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Chad Eaves is founder of Communication Outcome, an organization dedicated to improving communication skills through its newsletter, coaching, speaking, and training programs. He brings perspective, experience, and education spanning three decades working with federal and state agencies (including military service), Fortune 500 companies, and small businesses. Eaves earned a master of science in communication from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and an engineering degree from the University of Florida. He is author of the books Achievement Alphabet and Interview Practice, Networking, & Ice Breaker Questions. See linkedin.com/in/chadeaves for more information and to connect.

Chad Eaves

January 2022 - TD Magazine

Professional development opportunities abound when you join an ILN.

The Perks of Informal Learning Networks

Introduction: The Overlap We Don’t Acknowledge“What do you want to be when you grow up?”For me, this question was a constant from my parents, particularly my mother, a special education teacher. The answer mattered less than how it sounded. “Doctor” or “lawyer” were the expected replies, not because my parents demanded those careers, but because they signaled preparedness, ambition, and promise.Like many families, ours assumed that the pathway to any respectable future was clear: college. Not going was unthinkable. College meant opportunity, and more importantly, employability. Whether universities wanted to admit it or not, they had become the gateway to work.This realization has shaped both my academic journey and my career. Today, as a Doctor of Education and certified professional in talent development, I see no contradiction between these identities. Somewhere along the way, higher education became the world’s largest talent development system. The only question is whether it is willing to embrace that role.From Higher Ed to Talent Development and Back AgainI began at Loyola University New Orleans, studying political science with aspirations of becoming a lawyer. A business minor kept other options open. Yet, it was not until a work-study position tutoring adult learners that my passion clicked: helping others succeed through education. That led me to the University of New Orleans, where I pursued a Master of Education in educational administration with a focus on adult and higher education.At first, my goal was to become a university president. But through early career experiences, I realized that what energized me most was not degrees themselves, but the outcomes—what those credentials enabled people to do and achieve in life. I wanted to help people succeed at work so they could build better lives, and I became determined to close the gap between learning and work. That realization led me to the Association for Talent Development (ATD), where I found a professional community focused squarely on developing adults at work.My first role in the field came at Strayer University, an institution focused on working adults. There, I designed and delivered employee development programs in leadership, supervision, and compliance. I had the rare privilege of starting my talent development career in a setting where expectations were clear, processes were respected, and results mattered.That experience revealed a larger truth—that higher education was already functioning as a massive talent development engine. What I saw at Strayer, preparing adults for immediate workplace success, is echoed in colleges and universities across the globe, even if institutions prefer to describe their mission in broader terms.Higher Education as Talent Development, Whether It Admits It or NotDespite lingering resistance, the parallels between higher education and talent development are undeniable. Both aim to prepare individuals for success in professional and civic life. Both are accountable for demonstrating their value in measurable terms. And both must evolve to meet the demands of rapidly changing workplaces.Yet, while many institutions fully embrace their role in preparing people for work, community and technical colleges and adult-centered universities most prominently, some academic leaders and professors resist the “talent development” label, holding tightly to the liberal arts tradition or insisting that universities “educate, not train.” Meanwhile, employers highlight a persistent “skills gap,” while graduates insist they are prepared. The truth, as often, lies somewhere in the disconnect of mismatched expectations, unclear measures, and a lack of shared ownership.The workforce reality is stark. According to ATD’s 2025 State of the Industry report, organizations average just one talent development staff member for every 212 employees. In other words, most TD functions are overstretched, under-resourced, and vulnerable to cuts in times of financial insecurity. Given those constraints, higher education is not just a feeder system—it is a lifeline. It develops foundational skills, opens career pathways, and prepares learners to engage in the lifelong upskilling that workplaces require.And this is not only a US issue. Around the world, credential inflation has made higher education the default entry point to employment. In some countries, public funding or free tuition makes access easier. In others, rising costs mirror US debates. But across systems, from Germany’s apprenticeship-university hybrid models to Asia’s rapid university expansion, the result is the same: higher education functions as the first and often largest talent development provider.A Both-And, Not Either-OrThis is not a debate about whether higher education or talent development is more important. It is about recognizing the shared responsibility. Higher education cannot deny its role in workforce preparation, particularly given the cost of attendance and the expectations of learners and employers. Talent development, in turn, picks up where higher education leaves off, contextualizing learning for specific roles, cultures, and organizational strategies.The future depends on collaboration. Universities must continue to partner with employers, listening closely to industry needs and aligning curricula accordingly. Community colleges already model this collaboration, designing programs with direct input from employers and industry boards, often turning around new certificates and applied programs in months rather than years. Talent development functions must leverage these partnerships to focus on culture-specific skills, team effectiveness, and adaptive capacity, which are areas that formal education cannot address alone.Practitioner TakeawaysFor talent development professionals, embracing higher education as part of the ecosystem opens new opportunities:Partner, not compete: Build relationships with universities that supply your workforce pipeline. Explore co-designed internships, applied research projects, or industry panels that connect learners directly to work.Define the handoff: Clarify where higher education stops and your role begins. Universities provide credentials and broad skills; TD ensures translation into day-to-day performance.Advocate for alignment: Volunteer for industry advisory boards, connect with deans or program directors, and influence curricula that better reflect workforce needs.Maximize limited resources: With TD teams stretched thin, leaning on higher ed partnerships can extend your reach, freeing your team to focus on unique elements of organizational culture and performance.Think globally: Even if you operate locally, watch international models. Free and subsidized systems abroad show different funding and partnership possibilities—insights worth adapting to your context.Ready to WorkThe stakes are high. For learners, this is about employability, career mobility, and the return on their investment in education. For employers, it is about securing a pipeline of capable, confident, and collaborative professionals. For talent development leaders, it is about recognizing the interdependence of our work with higher education and designing systems that bridge, not compete.If higher education institutions are not the world’s largest talent development system, then who is? Certainly not every institution denies this role, but the sooner we embrace that truth, the better we can prepare people, together, for the future of work.

