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"Having the CPTD credential got me in the door for important volunteer work and learning."

Published Fri Jun 30 2023

CI-CertificantProfile-BruceMabee
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Who are the more than 4,500 talent development professionals who have earned the APTD or CPTD credential? Get to know the talented and diverse community:_

Bruce Mabee is a Managing Partner in the US. He earned the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD®) credential in 2006.

Why did you pursue the CPTD? Having a globally credible institution like ATD test me truly spurs me to learn! There were four angles to this when I applied for the first CPLP (now the CPTD):• I wanted to compare my knowledge and experience to the ATD requirements.• I wanted the reinforcement by challenging myself to remember the material.• I wanted to learn additional knowledge that ATD considers important.• Studying with others was a great way to make new friends and allies!

How have you benefited from the credential—professionally and/or personally? Evaluating applicants for ATD’s BEST and Excellence in Practice Awards has been my best-ever, ongoing exposure to globally excellent practitioners and what their organizations present as their achievements. It gives me current, real-world learning. I get to view things as an evaluator that I never see as a student.

It was also rewarding to help update the criteria for the Excellence in Practice Awards. It challenged me to be clear and to articulate what makes good performance.

Having the CPTD credential got me in the door for important volunteer work and learning.

What advice would you share with others considering certification? Study with others. Learn not only the official definitions from ATD and its sources, but also learn about and debate different ways that other professionals see things.

Volunteer for ATD projects. It keeps us connected, and it is core learning that builds important relationships beyond the data and criteria.

How do you think certification helps the talent development field? It challenges practitioners to compare what they value with what ATD values. This also allows us to compare our other learning sources—such as degree programs, professional associations, and literature.

It gives us individual routes to influence the values of our field. If I don’t agree with a criterion or believe there is a better way to measure it, I can attempt to influence others who will have an impact on ATD and on their own organizations.

How did your employer support your pursuit of the credential? My fellow partners value me for taking this on, and they sometimes challenge me usefully about what I’m doing with ATD or how I’m approaching something.

There has been no financial support for ATD from my business. I pay by myself.

What does having your credential mean to you? A bit of pride, plus some benchmarking of what matters to others in our field.

How did you get into the talent development field? School. I often forget the great learning experiences in grade school, high school, and college. While I judge much of it as not-so-good, the best was great!

My action learning undergraduate degree program was influential. It was in no way related to talent development or learning and development; it was a form of industrial design. But the way they taught us was real-world applicable. For instance, we got scenarios: Here’s a local problem. In six weeks, we’ll compare and evaluate what each student designer built to see what actual impact it had on the problem.

My master’s in organization development was also helpful. Again, we got real-time action learning. Our lab classes used real dynamics to learn how people work together and how we can influence actual group pressures.

My job while in OD graduate school allowed me to experiment in our community while comparing that to what I was learning in degree classes. My next job was as an internal OD consultant in a big bank that offered the same kind of real-world learning.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received? If you get what seems like great advice, test it to see how it serves—and undercuts—your actual situations.

What is a great book you’ve read recently? My wife read the biography of Mister Rogers for her book club, and she and I discussed how this odd guy made an important impact.

What is your favorite hobby or pastime? This is a tough choice—either helping my wife plant valuable native plants in our yard to save the bees and the birds or sharing stories that challenge me to focus what I’ve learned for an institution (ATD) that has big influence in the world.

What is the most unusual job you've had? I did cemetery maintenance when I was in high school. I had to dig a grave once for a funeral when the professional grave digger was sick.

Have you earned the APTD or CPTD? Share your story with the community.

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