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The Learning & Development Podcast: The #1 L&D Show cover art

The Learning & Development Podcast: The #1 L&D Show

The Learning & Development Podcast: The #1 L&D Show

Written by: David James
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 The Learning & Development Podcast is a fortnightly topical podcast show for L&D professionals hosted by David James and presented by 360Learning. In each episode David discusses and debates topics affecting the profession alongside expert guests. David James is the Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning and a highly respected voice in the Learning & Development industry. With a focus on harnessing technology to drive impactful learning strategies, David is recognised as one of the top global influencers in the L&D space. The Learning & Development Podcast has amassed over 1M downloads and ranks in the top 1% of podcasts globally. With nearly 40,000 LinkedIn followers, David continues to shape the conversation around L&D innovation and best practices, drawing on his deep experience, including his time as Director of Learning, Talent & Organisational Development at The Walt Disney Company. In 2026, David was honoured with the Colin Steed Award for Outstanding Contribution to Learning at The Learning Awards, presented by The LPI (Learning & Performance Institute), recognising his ongoing impact and leadership in advancing the L&D profession. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.360learning.com/2025 David James Careers Economics Personal Success Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Why 85% of L&D Teams Are Stuck - and How to Move Forward with Danny Seals interviewing David James

    Why 85% of L&D Teams Are Stuck - and How to Move Forward with Danny Seals interviewing David James
    Nov 10 2026
    In this special episode, David is interviewed by guest host Danny Seals returns to explore The State of L&D Maturity Report, drawn from more than 1,000 assessments of L&D teams worldwide. The headline finding is the proactive plateau, where 85% of teams sit at Level 2 or 3 with polished programmes, core use cases covered and success measured by attendance and satisfaction rather than business outcomes. David explains why that position feels so comfortable, what it costs L&D leaders personally and professionally, and why "what's your score?" is the wrong question when the real story lies in the gaps between dimensions. From there, he sets out the two walls that hold teams back, strategy and alignment, and quantifying impact, and why measurement turns out to be the biggest multiplier in the data. It's a candid look at what separates higher-maturity teams from the rest, why even the best still struggle with training processes, and the first move David would make to get off the plateau. Download the L&D Maturity Model Report here: https://360learning.com/maturity-model/ Click here to sign up for Danny's newsletter - ⁠https://www.knotanothernewsletter.com⁠ Take your L&D to the next levelTake advantage of thousands of hours of analysis. Hundreds of conversations with industry innovators and 25+ years of hands-on global L&D leadership. It's all distilled into one framework to help you level up L&D. Access the L&D Maturity Model here - ⁠https://360learning.com/maturity-model ⁠KEY TAKEAWAYS The L&D Maturity Model consists of five distinct levels ranging from reactive to transformative. Currently, 85% of L&D teams are stuck on a proactive plateau at levels two and three, maintaining a shopfront without driving performance. Progressing past level three requires overcoming two walls: gaining proximity to business stakeholders, and building a track record of impact. L&D professionals must stop acting as order-takers and earn the right to be strategic partners by actively solving real business problems. ⁠ BEST MOMENTS "Trying to escape from any of those levels can feel as if you're running into a wall, and hopefully this report helps to reveal what that friction you're experiencing actually is." "If your achievements are launch, deployment, implementation, rather than impacting the bottom line, then that's a tough career story to tell." "You will never get permission to be the strategy partner from order taker. You have to earn that and you have to earn that hard." Danny Seals Bio Danny Seals is the founder of Knot, helping People & Culture leaders challenge conventional HR thinking, redesign People Strategies and reinvent the employee experience. He’s also the author of The Insightful Innovator and writes Knot Another Newsletter. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyseals/ Click here to sign up for Danny's newsletter - https://www.knotanothernewsletter.com VALUABLE RESOURCES The Learning And Development Podcast - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ⁠ L&D Master Class Series: ⁠https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home Twitter: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/davidinlearning⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin⁠⁠ L&D Collective: ⁠⁠https://360learning.com/the-l-and-d-collective⁠⁠ Blog: ⁠⁠https://360learning.com/blog ⁠ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D. CONTACT METHODThis Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. ⁠https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/⁠
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • AI In L&D 2026: Around the Core With Egle Vinauskaite

