In the course of writing a book*, I’ve spent more time reading than writing.

A few years ago I wrote a post which said:

Everyone has an opinion; some will be informed opinions.
Everyone can guess; some will be educated guesses.

Opinionated, Andrew Jacobs, March 2020

Through the research for the book and the MASSIVE amount of reading I’ve done, I’ve found a few pointers have really helped to have at the back of my mind:

• Just because it’s loud, doesn’t mean it’s right
• Just because it’s regularly repeated, doesn’t mean it’s right
• See who wrote it, where they’re from, and why they wrote it
• We rarely want to offend and generally avoid and ignore ideas we disagree with
• People with big budgets have more ways to market their message; it doesn’t mean it’s right
• Lots of people appear informed when they’re making guesses
• L&D generally doesn’t know how performance is impacted by its work

Don’t be afraid to recognise there is a divide about what people think they know and what is true.

*The book is called Proving Impact and will be out at the end of June. Its focus is on understanding why L&D measurement needs to improve, what you can do as a L&D professional, and ways to demonstrate the real impact you have on workplace performance.