Leighanne's Learning Notes

08/28/2026

The best consultants don't win contract work with credentials. They win it with relationships.

Kara Kirby, Relationship Manager at TrainingPros, joins to share her path from teaching tire dealerships to coaching L&D consultants, plus the one skill she thinks every L&D professional should learn early.

She also makes the case that itself may stop existing as its own department, as AI pushes every function to think with a learning lens.

Click the link in the comments for the episode.

08/18/2026

Why would a virtual training pioneer spend her time getting good at AI?

Kassy LaBorie, Keynote Speaker, Author and L&D Pioneer of Kassy LaBorie Consulting, says the tools change. What you choose to do with them doesn't have to.

The most valuable thing a facilitator brings to the room isn't a technique. It's a choice, made over and over, about how to show up.

Click the link in the comments for the episode sponsored by TrainingPros.

08/12/2026

Curiosity, not any specific tool or platform, is the skill Joe Stoup is building across his team right now.

Joe Stoup, Director of the Learning Experience Group at Realpage, explains how anchoring your talent development strategy in curiosity and structured questioning transforms how teams approach problems and adapt to new challenges.

Click the link in the comments for the episode sponsored by TrainingPros.

08/04/2026

Impact, not job title, is what should drive a career in .

Josiah Owens, Program Manager of Employee Development at INPO, describes himself as an "impact chaser" whose path has run through manufacturing, video production and now the nuclear industry.

He joins this episode to explain what chasing impact actually looks like in a field built on enabling other people's growth.

Click the link in the comments for the episode sponsored by TrainingPros.

07/29/2026

I'm looking forward to the next ATD Greater Atlanta chapter meeting! This session will focus on how professionals can stay ahead of constant change by building future-ready skills, designing more adaptive strategies, and taking a proactive approach to AI. If you're planning to attend, let me know in the comments! I'd love to connect and talk about how we can help when you have more projects than people™.
Register here: https://member.atdatlanta.org/event-6442320

07/28/2026

Technology moves faster than most teams can absorb it. How do learning leaders keep people ahead of the curve without losing the human side of the work?

Blair Bekker, Director, Global Talent Development of Chewy, joins TrainingPros on to talk about pairing new tools with human-centered leadership training, giving teams room for trial and error at scale, and using control groups to measure the real impact of a training rollout.

Her takeaway: teaching people how to learn builds skills that scale.

Click the link for the episode.

Blair Bekker , Director of Global Talent Development of Chewy , join s us to discuss why L&D must trade perfectionism for speed, how entire workforces learning new skills at once is turning L&D into a strategic partner to the business, and why proving measurable impact is what se

07/21/2026

Christina Castelli of Accenture isn't here to sugarcoat it. The pace of change is real, the uncertainty is real — and the roles most at risk are the ones that haven't asked what they actually bring beyond the task. For professionals, that question isn't optional anymore.

Click the link in the comments for the episode sponsored by TrainingPros.

07/14/2026

Leadership is the most important skill anyone in an organization can develop, regardless of title.

In this clip, Scott Switalski of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia breaks down why courage, curiosity and compassion are the three-part foundation his team uses for all leadership development at CHOP.

For professionals designing leadership programs, Scott’s framework is a practical lens for building leaders who show up, ask better questions and keep the humanity in the work.

Click the link in the comments for the episode sponsored by TrainingPros.

07/07/2026

Peter Plumlee of Ball Horticultural makes the case that the real work of is helping people show up as humans — and that takes a very different kind of storytelling.

Click the link in the comments for the episode sponsored by TrainingPros.

07/04/2026

On July 4, 1776, the United States declared independence. Fast forward 250 years, and we are celebrating a semiquincentennial, which is a big word that simply means a 250th birthday! The Declaration of Independence was only signed by two men on July 4, with the remaining signatures collected over the next six months. Turns out even history’s biggest milestones take collaboration and time.