Ready to Work: How Higher Education Became (and Sometimes Denies Being) the World’s Largest Talent Development Function

The ATD Talent Development and Training in Healthcare Handbook (ATD Press, November 2021) addresses the many opportunities and challenges TD professionals face in the growing and rapidly changing healthcare space. Effective talent development is the thread that weaves through an entire healthcare organization to ensure it is up to standard with the latest practices in treating patients while providing a safe and engaging environment for staff. TD professionals have the unique role of tying together organizational and employee advancement in healthcare systems—and likewise, this handbook dives into areas for both business and professional evolution.Written by 25 fellow healthcare practitioners with extensive experience in the field—from nurses, physicians, and administrators to instructional designers, chief learning officers, technology experts, and leaders across the industry, it covers six key themes across 26 chapters:Learning and Development BasicsOrganization DevelopmentEmployee DevelopmentBusiness Acumen for the Health SystemDigital Transformation and LiteracyPatient-Centric CareChristine (Chris) Reyes, director of Dimensions Acute Training with Novant Health, is the author of a chapter focused on electronic health records in the ATD Talent Development and Training in Healthcare Handbook. In this spotlight Q&A, learn more about Reyes and her contribution to the book.How have your experiences in healthcare technology shaped the best practices you shared?With more than 25 years of healthcare experience, I’ve had the opportunity to serve in various roles that depend on strong collaboration and communication across the organization. Understanding how each department affects another and how seemingly simple system or process changes can impact others is vital to sound solutions and transformational change.At a previous job of mine, we often hosted other organizations on site visits to share our best practices and learning experiences. I found so much value and growth in sharing knowledge and learning from others. In the Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) chapter, I tried to share topics that have been instrumental to the success of our training program as well as those questions that are the most often asked by other organizations and learning healthcare professionals related to EHR training.How do you foresee the advancement of talent development for EHR implementation and usage within healthcare? For example, in an ideal world, how do you see this area flourishing for employee or organization development?With the pace of change in both technology and healthcare, I think it is essential for learning to take place at the moment of need. It is important for learning experiences to provide the tools and knowledge that the clinicians need, when and where they need it. It is also imperative for L&D professionals to collaborate with operational areas to ensure the impact of learning is measured and learning can be aimed to close skill gaps.What is something unexpected you learned while working on this book?As I was doing research for the chapter, I found many interesting success stories of an EHR transforming the access to and quality of patient care in many areas of the country.Is there something professional or personal you are proud of accomplishing in the past year?I’m proud to be a co-author of the ATD Talent Development and Training in Healthcare Handbook that was recently published! It was an exciting project, and it was an honor to participate in a project with so many talented professionals. I wish this handbook had been available when I’d started my career in the healthcare learning arena!What is a fun fact about yourself or one sentence of advice you’d like to share?“It’s not what you know that matters; it’s using what you know to help others do greater things than you’ve ever done.” —Giancarlo Brotto

