472: Revisiting Reach, Revenue, and Impact—Starting with Reach

Reach, revenue, and impact are familiar concepts to long-time listeners of the Leading Learning Podcast. But they’re often treated as separate challenges. In this episode, co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb revisit these three pillars and explore why they need to be approached as a connected system rather than isolated priorities.Drawing on recent research, client experience, and conversations with learning leaders, Celisa and Jeff discuss why earning attention has become harder, why revenue pressures are intensifying, and why impact remains difficult for many organizations to measure and articulate. They examine common missteps and highlight how clearer portfolio decisions, better use of data, and stronger business development practices can help learning businesses move forward.If you’re thinking about how to grow reach, sustain revenue, and demonstrate meaningful impact—without treating them as competing goals—this episode offers a strategic lens.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode472.

Most learning businesses are rich in content, but far fewer are intentional about which pieces of content sparks collective learning?In this episode, Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele explore the concept of social learning objects: shared artifacts that anchor attention, create common language, and turn individual consumption into collective learning. Social learning objects can take many forms—frameworks, visuals, podcasts, standards, events—but what matters is that they’re generative rather than inert.Jeff and Celisa discuss what makes a social learning object effective, why simplicity beats complexity, and how questions, visuals, and intentional design can dramatically increase learning impact. They also consider what social learning objects make possible for groups, communities, and learning businesses operating in increasingly uncertain environments.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode471.

Many learning businesses know they need to innovate, but moving faster and experimenting can run headlong into culture and the fear of being wrong. This episode of the Leading Learning Podcast looks at why that happens and what to do about it.Elizabeth Engel and Jamie Notter, co-authors of the white paper “Lean at Ten: Culture Eats Methodology for Lunch,” join co-host Celisa Steele to discuss the core elements of lean startup, the cultural patterns that can undermine using the methodology, and how pairing lean startup with design thinking can help organizations build empathy, surface assumptions, and learn more effectively.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode470.

Strategy is about making choices—where to focus, what to invest in, and what to stop doing. Data can help bring clarity to those decisions, especially in a complex and competitive environment.In this episode, Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb share insights from a survey of learning businesses to help you think about strategy in 2026. They explore top strategic goals and drivers, key trends and challenges shaping learning businesses, and three themes that emerge from the data: the tension between mission and margin, alignment with credibility and areas of authority, and a growing confidence gap around achieving both strategic goals and revenue expectations.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode469.

Mindset shapes how adults approach learning, challenge, and change—and it has important implications for learning businesses. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 468, co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb explore Mindset, the influential book by psychologist Carol Dweck, and the broader concept of mindset.They unpack the distinction between fixed and growth mindsets; examine how mindset affects learners, leaders, and organizations; and discuss practical ways learning businesses can foster conditions that support resilience, effort, and meaningful learning.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode468.

Content is everywhere, governance is slow to change, and technology expectations keep climbing—association learning businesses are feeling squeezed. Most are still operating like catalog providers in a market that now needs architects.In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb share a Rumelt-style diagnosis based on conversations with 27 association CEOs. They unpack the issues hollowing out the old education model—and what learning leaders can do to design trustworthy, employer-aligned, tech-enabled learning pathways for the future.If you want clarity on the current landscape and what it means for where your learning business needs to go next, tune in.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode467.

Building or refreshing certification prep, reviewing prices, or expanding into new formats? This conversation offers concrete examples of how to move fast, listen well, and align your portfolio with both mission and margin.Letty Kluttz, senior vice president of membership, education, and programs for the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), talks with Leading Learning Podcast co-host Celisa Steele about launching three certification prep courses in under a year, developing a clear pricing philosophy, and introducing microlearning and microcredentials to meet learners where they are. Letty also discusses how APIC is using data and collaboration to focus on high-demand topics, building a content strategy that works and connecting education outcomes to measurable impact in healthcare settings.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode466.

Unsure about AI guardrails, AI data risks, or which artificial intelligence project to pick first? You’re not alone.Tori Miller Liu, president and CEO of the Association for Intelligent Information Management (AIIM), talks with Leading Learning Podcast co-host Celisa Steele about treating artificial intelligence initiatives as data initiatives, picking one to three practical use cases that augment people (without replacing them), writing a lightweight AI usage policy that’s easily understandable and updatable, and balancing mission and margin with a simple product profitability lens. They also touch on how AIIM’s portfolio supports information leaders who are turning messy, unstructured content into fuel for generative AI—and improved performance.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode465.

Artificial intelligence often magnifies what’s already happening in an organization. If your metadata is a mess, an AI recommendation engine might help you give prospective customers recommendations faster, but those recommendations aren’t likely to be effective.In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Celisa Steele and Jeff Cobb place AI in the Learning Business Maturity Model to help you pick the next move for where your learning business is. While AI can’t fix an immature learning business, used thoughtfully, AI can help a learning business on its path to greater maturity.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode464.

Do you want your learning business to be more than a provider of programs, to truly operate as a learning-centric organization? This episode of the Leading Learning Podcast offers a real-world example of how to do just that.Mike Moss, president of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), joins co-host Jeff Cobb to talk about how SCUP is reshaping itself around learning. They discuss revising bylaws and governance, deconstructing curriculum, experimenting with membership and communities of practice, and investing in staff and volunteer development. Mike also shares how SCUP balances revenue with risk-taking and why giving people permission to play and experiment is key to fostering curiosity and continuous improvement.Show notes and a downloadable transcript are available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode463.