Learning Resources For Learning, Leadership, and Talent Professionals

Resources For Learning, Leadership and Talent Development Professionals

If you are a learning, talent, or leadership development practitioner, chances are being able to stay up to date on the latest insights, research, and ideas is going to be helpful to producing experiences and developing strategies that help your employees learn and grow. The challenge is, sometimes we don’t have the time for it, or we don’t know where to turn. The internet is amazing because you can find anything, but that is often what can make it so challenging. Where do I go and who do I turn to in order to find what I need?

As a practitioner who has worked in knowledge work and professional services jobs for over a decade, I’m used to the idea that insights and knowledge are my fuel and credibility. As a result, I’ve invested a lot of time and energy in finding the right and most interesting content, and also making time and space to consume it in a way that helps me do my job more effectively. I can tell you that investing this time has absolutely opened doors for me in my career that I would have not otherwise had.

Now, as a facilitator, speaker, and consultant, making sure that I’m up to date on research, news, trends and ideas is critical to my job. With that in mind, I want to share some of the most useful and helpful resources that I have come across to help others out there in the profession.

I’ve devoted a post to incorporate some of my favorite professional development resources, across blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and then people you can follow. While there are many others that are out there, I tend to use these the most. I think there should be something in here for everyone, and I also know I am missing stuff, so please ping me if you have recommendations.

Note: If you have any suggestions for a way to visualize or consume, please let me know. I’d like to open-source this and make this available to as many practitioners as possible.

Blogs & Websites

These are a list of learning, leadership and talent blogs that regularly produce content related to the fields of learning, leadership, talent and management. Some of these are known entities, and some are a bit more niche and specific. I tend to check the known entities on a regular basis just to see the headlines and to make sure I am up to date. Some of the more niche ones I tend to check on a regular basis, and go a bit deeper.

Chief Learning Officer – A blog and media publication that covers issues and topics that are top of mind to Chief Learning Officers.
Learning Guild – A community for learning practitioners which also has research and blogposts that are often open to the public
Harvard Business Review – One of the top management and leadership digital media publications. There are regularly shorter articles that have some research component. A lot around leadership, management, and some careers and learning
Sloan Management Review – Very similar to HBR, although Sloan tends to be a bit more baked in research.
Kellogg Insights – Insights and thought leadership that come out of the research that is done by the Kellogg School of Management. Heavy emphasis on organizational design, collaboration, teamwork, and management.
Donald Taylor – A longtime L&D thought leader, Donald shares yearly research on workplace learning on his website/blog.
Josh Bersin – One of top experts in the field of HR, Josh regularly posts content related to learning, talent and leadership development.
Elliot Massie – One of the longtime names in the learning space, Elliot blogs occasionally.

Newsletters

Having a consistent practice like a weekly or monthly newsletter is not for the faint of heart. However, I find that the people that produce these regularly have put so much thought and curation into what they share that it’s worth the read. I try to read newsletters either in the beginning of the day or in the evening, and as a way to stay informed, as well as to find content that I can save for any type of work that I need to produce where I need to cite something.

Newsletter: L&D Must Change (Jessica Almilie) – Jessica is a longtime Learning and Development leader who writes a Linkedin newsletter about how L&D professionals can lead and step up in new ways
Work in Progress – A weekly newsletter about how the workplace is changing, and what it means for learning, careers and leadership.
Leading Sapiens – A weekly newsletter about research and thoughts on leadership development produced by leadership development coach, Sheril Matthews.
Offbeat Newsletter – A weekly curated newsletter of L&D resources and content. The Offbeat is run by Lavinia Mehedințu.

Podcasts

I use podcasts as a way to explore a topic deeper. For example, finding a couple episodes devoted to psychological safety before doing a talk on this topic. I also use them as a means for exploration and creativity – going for a walk and listening to a podcast always gets me great ideas.

Leadership Development

Learn to Lead (Abilitie) – A podcast to help leaders lead more effectively, and for how organizations can focus on developing their leaders in more effective ways
Coaching Real Leaders with Muriel Wilkins – Muriel is a longtime leadership coach, and each episode is a live coaching session with a guest on a specific topic, such as “how do I transition out of my current career.” If you’ve never gotten coaching before, definitely listen to this to see what it’s like
Leadership Lab with Patrick Leddin – Patrick is a professor at Vanderbilt University and runs a leadership development firm. Each week, he tackles different leadership topics with various leaders, authors, and coaches
The Leadership Mind (Massimo Backus) – Massimo is a Leadership & Executive Coach, and his podcast explores in-depth various aspects of leadership for today’s workplace
Coaching For Leaders with Dave Stachowiak – Dave is one of the OG podcast hosts and has a back catalog of hundreds of podcasts on everything related to leadership development. He is one of the most prepared, but thoughtful/inquisitive hosts out there, and has a great podcast voice.

