Direction to design

The Training Journal L&D Influence Report 2026 has been published, and it is directionally spot on. The key elements it finds are that L&D needs to be None of that is controversial anymore; it is where the field is already heading. The problem, however, is not direction, but translation. Many organisations are not struggling because… Read More Direction to design

Faking the human

I was reading an article last week about how the analogue revival in design isn’t really analogue. It’s a digitally fabricated imperfection with texture packs simulating hand-lettering and the aesthetic of human effort, without the effort. The sharpest line in the article: once handmade becomes valuable, it becomes something to mimic. The signal gets mistaken… Read More Faking the human

Race to the bottom

We have industrialised learning. It has become about growth and scale of delivery. The channel has, in many worlds, taken priority over the outcome  Scale the delivery and lower the cost. Is the race to the lowest cost the best value? Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Three conversations

As I crawled towards the end of 2025, the hope of 2026 kept me going. I opened my laptop last week, and January abruptly arrived with the usual noise: new plans, new expectations, and a rush to make the year look bigger than the last. Rather than joining that noise, I think L&D teams would… Read More Three conversations

Beyond Integration

Nick Davies at Thinqi has written a thoughtful piece on why L&D feels broken heading into 2026. His central argument: HR and L&D operate as separate functions when they should be one unified capability aligned to organisational outcomes. He’s right that this fragmentation isn’t new. What’s changed is that AI has made the conversation urgent… Read More Beyond Integration