Podcast · Business

The Mindtools L&D Podcast

by Mind Tools Ltd · English · Business

The Mindtools L&D Podcast is a must-listen for anyone involved in Learning and Development or Human Resources. The weekly show features regular appearances from the Mind Tools team plus special guests to get right to the heart of issues affecting the L&D and HR communities. From learning needs analy

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 41 min
Latest: 12 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026 · 42 minNew

517 — Julie Dirksen takeover: Who judges the work when AI contributed?

AI can make a rough idea look finished in seconds. That's great for productivity, but it's a real problem for anyone whose job is to judge the work. If polish, speed and thoroughness can all be generated, how do we know who actually knows their stuff? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , guest host Julie Dirksen and Cammy Bean are joined by Koreen Pagano, CEO of Talent Rewire and co-author of Rewiring Your Organization for AI , and Dr Alicia Sanchez, Chief AI Officer at MPF Federal, to explore how we evaluate people's work when AI is part of how it gets done. We discuss: why…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E516 · 6 Oct 2026 · 35 min
516 — Is AI turning us into idiots?
At Learning Technologies this year, Nigel Paine said AI is turning us into idiots. It was a glib line, and he admits it. But if we hand our thinking over to a chatbot and accept whatever comes back, is he wrong? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G is joined by Dr Nigel Paine, researcher, author, podcaster, broadcaster and consultant (he's a busy guy), to explore when AI makes us sharper, when it makes us duller, and what organizations should do about it. We discuss: Why 'cognitive offloading' becomes a problem when we offload the thinking that matters Arguing with…
E515 · 29 Sep 2026 · 42 min
515 — Is performance the real cause of burnout?
Most advice on burnout focuses on workload, stress and work-life balance. But what if the real cause is the act we put on at work? And if it is, what does that mean for an industry built on improving performance? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Gemma are joined by Rabih El Khodr, keynote speaker and author of The Way Out of Burnout , to explore where burnout really comes from and what L&D can realistically do about it. We discuss: why 'performance' in the theatrical sense, not overwork, drives burnout how 'survival scripts' shape the beliefs that sit upstream…
E514 · 22 Sep 2026 · 39 min
514 — Learning design was never about building courses
AI can build a course in minutes. That should be the best news our industry has had in years. Instead, a lot of teams are skipping what really matters: working out what the problem is, and checking whether anything changed. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Cammy Bean are joined by Tim Slade, founder of The eLearning Designer's Academy, to explore how learning design is changing and what is left for the humans doing it. We discuss: Why AI shifts the work from 'building' to 'diagnosing and evaluating' Why order takers are exposed and performance consultants are…
E513 · 15 Sep 2026 · 33 min
513 — Articulate goes all in on AI: our reaction
Articulate's latest product release puts AI at the heart of it's strategy. What does this mean for learning designers? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G flies solo to react to Articulate's Articuland announcement, unpacking what Frontline, Nova, and the platform's pivot toward operational teams means for learning design. He discusses: What Articulate's new 'Frontline' and 'Nova' tools actually do, and why the launch has 'annoyed basically everyone' Whether the shift from 'training creator' to 'capability architect' holds up The seven things humans can still offer…
E512 · 8 Sep 2026 · 44 min
512 — Learner enthusiasm, AI tutors, and a neuromyth that won't die
What research papers did you read while lounging by the pool this summer? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D is joined by Claire and Dr Anna to review three studies that have caught our attention over the last few months. Anna's pick was Vestner and colleagues' 'A dyadic training to promote technology-related learning and development among age-diverse employees: the power of co-workers' enthusiasm' , published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology . Claire brought Kestin and colleagues' 'AI tutoring outperforms in-class active learning: an RCT…
E511 · 1 Sep 2026 · 40 min
511 — L&D at scale: How do you support 750,000 people?
Training one person is hard. Training 750,000 people, in more than 80 countries, spread across frontline shifts, event security and executive teams, is a different problem entirely. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Claire Gibson are joined by Brent O'Bryan, Senior Vice President of Global Training and Talent Development at Allied Universal, to explore what L&D looks like at genuinely massive scale. We discuss: Why 750,000 employees are never one audience How to choose between the LMS, the classroom and virtual training The role of AI and automation in training…
E510 · 25 Aug 2026 · 38 min
510 — You don't have to talk to add value (Rebroadcast)
