs.la/Q02Cbv6x0 👉 Learn more about Talaera: https://www.talaera.com/ Timestamps 0:00 Effectiveness & efficiency 9:...
Jun 25, 2024•45 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Neil Cunningham shares how storytelling can get people to believe in L&D and help you turn learners into heroes. Expect to learn what data is fluff and what isn’t, how to share just enough context, the importance of telling people what comes next, and much more. If you’d like to know more about how Data Storytelling, L&D disrupt listeners can get 10% off Neil’s new book - Narrative and Numbers: Proving L&Ds value in 7 steps. Head over to alignlearndo....
Jun 17, 2024•11 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Holly Flickinger shares Ardoq’s journey to driving engagement in L&D. Expect to learn how they drive awareness of L&D initiatives, how they embed learning in the everyday, why hiring curious people is a crucial step, and much more. Connect with Holly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyflickinger/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Learn more about HowNow: gethownow.com...
Jun 13, 2024•8 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Jon Fletcher shares his latest data and insights on the current state of L&D. Expect to learn the two big reasons L&D teams want to use AI, where they’re going wrong and how we can go right to have impact with tech. Connect with Jon on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jnf/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Learn more about HowNow: gethownow.com...
Jun 10, 2024•10 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Jade McNeil helps you embrace your inner swiftie and take lessons on audience engagement from Taylor Swift. Expect to learn how to Taylor takes her fans on a journey and how we can do that too, the power of storytelling, why engagement is often a struggle, and much more. Connect with Jade on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-mcneil-06a777199/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Learn more about HowNow: get...
Jun 06, 2024•9 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Toby Kheng joined us for an honest conversation about the future of L&D and what an employee lifecycle should look like. Expect to learn how to leverage internal influencers, what human-centered design really looks like, what we can learn from e-sports, and more. Connect with Toby on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobykheng/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Learn more about HowNow: gethownow.com...
Jun 03, 2024•21 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Phill Yetzes talks us through how we can give managers and employees the tools and knowledge to own development. Expect to learn how we get managers bought in, remove friction in their process, map talent effectively, and loads more. Connect with Phill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillyetzes/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Learn more about HowNow: gethownow.com...
May 31, 2024•13 min
Impact means different things to different people in your business… and it’s a good thing!Because if we know the commercial goals, the team’s aim and individual aspirations, we can build learning that ticks those boxes. And that’s how we drive impact! Ajay Pangarkar - author of Learning Metrics - explains how we approach this here. Get your copy of Learning Metrics. Use Discount Code KOGANPAGE20 for 20% off. https://www.koganpage.com/hr-learning-development/learning-metrics-9781398615366 Timesta...
May 28, 2024•57 min
Live from Learning Technologies, Huler’s Suzi Archer joins us to discuss how we can drive learner engagement by aligning our customer and employer experiences. Expect to learn how this can also drive performance, how we connect every role to the customer experience, why we should work backwards from the customer experience and more. Connect with Suzi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzi-archer/ Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/ Learn mo...
May 24, 2024•15 min
From economic pressures to the desire to build skills and ongoing battles to work from home, it’s an interesting time in the talent space. So what can the latest data tell us about how employees view growth and what companies should be doing? Randstad Risesmart’s Toby Crane joined us to talk through two interesting reports.Their 2024 Talent Trends Report and their recruitment industry trends from around the globe, in partnership with Workmonitor. Timestamps 0:00 Intro to Toby Crane and Randstad ...
May 21, 2024•46 min
