Insights on Corporate Talent, Learning, and HR Technology
Today Skillsoft announced that the company is being acquired by a private equity firm for approximately $1.1 billion. This acquisition price reflects a 14% premium over the public share price and a price to sales ratio of 3.3, which is quite high for a company of this size.
Why did this private equity firm decide ... Read more»
The corporate training industry is undergoing some major changes. Over last few months we have been involved in many discussions with organizations about the tremendous needs to build, manage, and formalize their social and collaborative learning programs. This is being driven by many factors: the slowing economy, the “always-connected” nature of the workforce, and the ... Read more»
Over the last year or so we have talked with hundreds of companies about their desire to transform their corporate training programs to take advantage of social networking, knowledge management, communities of practice, and better models of blended learning. As we studied dozens of high performing training programs through our Learning Leaders® program, we ... Read more»
In today’s new green (and red ink) economy, businesses all over the world are working hard to reduce operational expenses, restructure their workforce, and transform themselves into sustainable business models. I think one of the most exciting examples of a company going through this transition is Vestas Wind Systems, the global leader in wind ... Read more»
Times are tough. Today we learned of another 590,000 jobs lost and that US unemployment rose to 7.6%. We seem to be getting several emails each week from high powered HR or L&D professionals who have lost their positions at their favorite employers.
I also speak regularly with top HR and L&D managers about their ... Read more»
We have been doing a lot of research and work with the Federal Government in the area of talent management. Let me share a few interesting findings.
The United States Federal government has more than 2,7 million employees, ranging in roles from secret service agents to financial analysts to IT specialists to scientists. These people ... Read more»
One of the important lessons we have learned from our High Impact Learning Organization® research is the simple but profound fact that learning is part of a corporate business strategy. While many HR and business leaders still believe that “training” is department which improves workforce productivity and should be treated as an expense item, ... Read more»
Whew. Earlier this year we embarked on a major research effort to understand the growing role of social networking in enterprise learning and talent management. The results are amazing. Let me give you a brief preview of some of our initial findings:
This month we are launching The High Impact Learning Organization®, a research study which has been more than three years in development. During this time we have interviewed hundreds of corporate HR and training leaders and reviewed in-depth trends of more than 780 global organizations.
Audio Overview of this research: click here.
As ... Read more»
As we continue to study best practices in the implementation of corporate learning and talent management, we find that high performing organizations fall into two categories: those who endure and prosper over long periods of time (decades), and those who rapidly rise to prominence, then falter during a major business challenge, and often become acquired ... Read more»
On February 26, 2008 Starbucks embarked on an interesting experiment in enterprise learning: the company shut down all its US stores for several hours to train 135,000 employees in a single shot. The goal of this program was to “reenergize our focus on the things that have made us the leading roaster and retailer of ... Read more»
We recently completed a major research program which studies the elements of corporate learning which deliver the highest levels of business impact. Our findings were fascinating, providing valuable guidance for anyone in the corporate learning industry.
First, there are two types of solutions provided by corporate learning organizations. The first type, which we call “... Read more»
I recently had a conversation with Tamara Elkeles, the Chief Learning Officer for Qualcomm. Qualcomm is a highly successful technology company which focuses on many technologies embedded in the cellular telephone industry. The company is in the Intellectual Property business, primarily licensing technology to cellular providers, telecommunications companies, and manufacturers.
Tamara has a very successful ... Read more»
Much has been written in the last few years about “informal learning” and the need for a culture of learning in organizations. We know from our research that today’s tight labor market and the changing demographics of the workforce are creating an even greater and greater need for a new model. Let me discuss our ... Read more»
The Origins of Rapid E-Learning
Some years ago (2003) we were doing some consulting with a major tools provider and first coined the term “rapid e-learning.” Yes, it was us. In fact, I first realized the market for this back in 2000 while I was working at DigitalThink, and we developed a product we called ... Read more»
