A new era: moving into learning as products and services

Well I finally did it. Yes, I left my job at PwC, one the top training organizations in the business, a massive organization (40K in the USA) and quite a large L&D function (350 with 40 IDs) with a budget larger than most mid-size organizations. And for what? For Duarte.

Duarte’s tagline:

We help top organizations move people with their ideas through empathy and compelling stories — from keynotes on the big stage to everyday presentations and communications. We also teach our methodology through our best-selling books, workshops, and e-courses.

See that last line “we also teach our methodology through…e-courses”? Yup, well that will soon be my role. For quite some time (2 years more or less) I’ve been trying to move PwC to learning products. It was hard, hard, hard. PwC is a compliance-heavy organization, that does not move quickly, is risk-averse, is only just starting to re-tool its L&D function. And still, for me that’s not enough because I’ve already moved onto thinking about learning as products and as a service. We used to call it “an experience” (who remembers The Experience Economy: Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage?)

Did you also see that part “we help…move people through empathy and compelling stories…”? That is what I’ve been looking for. A place that focuses on changing people through story. Isn’t that at it’s core what learning is/should be about?

I also want to get back to innovating in a smaller space again. I want to be in Silicon Valley. So here we go. Let’s see what the future holds.

April 3, 2017 – Day 1 at Duarte.

Wish me well.