Here are a few of the questions I’m pondering right now. Some of them are more a priority than others, but they’re all important in one way or another. No answers, just the random thoughts I’m weaving together.

• If everything is VUCA, then nothing is. How do we help people understand ambiguity and volatility is here to stay?

• If 97% of people in the UK own a smartphone, why are we preparing resources, access points, and content which has to be done on ‘dumb’ platforms?

• AI is going to change the world in the way the SIM card did. Why haven’t we learnt from the mistakes of limiting access, uneven distribution, and the environmental impact?

• I spent 15 minutes watching my 9 month old grandson learning how to stack rings. If learning by doing is so powerful, why are we trying to minimise it?

• I often hear we want people to “take ownership” of development and performance. How do people own their development if they are limited in what we let them learn at work and force them onto misaligned platforms and HR systems?

• People want to streamline learning, performance, and systemic people functions but these are exponential problems, not linear ones. Why are organisational and governmental skills strategies chasing yesterday’s curricula, delivered by yesterday’s infrastructure?