Leading Learning Podcast

With over 20 years of experience in higher education, particularly in continuing and professional studies, Casandra Blassingame has dedicated her career to meeting the needs of adult learners.

And as the current CEO of the International Accreditors for Continuing Education & Training (IACET), she is also a doctoral candidate in the adult education program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

In this third episode of our seven-part series about the surge of the third sector of education, Jeff talks with Casandra about her role at IACET, how they’ve successfully adapted in times of change, and why accreditation is becoming increasingly more valuable. They also discuss reasons for the growth of the third sector and the related opportunities for those serving in it.

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode260.

We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Blue Sky eLearn:

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For nearly 20 years, Blue Sky eLearn has been transforming the way organizations deliver virtual events and educational content. Blue Sky’s customized cutting-edge solutions connect hundreds of organizations to millions of learners worldwide.

These include their award-winning learning management system Path LMS, webinar and live streaming services for short events to multi-day virtual conferences and learning strategy and development solutions. These robust, easy to manage solutions allow organizations to easily organize, track, and monetize educational content.

These include their award-winning learning management system Path LMS, webinar and live streaming services for short events to multi-day virtual conferences, and learning strategy and development solutions. These robust, easy to manage solutions allow organizations to easily organize, track, and monetize educational content.

As a leading expert and true innovator related to the future of learning and work, Dr. Michelle Weise has had the unique opportunity to engage with a multitude of stakeholder viewpoints surrounding the third sector of education.

She is currently the entrepreneur-in-residence and a senior advisor at Imaginable Futures and author of several books, including her most recent, Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs That Don’t Even Exist Yet.

In this second episode in our series on the surge of the third sector, Celisa talks with return-guest Michelle about the tremendous challenges and opportunities that exist surrounding the third sector of education. They also discuss the importance of breaking down silos, the need for a robust data infrastructure, and why the third sector needs to pay more attention to the non-consumers of higher education. 

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode259.

We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Blue Sky eLearn:

**

For nearly 20 years, Blue Sky eLearn has been transforming the way organizations deliver virtual events and educational content. Blue Sky’s customized cutting-edge solutions connect hundreds of organizations to millions of learners worldwide.

These include their award-winning learning management system Path LMS, webinar and live streaming services for short events to multi-day virtual conferences and learning strategy and development solutions. These robust, easy to manage solutions allow organizations to easily organize, track, and monetize educational content.

These include their award-winning learning management system Path LMS, webinar and live streaming services for short events to multi-day virtual conferences, and learning strategy and development solutions. These robust, easy to manage solutions allow organizations to easily organize, track, and monetize educational content.

It’s a new year and we’re kicking it off with another seven-episode series of the podcast. Our previous series focused on the learning business in disruptive times, but this time we’ll be exploring the surge of the third sector of education—particularly the related implications this has on learning businesses.

In this episode, we delve into some background behind the third sector of education including what it is, factors that have led to its tremendous growth, and why it is so important. We also preview the four interviewees we’ll be talking with later in the series and the unique perspective they each bring to the topic.

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode258.

We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Blue Sky eLearn:

**

Blue Sky eLearn is a company committed to learning businesses and has a long history working to help providers in the third sector.

For nearly 20 years, Blue Sky eLearn has been transforming the way organizations deliver virtual events and educational content. Blue Sky’s customized cutting edge solutions connect hundreds of organizations to millions of learners worldwide.

These include their award-winning learning management system Path LMS, webinar and live streaming services for short events to multi-day virtual conferences, and learning strategy and development solutions. These robust, easy to manage solutions allow organizations to easily organize, track, and monetize educational content.

As we wrap up our series on the learning business in disruptive times, it’s important to reflect on what we’ve learned and consider where we go next in these complex times of uncertainty

You may remember back in episode 254, that we broke down and reflected on our first two interviews—one with Seth Kahan, founder of Visionary Leadership, and the other with Shilpa Alimchandani, a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist.

Since then, we've had the chance to also speak with Tracey Steiner, senior vice president for education and training at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Shawn Boynes, executive director of the American Association for Anatomy.

In this final installment of our seven-part series, we delve into the highlights and key takeaways of those recent conversations. We also offer some final points of reflection to consider related to the possibilities and complexities of the learning business in disruptive times and the places where you might need to “begin again”.

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode257.

With 25 years of experience in the association sector, Shawn Boynes, executive director of American Association for Anatomy (AAA), spent the greater part of his career passionately serving in the education and professional development space. In this time, he developed a true appreciation for learning and the value that associations bring to the world, which has undoubtedly shaped who he is today as a leader.

