Manuel Smukalla, Global Talent Impact, Skills Intelligence, and Systems Lead at Bayer, joins Workplace Stories to unpack one of the most ambitious organizational transformations underway today. As Bayer confronts significant market, legal, and profitability pressures, the company has taken a radically different approach to how work, leadership, and talent are structured, rethinking everything from management layers to career progression. In this episode, Manuel walks through Bayer’s shift to Dyn...
Jan 21, 2026•59 min•Ep. 119
Christine Crouch, Senior Director of Learning at General Mills, joins Workplace Stories to discuss a massive shift in how one of the world's legacy food companies approaches talent development. General Mills has recently transitioned to a centralized and integrated learning model. In this episode, Christine lays out one of the clearest cases for centralization we have heard. While efficiency is a benefit, she argues that the true drivers are decision-making power and better data. By unifying the...
Dec 17, 2025•53 min•Ep. 118
On the latest episode of Workplace Stories, we sit down with Koreen Pagano, author of "Building a Skills-Based Organization," to talk about one of the hottest and most complex topics in the world of work: how organizations can become truly skills-based, and what that really means in today’s rapidly changing, AI-driven landscape. The conversation was loaded with practical insights, candid stories, and wisdom from the front lines of workforce transformation. Koreen shares her journey from ed-tech ...
Dec 03, 2025•57 min•Ep. 117
In this episode, Stacia and Dani sit down once again with Cole Napper, author of “People Analytics: Using Data-Driven HR and Gen AI as a Business Asset.” A year after his first appearance, Cole returns with bold insights about the seismic changes facing HR and people analytics, and why now is the time to rethink how we define value in the workplace. Cole argues that the future of HR depends on shedding its transactional skin and embracing a new, data-driven paradigm. He discusses why traditional...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 116
In this episode of Workplace Stories, we sit down with Lori Niles-Hoffman, global learning strategist, EdTech advisor, and author of The Eight Levers of EdTech Transformation. With over 25 years of experience implementing large-scale learning systems, Lori brings a no-nonsense, deeply human perspective to how organizations can thrive at the intersection of technology, data, and talent. Lori reveals why EdTech success isn’t about shiny tools, it’s about mastering eight foundational levers that de...
Nov 05, 2025•43 min•Ep. 115
Just two years ago, AI was a shiny new object in L&D, with most professionals dabbling in small pilots and content creation experiments. The latest findings reveal an inflection point: the majority of L&D teams are now actively using AI, not merely testing it. This week, on the podcast are Donald H. Taylor and Eglė Vinauskaitė, the minds behind a groundbreaking new report, "AI & Learning 2025: Race for Impact." We’re exploring the rapid changes AI is bringing to Learning and Developm...
Oct 22, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 114
Artificial Intelligence is transforming corporate learning, but not every organization is doing it in ways that employees actually trust. In this episode of Workplace Stories, we talk with Peter Manniche Riber, Digital Learning & AI Leader, about how his team built AI-powered learning tools that employees truly believe in. From creating the “Dilemma Coach” and “IDP Coach” to redefining personalization and data privacy, Peter demonstrates what happens when innovation is combined with practica...
Oct 15, 2025•44 min•Ep. 113
On the show this week, Nadia Uberoi, Head of People at Garner Health, joins us to explore how HR can move beyond compliance to become a solution-centric and outcome-driven function, aligning closely with the business’s mission and deliverables. Nadia shares practical details on how Garner Health has developed agile people systems and cultivated a high-candor culture rooted in real-time feedback and organizational transparency. We discuss how conscious alignment between HR and business strategy d...
Sep 24, 2025•50 min•Ep. 112
Haley Glover, Senior Director of UpSkill America at the Aspen Institute, is on a mission to build a world where skills—not degrees or pedigrees—are the primary currency of career opportunity. In this expansive conversation, she challenges organizations to think bigger, arguing that investing in frontline workers isn't just a corporate responsibility but a societal imperative that strengthens communities and economies alike. Glover shares her vision for a future where "all learning counts," and i...
Aug 27, 2025•47 min•Ep. 111
Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch, Global Head of Talent and Academy, shares her refreshingly candid perspective on the evolving role of Learning and Development (L&D) in today’s organizations. You’ll hear her challenge traditional approaches to employee learning, advocate for seamless integration between learning, talent, DEIB, and performance, and call out industry complacency. Serena also shares how her small but mighty team serves 14,000 employees across the globe by staying closely attuned to...