Learning and Development

The BLOC Podcast – Hosted by Heidi Kirby, Heidi talks L&D trends, insights and other L&D related topics that any L&D practitioner can relate to
Offbeat on Air – Hosted by the dynamic duo of Lavinia Mehedintu and Milica Sapic, they break out of the bubble of L&D by looking at other professions that align with L&D
The Learning and Development Podcast with David James – The name says it all. If you’re an L&D professional, this is a great podcast to learn about the L&D profession, and is hosted by David James, a Chief Learning Officer.
Leading Learning with Tagoras – A long running podcast that is great for staying up to date on trends and companies in the learning, continuing education and professional development space.

Talent Development

The Edge of Work (Me) – Have to plug my own show! This is a podcast that helps leaders make sense of the changing world of work. Each week, we explore topics around leading and managing, attracting and retaining talent, and building culture, to help leaders thrive in a changing world of work.
The Talent Development Hot Seat with Andy Storch – Andy is a personal friend but one of the most connected talent development practitioners that I know. Each week he interviews different talent development professionals on trends in the profession
ATD Accidental Trainer with Alexandria Clapp – Alexandria interviews other trainers and facilitators about best practices, insights and career stories
Mckinsey Talents Talent – The latest insights, research, and hot takes from McKinsey on all things talent
The Talent Economy Podcast – Hosted by Michelle Labbe (CHRO of Toptal) Michelle interviews other Chief People Officers about trends, stories and learnings related to talent and the workplace

People To Follow

LinkedIn is a great place not just to have a digital profile but to engage in conversation, engagement and learning with other peers. Think of this as a wide-open intranet where you can learn, facilitate dialogue and ask questions to other experts on topics that are relevant to your job or profession.

The good news is that you can do a number of different things depending on your comfort level

Read/Consume – Follow people, and check out what they’re posting and sharing
Engaging – Liking or commenting on other posts and participating in the conversation
Sharing and Starting Conversation – Sharing your thoughts and ideas.

Most people think you have to do all of the above, but you only need to do what works for you. I will save another post for how to use linkedin effectively, but one place to start is by following some experts who do all three of these things in specific areas so you can start to see what they are sharing

Learning

Christopher Lind – Christopher is a Chief Learning Officer at ChenMed and also runs a learning and development community for learning practitioners. He regularly posts and does LinkedIn Lives
Amanda Nolen – Amanda runs an L&D consultancy focused on helping learning teams and businesses, and regularly posts on l&d strategy, skills, and learning.
Lori Niles Hofmann – Lori runs an L&D consultancy focused on helping learning teams and businesses, and regularly posts on ed-tech, learning and upskilling.
Jess Amilie – Jess is a former L&D leader turned L&D consultant who writes posts about strategic L&D leadership.
Tim Slade – Tim runs his own Instructional Designer community, and regularly posts on topics related to ID and learning.
Noah Rabinowitz – Noah is a VP of Learning and Development at Moderna, and regularly posts on topics related to learning, culture, and innovation.
Kevin Yates – Known as the L&D Detective, Kevin posts regularly about measurement and ROI of Learning.

Leadership Development

Francis Frei – Francis is a management professor at Harvard, Author, and podcast host, who helped reset the leadership strategy at Uber back in the 2017-2018. She r
Dr. Britt Andreatta – Britt is the former Chief Learning Officer at Lynda.com (before it was acquired by LinkedIn) and is a researcher, author and instructor on topics related to leadership.
Amy Edmondson – Amy is a Harvard Professor and most notably known for her research on psychological safety inside organizations.
Lynda Gratton – Lynda is a Professor at London Business School, and one of the top researchers on leading and managing in today’s hybrid workplace. She regularly posts content and articles.

Talent Development

Tonya Tucker Talent Development) – Tonya is the VP of Talent, Employee Experience and DEI at Twitch, and also has had leadership roles as a volunteer in ATD ((Association for Talent Development)
Andy Storch (Talent Development) – Andy is a former talent development consultant and now runs a community for talent development professionals. He shares regularly on trend and thoughts related to talent and career development
Dr. Mechelle Roberthon (Talent Development) Dr. Mechelle is a VP of Talent development at Home Bank and regularly posts content on LinkedIn on talent development and DEI.
Ryan McCrea (Talent Development) – Ryan is the head of talent and leadership development, and posts regular topics on these issues.
Matthew Daniel (Talent Development) – Matthew is a Talent Strategist at Guild Education, and researches and shares regularly about talent and career development topics.

Conclusion

So there you have it! A plethora of useful and helpful resources to help you learn, grow and work in your learning, talent and leadership profession. I would love to hear your feedback on this list, what resonates with you, and any additions that you might have. I plan on updating this regularly, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with ideas and suggestions.