Electronic Health Records Training: Q&A With Christine Reyes

Adaptability is a critical skill for leadership capability, career potential, and working relationships. Therefore, it is vital for talent development (TD) professionals who face countless situations that test their ability to adapt—from reacting to unplanned modifications in the training they design, to implementing new learning technologies, to adjusting to their organization’s shifting needs. In Adaptability in Talent Development, TD expert Esther Jackson takes you through a process of raising your self-awareness and developing an adaptive mindset.What prompted you to write about adaptability?I was always captivated by behavior profiles and emotional intelligence. I heard a speaker talk about great leaders being high in the Qs. This speaker proceeded to talk about emotional quotient (EQ), but he also discussed a new one for me—adaptability quotient (AQ). EQ I knew, but what was AQ about? I just had to find out, so my research into adaptability began there, which was several years before the book was published.The Qs, or quotients, are the actual measures from the tests for one’s emotional, adaptability, or other intelligences. I was intrigued because it was used in reference to one’s leadership capability. In my research, I saw that there was an abundance of content on EQ and emotional intelligence but little on AQ and adaptability intelligence. The more I learned about adaptability and AQ, the more I wondered why additional attention was not given to it for leaders and talent development professionals. I wanted to address this gap in the field of talent development. This topic seemed like unchartered territory that was ready and waiting for me.What is adaptability?Whether you are dealing with sudden changes in client needs with remodeled products or responding to COVID changes with training for remote work, it requires adaptability. It is a way of applying skills that allow you to understand the problem(s) because of a change. Research the problem, demonstrate curiosity about what is possible, apply collaboration to solve it, and take risks when needed.Where does adaptability show up?Adaptability shows up everywhere. If you are looking for it, you will find it, and the search isn’t hard. The need for adaptability is more prevalent than ever. Maybe you are in a team meeting and an unforeseen problem arises. You have an idea. Do you share it? Do you discuss it with colleagues or a few other business areas to vet it out and see if it would work? Do you conduct research on your idea, if applicable? Do you seek out an opportunity to take a risk with it? Do you consider writing an article on it? These are actual questions I asked myself as I considered the adaptable moments I was allowing to slip away.Why do talent development professionals need adaptability?The pace of today’s changes continues to accelerate. Adaptability is the key factor that helps TD professionals expect, recognize, and process changes. Although we can’t plan for what the unexpected will be, there are proactive steps we can take. Response to change with adaptability includes demonstrating resilience and seizing opportunities as they arise. These are areas to target for development in others, but we must apply and demonstrate them ourselves first. The game changer is called “adaptability.”I often receive questions about adaptability in relation to change management, so I wanted to make sure I included the distinction in the book. You can’t say that one is proactive and the other is reactive. A reaction to unplanned conditions might be to implement a change to adapt, which may require change management.We are seeing more and more organizations recognizing the need to respond to external changes in the community and internal changes that prompt them to adapt to new policies such as DEI and working from home. Adaptability is integral to maintaining a competitive advantage. For example, let’s say your organization deems it necessary to adapt with advanced technology. Many organizations are doing digital transformation for this reason. It is still a form of adaptability. When it comes to adapting, it is not only applicable to the executive team or leaders alone. Leaders can cultivate a culture of adaptability. However, everyone has a role in adaptability. Every individual can influence others in being flexible, open, and resilient. When it’s done well, this can promote a thriving organization.What is so important about this topic now and for the future?Until the end of time, things will continue to change. What does that mean for us? We will always have a need and the opportunity to adapt. Research shows that individuals with a high AQ experience greater success professionally. They also have more success in relationship building. Talent development professionals with a high AQ survive professionally and their organizations prepare for change despite the uncertainty that comes with it. There is a growing need for TD professionals who can assist in training and developing a workforce that can adjust quickly, demonstrate flexibility, and thrive with constant change. Innovation and creativity in designing learning materials to target those needs are also in high demand. Adaptability skills will always be crucial to success in one’s profession and career regardless of any new name or label we may give it in the future. It is not enough to know what it is. You should be working to stay ahead—Adaptability in Talent Development is how you do that.What are key connections to adaptability that are often overlooked?A few key connections to adaptability we can often overlook are interpersonal