Aug 13, 2025•49 min•Ep. 110
In this episode of Workplace Stories, we sit down with Zane Zumbahlen, Chief People Officer at Wedgwood Veterinary Pharmacy, to explore how vulnerability in leadership can catalyze organizational change. With a 30-year career spanning IBM, CTCA, and global roles in Sweden and Japan, Zane shares candid stories that reveal the power of low-ego, high-confidence leadership. From active listening sessions that rebuilt trust among skeptical managers to structural programs that flipped the risk equatio...
Jul 23, 2025•43 min•Ep. 109
Many organizations see learning and development (L&D) as a cost center rather than a strategic driver of value, but what if that mindset is costing them far more than they realize? In this episode, Dr. Keith Keating explains why we’re moving from a “knowledge economy” to a “value economy,” where it’s not what we know but what we do with it that matters. He shares practical ways for L&D teams to make their impact visible, bridging the disconnect with CFOs and earning a seat at the strateg...
Jul 02, 2025•54 min•Ep. 108
Most organizations claim to care about employee development, but upon closer examination, their approach to skills is often vague, subjective, or downright confusing. They might assume people will simply "figure it out" on the job or resort to one-size-fits-all training. If you've ever wondered why your learning investments don’t seem to translate into impact, it might be because you’re still guessing when it comes to skills. Today, you’ll hear how Johnson & Johnson’s tech organization stopp...
Jun 11, 2025•37 min•Ep. 107
In this episode of Workplace Stories, Dani Johnson talks with Cher Murphy, Partner, Head of People+Talent Practice at ON Partner, founder of The Murphy Advisory, and faculty member at Pepperdine and the University of Michigan. Drawing from her deep experience in executive coaching and leadership development, Cher shares how leadership is evolving in response to rapid technological, political, and organizational change. She emphasizes that while AI and data can enhance decision-making, human trai...
Jun 04, 2025•45 min•Ep. 106
Most leadership development still clings to certainty, quarterly goals, strategic plans, official futures etched in stone. But what if that mindset isn’t just outdated, it’s dangerous? In this episode, Dani Johnson and Stacia Garr sit down with futurists and experience designers Lisa Kay Solomon and Jeff Rogers, two minds helping rewire how leaders think about the future, not as a distant unknown, but as a daily design challenge. What unfolds is a conversation that’s as practical as it is provoc...
May 20, 2025•48 min•Ep. 105
Many teams don’t realize how much time their people are losing to repetitive tasks and clunky systems. From filling out HR forms to bouncing between platforms, what’s called “employee experience” often adds up to unnecessary friction. The real problem? No one’s questioning whether those steps need to exist at all. There’s an unspoken assumption that better design means more interface, more features, more engagement. But what if the most valuable tech quietly solved problems in the background, no...
May 14, 2025•53 min•Ep. 104
Most conversations about AI in the workplace get stuck on the surface - job loss fears, tech hype, and hand-wringing about what’s next. But in this episode, we flip the script. What if AI itself isn’t the problem? What if the real story is how organizations introduce, structure, and integrate it into the human fabric of work? Jeremy Broome, Global Head of Talent at Visa, shares how his team navigates AI with a surprisingly optimistic and deeply human approach. From scenario-based workforce plann...
Apr 30, 2025•50 min•Ep. 103
HR teams have more data than ever, but many still rely on guesswork when it comes to people decisions. In this episode, we unpack the rapid growth of the people analytics tech market, which ballooned from $1.7B in 2019 to $8.1B by last summer. Hosts Dani Johnson, Stacia Garr, and Priyanka Mehrotra walk through how this market has evolved, what’s driving investment, and why the demand for better-connected, more useful insights keeps rising. We also dig into what’s not working, like customer frust...
Apr 17, 2025•43 min•Ep. 102
Many L&D teams still see themselves as a support function—creating learning programs, responding to training requests, and advocating for development. But in a rapidly changing business landscape, is that enough? In this episode, Al Dea, founder of Edge of Work, challenges the traditional identity of L&D and makes the case for a more strategic role—one that positions learning as a core driver of business transformation, not just an enabler of it. We dive into the recurring struggle for L...
Apr 02, 2025•44 min•Ep. 101
AI is transforming work at an unprecedented pace, but many organizations still struggle to move beyond experimentation and into real implementation. In this episode, we sit down with Steven Moran, Chief Learning Officer and Chief Partnerships Officer at Bertelsmann, to explore how one of the world’s largest media, education, and services companies is tackling this challenge head-on. With 400 businesses and 80,000 employees worldwide, Bertelsmann is uniquely positioned at the intersection of AI, ...
