Offbeat On Air

Offbeat On Air

By Lavinia Mehedintu & Milica SapicEducation
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Offbeat On Air episodes

  • Can storytelling be a learning tool? Cristian Lupșa’s explorations of journalism

    We have all encountered journalism in one way or another. It might have been print, it might have been digital, it might have been for the good, or with the purpose of persuasion. But oftentimes we don't hear the stories behind the written piece. Cristian Lupșa took us on a ride of a lifetime and opened up about his early beginnings with journalism, how his craft was polished in time, and the intersections he sees between learning & storytelling. We explored:

    • The difference between opinion pieces and telling stories about people;
    • Why empathy and trust-building are important in crafting the best stories;
    • How we can use storytelling to promote learning within organizations;
    • How can we intentionally design gatherings to reach our purpose－and how he did it with The Power of Storytelling.

      • It was an amazing, honest conversation. We wandered outside of L&D, into acting, to learn from a practice that might be almost mystical to us, but can provide so much inspiration. Hope you'll enjoy it!


      Our sponsor

      This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by ⁠Sana⁠. ⁠Sana⁠ is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

      Your hosts

      We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.

      Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

      Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

      Cristian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syruslowe/

      48 min
    • Drama-Based Learning －how Syrus Lowe feeds his facilitation practice from his acting career

      Facilitation is probably one of the most popular skills in L&D right now. We had the amazing opportunity to discuss with Syrus Lowe, CEO of The Communication Practice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Trainer, and Corporate Role Play Actor about his acting studies, his acting career, and all the things he's learned that feed his facilitation practice. We explored:

      • What it takes to become an actor － from tough studies to overcoming the impostor syndrome;
      • Career development outside of the corporate world － the importance of having a strong internal locus of control;
      • How being a leader and being a theatre director are similar － the importance of psychological safety in effective teams;
      • Why role plays can be powerful if done right.

        • It was an amazing, honest conversation. We wandered outside of L&D, into acting, to learn from a practice that might be almost mystical to us, but can provide so much inspiration. Hope you'll enjoy it!


        Our sponsor

        This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

        Your hosts

        We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


        Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

        Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

        Syrus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syruslowe/

        40 min
      • What we've learned from Season 2? A reflection.

        From chefs and neuroscientists, to community builders and art directors, season 2 was a rollercoaster. Before jumping straight into season 3, we wanted to take a couple of minutes to reflect on the lessons learned provided by our wonderful guests. If you're also curious about what's coming next in season 3, tune in, we promise to give some juicy spoilers!


        Our sponsor

        This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.


        Your hosts

        We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


        Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

        Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

        26 min
      • Stand-Up Comedy Secrets for L&D Professionals

        We're closing Season 2 in style. Or better said － in laughter. We had the awesome opportunity of talking to Tom Kozacinski, whose passion for comedy turned into an exciting career. But you might think, what the heck does stand-up have to do with Learning & Development? We thought the same at first, and then it all made sense. Tom explored with us:

        • Behind the scenes of writing a comedy act, performing it, and iterating based on audience feedback;
        • The importance of practice in polishing your craft;
        • Managing audiences of all kinds with both kindness and assertiveness;
        • Managing your own career development when you have multiple streams running at once.

          • Our sponsor

          This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

          Your hosts

          We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


          Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

          Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

          Tom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomislav-kozacinski/

          43 min
        • Neuroscience and Learning & Development

          Our work has SO MUCH to do with our beautiful, yet intricate brains. So it was such a pleasure to discuss with Elliott Jardin, Assistant Professor at Miami University - Brain Health/Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging about his journey and some of the lessons he learned about learning by studying and teaching cognitive neuroscience. We explored:

          • The role of memory & attention in learning;
          • How technology is impacting the learning process and our roles as L&Ds;
          • Ways to keep in touch with research and learn about our brains as L&D pros.

            • Our sponsor

            This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

            Your hosts

            We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


            Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

            Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

            Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-jardin-ph-d-66734277/

            34 min
          • Navigating Squiggly Careers & The Future of Learning

            Ever since we founded Offbeat, we were on the lookout for new, exciting technology that could add value to our work & organizations. That's how we discovered Sana, a close friend and sponsor of ours. But it's in our nature to dig deeper. We were curious and wanted to learn more about who's beyond the product － that's how we met Jon, President of Sana. We spent some time getting to know him and we're bringing to you:

            • The story of his squiggly career and the red thread he found between various roles he held over time;
            • His views about leadership & team development;
            • Why he thinks being strategic will be very important for L&Ds in the future of learning.