communication, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), and emotional intelligence. The common denominator among these areas is the involvement of people. From my experiences, I have observed individuals who are open to diverse cultures are better able to demonstrate openness, positive thinking, and creativity. I have seen how individuals who champion equity and inclusivity develop greater levels of empathy which are evident in the way they engage with others along with the level of engagement they receive in return.In the midst of demonstrating adaptability, you depend on others to understand change situations, adjust to new teams with diverse people, involve them in problem solving, address diverse needs, manage relationships, and manage yourself in the midst of unplanned change.What was the most surprising thing you discovered while writing your book?One intriguing discovery was how rewarding it can be for ourselves and those around us when we are intentional about our adaptability climb. We tap into a greater aspect of ourselves when we can overcome our discomfort with uncertainty.**How can those who are not talent development professionals benefit from reading the book?**I focused on talent development professionals as I wrote this book, but the content and the tools have much to offer for anyone aspiring to unleash their maximum potential. There is a model, a development plan, and a career checklist that can be applied by anyone regardless of industry and role in the organization’s hierarchy.The need for adaptability is not limited to our professional lives. We face countless situations requiring us to adapt. You are forced to relocate for a job. Your child leaves home for college. You must adapt, and you also find ways to help your child adapt and adjust to some changes they did not expect. An immediate family member develops an illness, and you have to adjust to new conditions in your home. These are only a few examples of the personal call for us to adapt time and time again. The value is in recognizing that when you harness the skills you will gain from applying what’s in the book, you can experience the positive impact personally with the situations that can arise unexpectedly.What is an example of a takeaway that readers can use immediately?When it comes to takeaways, Adaptability in Talent Development is full of them from cover to cover. One I think that stands out is the A-D-A-P-T model:Assess (A) your current state of adaptability or know how you measure up.Determine (D) the desired state of adaptability for yourself.Analyze (A) the resources you have or can obtain to address the gap between your current and desired states.Prepare (P) for achievement with your adaptability goals.Take action (T) with the execution of your plan.Developed from my experiences with clients and through my training, this model applies a step-by-step process for planning development leading to a high AQ. It is an immediate takeaway that readers can implement to build their own adaptability and the adaptability of others through training that targets that skill.What is something that readers can get from the book which they will not gain from a webinar or course?If you think that a webinar or course will give you everything this book does, then you are mistaken, and you just might miss the adaptable you who is waiting to be unleashed. This book provides the level of detail and context that are not captured in a course or webinar. Unlike books, courses and webinars are designed to give you minimal pieces of information. This book takes you on a journey and sets you on a path for immediate application while giving you the ability to pace yourself. Each chapter prompts you with targeted questions and actionable items. A course or webinar is one and done while this book gives you pause points allowing for you to apply what you read then return for more when ready.About the AuthorEsther Jackson is a project manager, college instructor, instructional designer, and trainer. She focuses on the evolving learning needs and expectations of today’s multigenerational workforce. Esther has a proven track record of equipping people with the skills and knowledge to face challenges amid constant change by addressing the employee experience, workforce engagement, performance, and professional development. Esther acquired more than 20 years of combined experience in HR leadership, project management, talent development, and diversity and inclusion.Esther serves as a national advisor for chapters with the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and has held various roles with the ATD Detroit Chapter, including president. Esther has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from Wayne State University and a doctoral degree in higher education and adult learning from Walden University. She also holds an AQ Foundations Certification from AQai.About ATD and ATD PressThe Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest association dedicated to those who develop talent in organizations. ATD’s members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD Press publications are written by industry thought leaders and offer anyone who works with adult learners the best practices, academic theory, and guidance necessary to move the profession forward. For more information, visit td.org/books.Adaptability in Talent DevelopmentISBN: 9781952157516| 160 Pages | Paperbackhttps://www.td.org/product/book-adaptability-in-talent-development/112110To order books from ATD Press, call 800.628.2783.To schedule an interview with Esther Jackson, please contact Kay Hechler, ATD Press senior marketing manager, at khechler@td.org or 703.683.8178.

