Instructional designer John Parsell and L&D leader Rory Sacks, who have a combined 30 years of experience in the L&D industry, host this podcast. Their goal is to help listeners improve their L&D organizations' performance in a rapidly changing world.
In the podcast's first season, Parsell and Sacks interviewed guests who aren't in L&D—such as individuals in marketing, engineering, and product management—to gain insights about their experiences with L&D and how to better partner with teams beyond the learning function. Guests included Troy Chen, senior director of account management at Bloomreach, in the episode "Partnering with Account Managers"; leadership coach Angie Flynn-McIver in "How To Have Better Conversations with Stakeholders"; and Tara Cohn, director at Wipfli, in "Going From Order Taker To Business Partner."
In the podcast's second—and current—season, the hosts chat with L&D leaders ranging from senior L&D professionals to chief learning officers to learn more about L&D from a leadership perspective. "The goal is to learn about what it takes to build and grow a successful L&D department," they explain in the podcast's description.
The season's opening episode, for example, features David Macon, an executive director of L&D. He discusses insights on how to run an L&D organization as a business, build relationships, and create an L&D brand.
Episodes run between 22 and 52 minutes long and are available at IsTrainingTheAnswer.com.