              • Our sponsor

              This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

              Your hosts

              We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


              Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

              Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

              Jon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlexa/

              42 min
            • A Chef's Recipe for Career Progression and Collaboration

              No matter how far away we go from L&D, we still find things to inspire us. In this episode, we talked to Ed Leach, Well-Being Specialist and Head Chef at La Cantina @Blinkist, someone whose career journey could be an inspiration to anyone. We explored:

              • Ed's squiggly career journey: from engineering to designing, plumbing, and finally cooking;
              • The way he has an impact on people's lives, our planet's health, and Blinkist's productivity thank to La Cantina's planet-based concept;
              • How he gathers feedback through all his senses to inform what's on the menu every day;
              • The similarities he sees between working with renowned Head Chefs and a corporate manager.

                • Our sponsor

                This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

                Your hosts

                We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


                Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

                Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

                Ed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-leach-0343461a/

                33 min
              • Lessons Learned about Community Building

                How much can we talk about community building? All day long! Well, this episode took a lot less to record, but we could have gone for hours on end exploring our guests' journey. We were joined by Alex Hilleary, Community Lead at ChartHop, and Former Co-Founder at Gather, to explore all things community building. And so we did! We've talked about:

                • the emergence of community-based marketing
                • his journey from intern to co-founder, and now community manager at Charthop
                • the importance of having the right people in your community and weaving that into every step of the members’ experience
                • using the community space to sense-check user needs and decide the future of the community
                • how over-designing can work against you

                  • Our sponsor

                  This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

                  Your hosts

                  We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.


                  Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

                  Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

                  Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-hilleary/

                  38 min
                • An Art Director’s take on Creativity & Learning

                  We're on air again, for the second season of our podcast! For our first episode of this new era, we're diving right into the creative space, together with Miia Goodwin, a multi-discipline hands-on designer and design lead. Together we explore:

                  • the parallels between being an art director and an L&D professional;
                  • how to add constraints to the brainstorming process to nudge even more creativity;
                  • why bringing in all your stakeholders right from the start will help you in the later stages of a project;
                  • why social learning is the go-to learning method for our guest.

                    • Our sponsor

                    This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

                    Your hosts

                    We’re Lavinia & Mili, and we hope this episode brings you at least one idea you can use in your own practice. If you want to share it with us, feel free to reach out on our LinkedIn profiles, which you can find below.
                    Lavinia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

                    Milica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milicasapic/

                    Miia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miiagod/

                    32 min
                  • What we've learned from Season 1 of Offbeat On Air?

                    Reflection is part of everything we do at Offbeat! So naturally, we took some time to what we've learned from Season 1 of Offbeat On Air before jumping into Season 2. Lavinia and Milica discuss where the idea of the podcast came from and some of the lessons they took from meeting Erica, Jamie, Nurit, Miruna, Anne, and Moein.

                    • After years of building her L&D network, Milica felt that's all she was seeing in her feed. L&D-related problems, solutions, people. While she knew the power of being surrounded by her tribe, she kept on wondering if there are others facing similar challenges, working with people, but using different frameworks, and just thinking differently. She brought this idea to Lavinia and that's how Offbeat On Air was born;
                    • In their first season, they explored addiction & recovery, leadership development in the Australian Army, behavior change & nudges, growth marketing, coaching in lacrosse, and architecture and they learned a lot;
                    • In this next season, they want to keep on exploring the world, talking to people from different professions and shining a light on the similarities between L&D's challenges and other completely unrelated professions.

                      • This new season of Offbeat On Air is sponsored by Sana. Sana is an AI-powered learning platform that empowers organizations to find, share, and harness the knowledge they need to achieve their missions. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, operators, and founders, Sana has raised $54M to date. The company's headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London and New York.

                      13 min

                    About Offbeat On Air

                    From the publisher's feed

                    We are on a mission to break our L&D bubble! We want to connect to people trying to achieve similar goals to ours, but in other circumstances, with different skills, and tools. We’ll learn how…