Adaptability in Talent Development: Q&A With Esther L. Jackson

ATD Talent Development and Training in Healthcare Handbook (ATD Press, November 2021) addresses the many opportunities and challenges TD professionals face in the growing and rapidly changing healthcare space. Effective talent development is the thread that weaves through an entire healthcare organization to ensure it is up to standard with the latest practices in treating patients while providing a safe and engaging environment for staff. TD professionals have the unique role of tying together organizational and employee advancement in healthcare systems—and likewise, this handbook dives into areas for business and professional evolution.Written by 25 fellow healthcare practitioners with extensive experience in the field—from nurses, physicians, and administrators to instructional designers, chief learning officers, technology experts, and leaders across the industry—the book covers six key themes across 26 chapters:Learning and development basicsOrganization developmentEmployee developmentBusiness acumen for the health systemDigital transformation and literacyPatient-centric careLearn more about Scott Kashman, market president for St. Dominic’s and the Franciscan Missionaries of our Lady Health System (Jackson Market), and his chapters on leadership development, business acumen, and well-being in this spotlight Q&A.How have your experience(s) in leadership development, business acumen, and well-being shaped the best practices you shared?Leading with a strategic lens, being grounded in operations with the support of a healthy team provides a balanced leadership approach. Based upon experience, I find these three need to stay in harmony or else an organization will achieve inconsistent performance and team engagement.Leaders should engage the hearts and mind of their team by providing a clear vision and sharing the importance, purpose, and why behind the vision. Then they should step back, trust, empower, and support their team as they develop plans and achieve the collective goals. While it sounds basic, it is not always practiced consistently. If you re-enforce how much the team is valued, cared for, and connected, you will unleash the full potential of your organization.How do you foresee advancement of talent development in these areas within healthcare? (i.e. in an ideal world, how do you see this area flourishing for employee or organizational development)?Developing talent takes an ongoing commitment by healthcare leaders and organizational development specialists. Ensure leaders know how to coach other leaders and staff. Many leaders mentor others by telling them about their own experiences and having others shadow them. Learning to be leader-coach takes a different skill: being present and focused on the person you are developing. By asking questions, staying curious, and allowing others to find the answers within, you will create the necessary bandwidth to solve for new and emerging opportunities.What is something unexpected you learned while working on this book?Through this process, I had a chance to connect with other authors. It broadened my understanding of the many facets that contribute to talent development. I appreciated learning from my colleagues and applying these skills within my own leadership practice.Is there something professional or personal you are proud of accomplishing in the past year?Holding space for others to develop personally and professionally. Completing a coaching certification through the NeuroLeadership Institute helped me think differently about how to coach and develop others. For more than a year I was fortunate to develop a strong, healthy leadership team across my previous health system. This served as a foundation of collaboration and trust as we opened our incident command in March 2020 and started navigating through the pandemic. At the same time, we engaged our community partners and internal team to advance our quality, safety, and overall performance.What is a fun fact about yourself or one sentence of advice you’d like to share?Start with self. In the past, I ran many marathons, counseled patients as a psychiatric counselor, joined an improv comedy troupe, and worked on stage at a karaoke bar (and I’m a terrible singer). Each of these experiences shaped my leadership, focused on humility, strategy, operations, and the health of a team.