Focused on influencing positive change, he is also a co-host of the recently launched Texts to Table podcast, which focuses on conversations around race and leadership.

In this sixth episode in our series on the learning business in disruptive times, Celisa talks with Shawn about the challenges and opportunities related to leading through the coronavirus pandemic and the renewed spotlight on systemic racism. He also shares his perspective as a Black leader, how recent events led to the creation of his new podcast, and why now is the best time for organizations to take risks.

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode256.

As the senior vice president for education and training at NRECA, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Tracey Steiner oversees the development of the association’s annual and regional meetings, national conferences, board of directors training, executive and staff-level education, and credentialing programs.

She is also the creator of "Tracey’s Takeaways", a regular feature on NRECA’s website that focuses on employee development, management issues, leadership and organizational culture.

In this fifth episode of our series on the learning business in disruptive times, Jeff talks with Tracey about how NRECA is being impacted by the current pandemic including the related challenges and opportunities. They also discuss the thoughtful approach NRECA has taken to address issues around racial equity, the importance of cultivating a safe environment for difficult conversations, and what Tracey thinks learning businesses need to consider in order to successfully navigate times of disruption.

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode255.

We’ve reached the midpoint in our series on the learning business in disruptive times so we want to take some time to reflect on what we’ve learned so far.

After laying the groundwork in the first episode, we then featured interviews with Seth Kahan, founder of Visionary Leadership, and Shilpa Alimchandani, a seasoned diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist.

In this fourth episode of the seven-part series, we revisit reflection questions from our first episode and provide an update on the rapidly evolving issues related to the pandemic, racial justice, the economy, and the elections. We also look at the related practical implications and what all of this means for how a learning business might survive – and potentially even thrive – in these disruptive times.

Full show notes and transcript available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode254.

With over two decades of experience in DEI leadership development and intercultural learning, Shilpa Alimchandani, author of Communicating Development Across Cultures: Monologues and Dialogues in Development Project Implementation, is a leadership coach, instructional designer, and facilitator.

In her independent consulting practice, she is passionate about helping her clients tackle issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion to achieve transformational change.

In this third episode of our seven-part series on the learning business in disruptive times, Celisa talks with return-guest, Shilpa about DEI, including what it is, ways it’s being impacted by disruption, and how it relates to implicit bias. They also discuss the importance of unlearning and what learning businesses need to know about supporting DEI and succeeding in these disruptive times.

Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode253.

Seth Kahan is founder of the consulting firm, Visionary Leadership and author of  the business bestsellers, Getting Change Right, Getting Innovation Right, and, most recently, Visionary Leadership: How Association Leaders Embrace Disruption in the 21st Century .

He's worked with leaders of large multinational organizations and over a hundred association CEOs. Some of his most exciting work with those CEOs involves Grand Challenges—big, bold goals that organizations take on, partnering with others to make a difference with problems that society has thus far not been able to resolve.

And learning how to navigate the major disruptors we’ve seen unfold in 2020 related to the pandemic, politics, social issues, and our economic situation, have certainly created a new set of related challenges for organizations, particularly for those of us in the learning business.

In this second episode in our seven-episode series on the learning business in disruptive times, Jeff talks to Seth about how organizations have responded and evolved due to recent circumstances surrounding not only the coronavirus pandemic, but to other major disruptors such as climate change and racial injustice. They also discuss Seth’s 100 CEOs and 100 Days initiative, the various resources he’s created to help organizations in this time of crisis, and the lasting – and in some cases, positive – impact that all of this will potentially have on society.

Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode252.

It’s been a couple months since we released episode 250 of the Leading Learning Podcast and we're excited to be back with a new, revamped series approach to the podcast (rather than single, independent episodes as we’ve done in the past).

With our new approach, over the course of several episodes—seven in this case—we’ll explore a topic from a variety of viewpoints, drawing on multiple interviews as well as offering our own thoughts and providing context for the conversations with others.

And the first topic we’re going to explore is that of the learning business in disruptive times. In other words, what’s going on in the world right now in 2020.

We are all experiencing unprecedented levels of uncertainty and change and, of course, a major reason for that is the coronavirus pandemic. But there are also major social, political, and economic issues deeply impacting how we live and work.

In this first episode of the very first series of the Leading Learning Podcast, we explore these key areas of disruption and their implications on learning businesses. We also preview the interviewees we will feature in the series and the varied perspectives they will bring to the topic of leading learning in times of disruption.

Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode251.