We've been talking a lot about AI on the podcast recently. So this week, we're revisting a distinctly human episode from 2024 on the value of listening. As experts, managers or leaders, we often seek to help others by talking, talking, talking. But what if we didn't talk and just listened? In this episode , Ross D and Gemma are joined by Georgie Rudd, an executive coach, to discuss the trials and delights of listening. We explore: reasons that we don't listen well t he consequences of not listening (and of listening!) how we can improve listening skills. Georgie recommended Nancy Klein as an…
E509 · 18 Aug 2026 · 40 min
509 — What are L&D teams really doing with AI?
Every L&D team thinks everyone else has AI figured out. Almost nobody does. Ross G recently ran structured interviews with 12 Mindtools Kineo customers, spanning tech, financial services, pharmaceuticals, energy, media and more, to find out what's really happening on the ground. In this week's episode, Ross D and Cammy Bean join Ross G to discuss his findings. We cover: Why every L&D team believes it is falling behind Where teams are continuing to invest at a time when budgets are constrained Why AI ambition keeps stalling at the governance stage During the episode, Cammy referenced a…
E508 · 11 Aug 2026 · 44 min
508 — What will compliance training look like in the age of AI?
Outside of L&D, most people and organizations see compliance training as a box that needs to be ticked, not something that can drive behavior change. Will AI make this problem better or worse? In this week's episode, Ross D and Cammy are joined by learning designer Anisha Sridhar to explore what AI is really doing to compliance training. We discussed: why the productivity argument for AI is incomplete contextualization, and why it beats personalization in compliance how to keep slop out of your learning content. During the episode, Anisha described using the Gunning Fog index to test whether…
E507 · 4 Aug 2026 · 43 min
507 — Do learning games still have a place?
Online learning keeps sliding back to text and images. Authoring tools and AI course generators make content cheap, but it often looks like learning without ever asking the learner to think or choose. Games work the other way, running on decisions, feedback, and the chance to try again. Following our recent conversation with Julie Dirksen , we ask where games belong in the age of AI. In this week's episode, Ross G is joined by Richard Durham, Co-founder and Lead Game Designer at Tentacular Games and Great Grand High Lord of Everything at Wonder Tree Studios, and by Mindtools Kineo's own…
E506 · 28 Jul 2026 · 42 min
506 — Is your AI companion a colleague or rival?
If you're rolling out AI licenses, how do you get people to use them? For AI learning designer Emily Valencia, there are two key requirements: that people can experiment safely, and that they can share results with others. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D and Matt meet with Emily to discuss: What organizations get wrong about AI rollouts What effective AI adoption looks like Whether we should really see AI as a coworker (or whether this framing is one of the obstacles we've created for ourselves) During the discussion, Matt referenced recent news that an OpenAI…
E505 · 21 Jul 2026 · 44 min
505 — Are your managers killing your AI strategy?
There are at least four factors that influence the success of AI adoption in your organization: training your people, clarity of compliance guidance, how people are rewarded, and the influence of managers. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we're exploring the last of these. In his book, Leading with AI - How to build high performance teams with AI as your sparring partner , Joris Merks-Benjaminsen presents an action-focused framework for helping managers adopt AI. In our discussion, we focus on: whether AI can replace managers how to help managers get started with AI why…
E504 · 14 Jul 2026 · 47 min
504 — Becoming a skills-based organization
As AI transforms the way work gets done, many organizations are trying to understand the skills they need today, as well as the expertise they'll need tomorrow. In this week's episode, Cammy and Gemma are joined by skills expert Koreen Pagano to unpack the rise of skills-based organizations. We discussed: What becoming 'skills-based' in an organization might look like The benefits and challenges of shifting towards a skill-based approach The impact of AI on this shift, skills development and managers. You can pre-order Koreen's forthcoming book, Rewiring Your Organization for AI , and buy…
E503 · 7 Jul 2026 · 41 min
503 — The Eras Tour: Part 4 (AI takes over)
In the final part of our 500th anniversary 'Eras Tour' retrospective, we conclude by saying farewell to our human co-workers and embracing the technology that will ultimately destroy us all: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Ross G and Dr Anna B are joined by our most frequent guest of all time, Donald H Taylor, to discuss: how AI took over Don's annual 'Global Sentiment Survey' the mindset shift that L&D professionals need to embrace to adapt to change whether, 10 years after we first asked this question, L&D is truly dead? During the discussion, Ross referenced the ultimate hidden banger in…