Advancing Talent Development in Healthcare: A Q&A With Scott Kashman

Whether it’s an internal job change or a role at a new company, no one comes into a new position knowing exactly how everything works—not even senior executives. Yet, when it comes to employee onboarding, senior executives are most often left to figure it all out for themselves. According to the latest survey, most executives said they received no formal workplace onboarding in their most recent roles. In fact, only 36 percent of US respondents said their companies had a formal executive onboarding process. There continues to be a glaring disconnect between the onboarding programs most businesses provide and the onboarding support that new executives need and expect.Executive Onboarding Best PracticesHere are three ideas for capturing information, expertise, and institutional know-how to better onboard your new executives:Teach senior leaders what there is to know. Onboarding senior leaders is less about teaching how to do something and more about teaching what there is to know in the shortest time possible. As L&D teams look to provide new executive onboarding materials, the focus should be on casting a wide net for potentially valuable information.Capture knowledge from departing executives. The best resource for most new executives will be their predecessor. Of course, most executives entering a new role will never have the opportunity to meet with the person they’re replacing. L&D teams can help smooth the transition by establishing formal processes intended to preserve as much of the outgoing executive’s institutional knowledge as possible before that person leaves the company. Recorded video interviews with outgoing executives can capture details about their daily work, the status of existing and proposed projects, and organizational hurdles for which the incoming leader may want to plan.Subject matter expert downloads. While most senior executives won’t need to become experts themselves on day-to-day operations, systems, and services for each team, access to this information will nonetheless be quite valuable. This is why more and more L&D teams are now tapping in-house subject matter experts (SMEs) to help in onboarding new executives and give new leaders an informed look into the inner workings of the business. But scheduling in-person meetings with many different SMEs can take months, and the detailed information exchanged in these face-to-face meetings is all too easy for a busy executive to forget amid all the other things they’ll be learning during onboarding. It is crucial for L&D teams to ask SMEs to capture their knowledge in informational videos for new business leaders to watch on-demand as needed or as they work through executive onboarding tasks.Rapid Executive Onboarding With On-Demand VideoMost executive onboarding is an informal combination of meetings, handbooks, and hope. But L&D teams are beginning to apply the same concepts and tools they already use for more traditional employee onboarding in order to implement structured onboarding programs designed specifically for new executives. Video captures more details more efficiently. Emails and text transcripts from interviews with departing executives and soon-to-be colleagues can often be impossibly long—a simple 30-minute conversation may yield 20 pages or more of text. Yet trimming those documents down means that some important detail will be lost, rendering the exercise useless. Video, however, makes recording all that detail simple—the interviewee can simply turn on a webcam or use their smartphone and press “record.” But using video for onboarding and training can be challenging without the right technology. To see how a video platform can make it possible for your organization, contact our team today to start your free trial of Panopto here.