    AI In L&D 2026: Around the Core With Egle Vinauskaite
    Oct 27 2026
    Eglė Vinauskaitė returns to the pod to unpack the 4th annual report, AI in L&D 2026: Around the Core and challenge the narrative of what AI transformation in learning actually looks like. While over two-thirds of L&D departments now use AI daily, the data reveals a surprising truth: the core of L&D hasn't moved, it's what's happening around it that changes everything. This episode dives into the friction behind the hype, from the reality of AI agents to the unspoken anxiety, cognitive fatigue and tech barriers practitioners are quietly navigating. More importantly, Eglė spotlights a quiet 14% "break-out" group that is fundamentally changing how the business views L&D, offering a blueprint for how any team can advance their L&D proposition today without waiting for permission or massive budgets. Take your L&D to the next level Take advantage of thousands of hours of analysis. Hundreds of conversations with industry innovators and 25+ years of hands-on global L&D leadership. It's all distilled into one framework to help you level up L&D. Access the L&D Maturity Model here - https://360learning.com/maturity-model KEY TAKEAWAYS AI is becoming business as usual in L&D, 70% have used it compared to 54% last year. But its core uses remain familiar: content development and learning design. The opportunity is moving beyond speed. We now use AI to understand needs before designing, review quality, and to analyse what happened afterwards. Skills intelligence has potential, but progress is slow it takes more than a framework. To strengthen L&D’s value, focus on the performance problem you’re solving, not simply on the next AI use case. BEST MOMENTS “The change is slow, frankly, despite all the talk about disruption.” “Last year was about spread - this year is about depth.” “It's not in the next AI use case. It's in what you're fundamentally trying to achieve with AI.” Egle Vinauskaite Bio Named one of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers in 2025, Egle Vinauskaite is the award-winning director of Nodes, an advisory helping organisations build the capability infrastructure for AI-powered work. With a background spanning business, behavioural science, and adult development, she brings both analytical rigour and practitioner depth to the organisational and human dimensions of how AI reshapes work. Over the past eight years she has been trusted by leading companies across industries – from technology and professional services to finance and pharma – to navigate capability building, AI strategy in L&D, and the complexity of AI transformation. Alongside her advisory work, Egle co-authors the annual global AI in L&D Report series – a leading independent industry publication, now in its fourth year, analysing how organisations are applying AI in practice and what it means for the future of the profession. Her work has earned industry recognition, including the Rising Star Award from the Learning and Performance Institute. Egle holds an M.Ed. from Harvard University and is known for translating complex shifts in AI into clear, practical insight for leaders. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinauskaite/ http://nodes.works/ AI In L&D 2026 report: https://www.nodes.works/reports/2026 VALUABLE RESOURCES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 L&D Master Class Series: https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home ABOUT THE HOST David James has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D. CONTACT METHOD https://twitter.com/davidinlearning https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin https://360learning.com/the-l-and-d-collective https://360learning.com/blog This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    40 mins
  • What Is L&D For? Identity, Impact and Agency with Andrew Jacobs

    What Is L&D For? Identity, Impact and Agency with Andrew Jacobs
    Oct 12 2026
    Andrew Jacobs joins the pod to explore what L&D is really for and why the profession's identity has to shift from producing courses to engineering performance. Drawing on a career that spans retail banking, the fire service, retail and local and central government, Andrew explains why capability depends as much on the organisation's capacity to apply learning as on the ability L&D builds and why AI has made that conversation urgent. From there, he unpacks his shopkeeper to engineer idea and his view that L&D is like Mexican food, the same ingredients folded differently, before making the case for why people now build their own burrito and L&D's role is to help them do it better. He then turns to impact, setting out the difference between counting, measuring and evaluating, why a performance baseline matters, and how asking "help me understand" can change the conversation with the business, with a memorable example involving sickness absence and extendable lanyards. Along the way, he discusses podcasting as a way of connecting people and surfacing the insight inside an organisation, the 50 Big Ideas to Change L&D, and the health of the profession today. He closes with why he won't give advice without understanding someone's context, and, in a bonus segment, why L&D should respond to uncertainty by agreeing principles rather than writing a strategy. It's a thoughtful conversation for anyone in L&D who wants to move from taking orders to solving problems. Take your L&D to the next level Take advantage of thousands of hours of analysis. Hundreds of conversations with industry innovators and 25+ years of hands-on global L&D leadership. It's all distilled into one framework to help you level up L&D. Access the L&D Maturity Model here - ⁠https://360learning.com/maturity-model⁠ KEY TAKEAWAYS From Shopkeeper to Engineer: L&D often acts as a shopkeeper, taking orders for courses and delivering them without questioning the root cause. To drive real change, L&D professionals must become performance engineers who step back, understand the business problem, and build systemic solutions. L&D is like Mexican Food: Much of what the learning profession produces uses the exact same ingredients, just folded and packaged differently—like a burrito versus a fajita. Rebranding basic management training as leadership development without changing the core approach fails to solve actual business needs. The Capacity Gap: L&D is highly skilled at addressing ability through courses and workshops, but it consistently fails to address organizational capacity. True capability requires building the relationships, structures, systems, and technologies that allow employees to apply what they learn. Measure Outcomes, Not Inputs: The profession needs to stop measuring input data like attendance, course completions, and test scores. True evaluation requires establishing a baseline of current performance, defining the target outcome with stakeholders, and measuring the actual shift in business results. BEST MOMENTS "We can do ability until we're blue in the face. Courses, classes, workshops, brilliant, design and materials and content. What we fail to work within is the capacity part of capability within the organization." "L&D's like Mexican food. We do this all the time... it's the same ingredients but folded differently and cooked in the oven." "We are arguing about the seat at the table so much that we're forgetting that maybe the table won't exist anymore." "The first step you take as a crew manager is backwards. And that's what L&D needs to do. When someone says, we've got a fire, I need some help, can you do a course for me? What we should do is go, step back, absolutely, what's the problem? And start talking in terms of performance within the business." Andrew Jacobs Bio Andrew Jacobs is the Learning Principal for Llarn Learning, known for innovative thinking about learning, training and technology. He has significant experience across a range of roles in learning, training, talent and people development, gained across public and private sector industries, most recently in central government with HMRC and DHSC. Andrew has a specific understanding of developing online and digital solutions for learning, social profile and engagement. He is a Fellow of the Learning Performance Institute (LPI) and a CIPD Leader in Learning. He received the Internet Time Alliance award for his work on informal learning in July 2020 and was highly commended at the CIPD People Management Awards in 2021. He blogs daily at www.lostanddesperate.com and produces the podcast Women Talking About Learning. You can contact or follow Andrew via the following:Blog: https://www.lostanddesperate.comPodcast: https://womentalkaboutlearning.podbean.com/ Website: https://llarn.com/ Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Proving-Impact-Measure-effectiveness-results-ebook/dp/B0D8LJ3VXV/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=AEojL&content-id=amzn1.sym.5e81eabe-938d-4936-a067-ca199f0f9913&...
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    46 mins
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