Mar 19, 2025•45 min•Ep. 100
Boston Scientific is looking at workforce planning in an entirely new way. We got the rare chance to hear all about it from Brenda Kowske, their Senior Director of Talent Analytics and Workforce Planning. With 50,000 employees worldwide and a rapidly growing footprint, they’re navigating big challenges with fresh approaches.We talked with Brenda about how her team is breaking down traditional HR silos, integrating workforce planning into business decisions, and staying ahead of the curve with AI...
Mar 05, 2025•41 min•Ep. 99
In this episode of Workplace Stories, we sit down with Heather Bussing, a California employment lawyer, to break down the recent executive orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I). Heather brings her sharp legal perspective, offering clarity on what these orders actually mean for businesses—especially those in the private sector—and how employers can navigate this complex landscape without overreacting. Heather is direct, no-nonsense, and refreshingly calm in the face of the confusi...
Feb 19, 2025•41 min•Ep. 98
We sat down with Tapaswee Chandele, Senior Vice President of Global Talent Development and System Partnerships at Coca-Cola, to talk about what it really takes to help managers succeed. She’s direct, transparent, and refreshingly honest about the challenges leaders face today—and what companies need to do to make things simpler. From setting clear expectations to measuring what matters, Tapaswee breaks down the way Coca-Cola supports managers without overcomplicating the process. One of the huge...
Feb 05, 2025•47 min•Ep. 97
In 2025, the HR landscape is already transforming–quickly. With AI moving from hype to reality, workforce cultures evolving, and organizations pausing to get their data and systems in order, leaders face both big opportunities and bigger decisions. To truly make sense of it all, we sat down with Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer at Sapient Insights Group, whose decades of experience as both a practitioner and industry analyst give her a grounded, data-backed perspective on what HR teams need...
Jan 22, 2025•44 min•Ep. 96
Most organizations waste money on L&D technology because they don’t think like investors. We sat down with Kimberly Williams, CEO of Absorb Software, to talk about her unique perspective on learning and development technology. As someone with a private equity background, Kimberly offers a fresh take on how investment thinking can shape smarter decisions in the L&D space.Our conversation covered everything from AI’s role in upskilling to trends driving workforce productivity. Kimberly sha...
Jan 08, 2025•47 min•Ep. 95
Cari Bohley, Vice President of Talent Management at Peraton, talks about solving real workplace problems by focusing on skills. From finding highly specialized talent in competitive markets to helping employees see clear career paths, Cari explains how tools like AI are changing the game. She shares what it takes to turn skills into a practical solution for hiring, retention, and engagement—especially in an industry where the stakes are high. Her story offers actionable insights for tackling cha...
Dec 27, 2024•42 min•Ep. 94
What happens to an organization when learning and development disappears? It’s a question more leaders are facing as L&D teams shrink or are deprioritized, even as the demand for a skilled workforce grows. Michelle Kay, Head of Learning and Development at Albertsons, has a clear answer: the unique expertise of L&D is irreplaceable. Managing learning for over 355,000 associates across one of the nation’s largest grocery chains, Michelle demonstrates how L&D can be a driving force behi...
Dec 23, 2024•41 min•Ep. 93
We had an incredible conversation with Nick Hudgell, Global Head of People Insights at Sanofi, about the transformative power of data governance and AI in HR. Nick shared how his team has built an infrastructure that connects disparate systems, improves data quality, and uses machine learning to unlock insights that genuinely improve employee experiences. From rethinking engagement surveys to launching AI-powered tools like the Sanofi Concierge, Nick made the case for why data is the backbone of...
Dec 18, 2024•55 min•Ep. 92
We had an incredible conversation with Don Taylor and Eglė Vinauskaitė about their report, AI and L&D: Intention and Reality . Their research goes deep into how AI is reshaping learning and development, from streamlining tasks like content creation to enabling strategic integration across organizations. Don and Eglė talked about the fact that AI’s potential goes far beyond efficiency—it’s about solving meaningful business challenges and driving innovation through smarter decision-making. A s...
Dec 04, 2024•52 min•Ep. 89
What happens when AI moves faster than the people who implement it? Christopher Lind, executive advisor and industry expert, shares stories of organizations that got it wrong—sometimes with devastating consequences. From replacing entire teams with AI to accelerating broken processes, the conversation reveals how quickly things can unravel when technology outpaces understanding. At the same time, there’s tremendous opportunity if AI is handled with care. We explored what it takes to keep humans ...
Nov 20, 2024•49 min•Ep. 90