E502 · 1 Jul 2026 · 38 min
502 — The Eras Tour: Part 3 (The hybrid period)
If the pandemic years saw the office become a 'blank space', the hybrid era gradually witnessed that space fill up again through return-to-office mandates. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Rob Baker joins us to continue our 'Eras Tour'. We discuss: how the pandemic created an opportunity for 'job crafting', and what's changed since we've come out of lockdown whether job crafting has lost relevance since the pandemic, or just gotten harder to realize what new research tells us about the impact of job crafting on performance and wellbeing. You can find out more about the…
E501 · 23 Jun 2026 · 40 min
501 — The Eras Tour: Part 2 (The pandemic years)
Ross G stays out too late. Got nothing in his brain. At least, that's what people say. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we're joined by Heeral Gudka and Andy Lancaster to continue our 'Eras Tour', with a look back at the pandemic years. We discuss: the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on L&D, and how much of the 'new normal' we've held on to what connectedness and belonging look and feel like in the post-pandemic era how attitudes and organisational priorities around DEI have shifted since 2020. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed an HBR article on the pros and…
E500 · 16 Jun 2026 · 41 min
500 — The Eras Tour: Part 1 (Starting with evidence)
Ten years, 500 shows, countless guests. To celebrate our anniversary, we're releasing a special four-part series looking back at the evolution of L&D. In part one, Ross G and Ross D are joined by friend-of-the-show Julie Dirksen to revisit our early years. We discuss: whether L&D has yet become 'evidence-based' dumb ideas we fall for, get over, and fall for again evidence-based orthodoxies which we once believed, but now aren't so sure about. During the discussion, we referenced the Mehrabian fallacy , problems with the forgetting curve , and how psychologst Anders Ericsson improved his…
E499 · 9 Jun 2026 · 38 min
499 — Why workplace learning has never been more important
According to Dr Tessa Forshaw, Faculty Director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Workforce Learning and Innovation Initiative, workplace learning has never been more important. It's also never been at greater risk. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Tessa joins Ross D and Matt to discuss: the role of L&D at a time when the World Economic Forum has estimated that 59% of the global workforce will need retrained by the end of the decade the importance of 'desirable difficulty' in learning, and how this is undermined by technologies like AI what the future of L&D…
28 May 2026 · 37 min
498 — Know yourself to know others
Our Building Better Managers research identified that employees care about having an empathetic manager, but only half reported having a manager who was fair and empathetic. All is not lost. Empathy is a skill, and like any other skill, it can be developed. So what might that process involve? In this episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Loren Sanders joins Ross G and Gemma to discuss: the difference empathy makes developing self-awareness to develop empathy tact as the expression of empathy. You can find out more about Loren and her book Empathy is Not A Weakness and Other Stories from the…
E497 · 26 May 2026 · 42 min
497 — The business impact of play at work (Rebroadcast)
This week, we're revisting one of our favorite episodes from last year, focusing on the role of play at work. All children play but, over time, that instinct goes away. We don't lose it, we don't forget. Instead, we get taught to stop. For author and toy designer Cas Holman, that's a problem. With a very real impact on business performance. In this episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Cas joins Ross G and Gemma to discuss: how traditional workplaces surpress play the business benefits of play at work how to encourage play when your organization won't tolerate it. You can find out more…
E496 · 15 May 2026 · 45 min
496 — How to project presence
You know those people who seem to command a room with a certain gravitas? How are they doing it? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Gemma is joined by Frankie Kemp and Ross D to explore: what presence is the difference between presence and presentation techniques to use to develop your presence. During the discussion, Frankie referenced: ' Why You Need Charisma ' (via Harvard Business Review) ' Can Charisma Be Taught? Tests of Two Interventions ' (via Academy of Management Learning & Education) You can find out more about Frankie's work via her website frankiekemp.com. For…
E495 · 12 May 2026 · 35 min
495 — Driving performance with AI
If AI is so transformative, how come it's so hard to adopt? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G is joined by Mindtools Kineo AI Strategy Director Rodrigo Bolaños to explore: the hype surrounding AI's potential the reality experienced by many organizations how to drive AI adoption at scale. During the discussion, Ross G referenced: ' The state of AI in 2025 ' (via McKinsey) ' The AI Adoption Reality Check ' (via Thomson Reuters) ' Many workers are using unapproved AI tools at work ' (via TechRadar) ' 38% of AI-suing employees admit to sending sensitive work data '…
