We love shiny but shiny doesn’t change performance.

I have had cause to use this image again in the last week or so. It often raises a smile, and questions about male gaze, but it’s trying to make a serious point.

Too often in L&D we get distracted by the shiny. A new platform, a clever AI tool, a glossy bit of kit. It feels exciting, modern, and it keeps us busy.

Meanwhile, evidence-based practice – the research, the data, the hard lessons on what actually works – gets pushed aside.

That’s the danger. Shiny might get attention, but it rarely delivers impact on its own.

Evidence does.

If we want L&D to be trusted, we need to flip the focus. Prove what works, then use technology as a tool to make it scale, sustain, and stick.

Otherwise we’re just chasing the next distraction.

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#LearningAndDevelopment #WorkplaceLearning #Proving Impact