Taste is what other people notice when your work has a spine.

In L&D, we mistake activity for perspective. We curate playlists, facilitate workshops, and design experiences and then wonder why our work feels forgettable.

Here’s what’s missing: conviction about how people actually get better at work.

A point of view isn’t “people learn differently” or “we need to be strategic” – that’s ambient noise. A point of view is: “Performance improves when people voice their thinking about real work problems, not when they consume content quietly.”

That’s a spine. Everything you design should express it. Your workshops aren’t just collaborative; they’re structured around voiced struggle. Your resources aren’t just accessible; they’re diagnostic tools that surface thinking, not answer repositories.

When that consistency works, people notice. They might call it judgement. They might say you “get it”. You don’t get to award yourself that recognition.

The gap many L&D professionals won’t cross: developing a point of view requires volume of failed work, failed designs, and challenged assumptions. I’ve had LOADS.

Reading beyond your discipline, you should test your beliefs against evidence and not just conference keynotes.

We’re swimming in styling without substance. Frameworks borrowed from vendors. “Best practice” copied from people who’ve never done your work. Moodboards masquerading as strategy.

What do you actually believe about how people get better at work? Not what sounds good on a competency framework. What makes your skin crawl? What would you refuse to design, even if stakeholders asked?

Have that conviction and express it relentlessly.

Adapted from a recent piece by Paul Jun. The principle holds across domains: point of view first, reputation later.