398: The Difficulty of Desirable Difficulties

Effective marketing is integral to a learning business’s success. But doing marketing well requires care and thought. In this episode, number 408, Leading Learning Podcast co-host Celisa Steele talks with Michelle Brien, vice president of marketing at Matchbox, who approaches her work with care and thought and authenticity. Celisa and Michelle talk about how Michelle defines marketing, the central role value plays in marketing, the rise of digital and content marketing, the potential for generative AI in marketing, and the fundamental importance of understanding your audience. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode408.

The third sector of education can be difficult for learners to navigate, and pathways can help learners. Having guides along the pathways can help even more. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 407, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele draw on a recent guided trekking experience to offer six takeaways about the value of guides that learning businesses might apply as they work to better serve their learners. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode407.

In the Tagoras Learning Business Maturity Model, strategy is one of the five fundamental domains learning businesses need to work on and in to mature and be successful. To help with your essential strategy work, in this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 406, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele talk about “Part Two: How to Realize Nondisruptive Creation” of Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth Without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode406.

We often hear learning businesses say they want to better engage their learners. But what is engagement, and how does it work? In this episode, Leading Learning Podcast co-host Jeff Cobb digs into those questions with Clark Quinn, executive director of Quinnovation and author of Make It Meaningful: Taking Learning Design from Instructional to Transformational. Jeff and Clark talk about engagement and motivation; learners’ cognitive, affective, and conative involvement; and how the cognitive aspect gets more than its fair share of emphasis. They also talk about the role of emotion in learning, about practice and feedback, and about how the ability to make better decisions is ultimately the desired outcome of most learning experiences. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode405.

Strategy is one of the five fundamental domains in the Learning Business Maturity Model. And most learning business leaders know that strategy is important. But truly understanding strategy and formulating intelligent strategy? That’s trickier. To help with that understanding and formulation, in this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 404, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele offer an audio book report on Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth Without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of blue ocean fame. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode404.

You can think of this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast as an origin story. Co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele talk about the relationship between Leading Learning and Tagoras, about what Tagoras is and does, and about the start of Leading Learning. Along the way they touch on the kinds of things that learning businesses need to be able to do, whether through the skills and knowledge of their internal team or by looking for outside support. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode403.

If anything, we should all be able to agree that generative artificial intelligence is a curious thing, worthy of reflection and exploration. Julian Stodd is a researcher, an artist, an explorer, a writer, and captain and founder of Sea Salt Learning, which helps organizations set strategy and change direction. He is also a firm believer in working out loud and a previous Leading Learning Podcast guest. In this episode, co-host Celisa Steele talks with Julian about ideas from Engines of Engagement: A Curious Book About Generative AI, which he co-wrote with Sae Schatz and Geoff Stead. Julian’s perspective on AI is both technical and philosophical, specific and expansive, and, of course, curious. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode402.

Many skills are needed to create and sustain a successful learning business: financial know-how, marketing acumen, instructional design, to name just a few. But one area that often isn’t invested in—or invested in adequately—is business development. Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele discuss what a business development professional should be able to do for your learning business and how having a skilled professional leading business development means the chance to improve your reach, revenue, and impact. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode401.

We’re at an important point in time for lifelong learning. Much is shifting and unsettled in how humans live and work. That unsettledness means opportunity if your learning business is willing to grapple with the uncertainty and shape a vision for its role in the lifelong learning market. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele look at the current lifelong learning landscape, near-future trends, and the implications—and opportunities—for learning businesses. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode400.

To realize their fundamental mission of developing and delivering learning products and services, learning businesses need revenue. Along with direct-to-learner fees for enrollments and registrations, sponsorship dollars are often a key part of that revenue equation. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-host Jeff Cobb talks with Bruce Rosenthal. Bruce helps organizations create sponsorships and partnerships that increase revenue and value for all stakeholders. Jeff and Bruce talk about sponsorship versus partnership; the importance of thinking of “partner” as both noun and verb; why logos, visibility, and recognition are no longer a compelling value proposition; the growing emphasis on ROI and other trends in sponsorship; and COVID’s longtail impact on how sponsors engage. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode399.