E494 · 5 May 2026 · 35 min
494 — What we learned at Learning Tech 2026
Last week, the Mindtools Kineo gang attended the Learning Technologies exhibition and conference, Europe's largest L&D event. And so, this week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D, Ross G, Gemma and Matt are regrouping to discuss: our personal highlights from Learning Tech what the conference tells us about the shape of the industry the key themes that emerged over the course of the two days who and what industry conferences are for in 2026. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross G mentioned the Stat Significant newsletter. Ross D recommended A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre. For more…
E493 · 28 Apr 2026 · 40 min
493 — Developing the timeless skill of communication
Throughout human history, technology has disrupted the way we communicate with one another. But according to Andrea Pacini, the fundamental principles behind effective communication haven't changed, and are as relevant today as they were in the past. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Andrea joins Ross D and Anna to discuss his forthcoming book, Timeless Presenter . We cover: what the book is about, and how it differs from Andrea's previous book, Confident Presenter why the principles of communication don't change, even as tools and technology do why nobody cares about…
E492 · 21 Apr 2026 · 42 min
492 — Enabling frontline workers to succeed
80% of the world's workforce are deskless, but L&D teams spend most of their time worrying about the 20%. Speaker, advisor and author JD Dillon is on a mission to change that with The Frontline Enablement Playbook . In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , JD joins Ross G and Ross D to discuss: why the 80% get neglected why frontline managers are the most important people in the business strategies for supporting deskless workers. To find out more about JD, visit jddillon.com . For the book, visit jdwroteanotherbook.com In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D discussed Casey…
E491 · 14 Apr 2026 · 49 min
491 — Better meetings, more psychological safety, and cognitive offloading
It's once again 'Bring Your Paper to Work' day here at Mindtools Kineo, as Ross G, Dr Anna and Ross D each take turns to share an academic study that they think has key insights for L&D professionals. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we discuss the following papers: Rogelberg, S. G., Kreamer, L. M., & Gray, J. (2026). 'Thirty years of meeting science: Lessons learned and the road ahead.' Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 13 , 415–442. Castro, S., Englmaier, F., & Guadalupe, M. (2024). 'Fostering psychological safety in teams:…
E490 · 7 Apr 2026 · 36 min
490 — Creating the environment for self-directed learning
Last year, we recorded an episode on whether "self-directed learning" is a myth. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we ask how we can create an environment where this behavior thrives. Ross G and Cammy are joined by Stella Collins to discuss: What needs to be in place for self-directed learning to flourish? How can L&D pros create this ecosystem? What are the biggest barriers to self-directed learning? During the discussion, we mentioned action learning sets . We also referenced our ' Building Better Managers ' report, Amy Edmondson's book The Kind of Wrong , and the C…
E489 · 31 Mar 2026 · 45 min
489 — Are you levelling up your managers?
Manager s are inundated with potential development areas , from technical skills to complex behaviors . But a re you focusing on the right ones ? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , our in-house Insights experts Dr. Anna Barnett and Dr. Nina Harrison speak to Claire about: how recent research reveals some unexpected co-benefits to managerial skill building how these insights can help us to look at organisational problem areas differently. You can download the infographic at mindtools.com/thought-leadership/reports/building-better-managers-infographic . In 'What I Learned…
E488 · 24 Mar 2026 · 39 min
488 — L&D is a bit more complicated than that
Completion stats are a vanity metric. Happy sheets are pointless. Revenue impact will get you a seat at the table. We've all heard these statements from conference stages. Some of us, your hosts included, might even have said them. But in this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we wanted to dig a little deeper. We invited Evolve L&D's Tom McDowall to join Ross G and Claire, to discuss: why the context behind completion metrics is crucial to understanding them how to design effective learner surveys how 'metric chains' help broaden our understanding of learning impact. During the…

About The Mindtools L&D Podcast

The Mindtools L&D Podcast is a English business podcast from Mind Tools Ltd. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Mind Tools Ltd
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 41 min
Latest episode: 12 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1114862726
Rights: Mind Tools Ltd

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