Building a Better Executive Onboarding Program With On-Demand Video

Talent development professionals help others. Ben Nemtin, star of The Buried Life, called attention to that in his keynote address closing out the Association for Talent Development’s Virtual Conference: Unleash Potential. And he noted that attendees could likely relate to his bucket list pursuits that entailed not only going after the big things he wanted to do before he died but also involved helping others.The Roots of The Buried LifeAs he began his session “Impossible to Possible,” Nemtin spoke about falling into depression after seemingly being on top of the world as he graduated high school in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He had a spot on the national under-19s rugby team and a college scholarship.But that joy soon turned to anxiety, trouble sleeping, and then depression. He became a shut-in in his family’s home, not understanding why he was feeling the way he was. A summer in a new town, securing a job that brought him confidence, and talking with others about his feelings led Nemtin to start turning the corner. From there, he decided to only surround himself with people who inspired him. He found three individuals who fit that definition: Jonnie, Duncan, and Dave.Sketchnotes provided by See In ColorsWhat followed was their decision to make a film. The quartet were inspired by the Matthew Arnold poem The Buried Life, in which the poet described how we all too often leave our dreams and aspirations buried with day-to-day life getting in the way.To avoid dying without living their dreams, the young men created a bucket list—the stipulations being that they would act as if they had $10 million in the bank and that the goals had to be crazy big. They also knew they wouldn’t be able to accomplish their goals by themselves. They decided that every time they crossed off an item on their list, they would help a stranger do the same.The list that Ben and his friends crafted included such things as helping deliver a baby, having a beer with Prince Harry, and playing basketball with President Barack Obama. That last one required all the grit and persistence they could muster, including dealing with a number of rejections before it finally happened.“Doing what you love actually inspires others to do what they love,” said Nemtin. There’s a ripple effect. The same ripple effect occurs when you help others: They, in turn, have a propensity to help those around them.Your Resiliency Tool KitTo be able to help others, you need to take care of yourself, emphasized Nemtin. Here are some tips to do so, and these comprise what he calls his resiliency tool kit.Gratitude. Think of one thing each night before you go to bed and one thing in the morning when you get up that you are grateful for. They can be as minor as a meal with a loved one, a walk, or the sun being out.Exercise. You don’t have to go for 60 minutes, Nemtin pointed out. Five minutes of push-ups or a 15-minute walk will help you release negative emotions.Mindfulness. This can take the form of the Headspace or other app, a walk, meditation, or being cognizant to breathe deeply from your abdomen.Detox. This may mean staying off social media for 24 hours or avoiding the news for the same period. When you return, only use the tools that bring you joy—come back in control of how you spend your time.Connect. To ease anxiety and stress, talk with friends or a therapist, continued Nemtin.Purpose. This is what the bucket list is all about: doing the things that are most important to you and that bring you joy.Help others. You can’t feel bad when you’re helping others.Nature. If you’re unable to actually go outside for 15 minutes right now because of the pandemic, bring nature inside by getting a plant or two.Fulfilling Personal GoalsThough this belief is hopefully shifting, it’s long been the pervasive mindset that pursuing our personal dreams is selfish. Nemtin refuted that, noting that pursing our dreams is actually a service. Prioritizing your goals, he says, is beneficial to you, your friends and family, your career, and your organization. And if organizations and leaders create an environment that encourages people to go after what they want, those individuals are far more likely to stick around.Psychologist Tom Gilovich reported in his research “The Ideal Road Not Taken” that 76 percent of people identified on their death beds that their greatest regret was not fulfilling their ideal self. What leads people to stop short of that goal? Nemtin identified two reasons. One is that—unlike work goals and duties—our personal goals have no deadlines. The second is that we often lack the inspiration to move forward. To that, Nemtin suggested that we create our own inspiration through small steps and think of “dreams as projects.”Here are five steps he outlined to accomplish your personal goals:Write them down. Putting them down on paper makes them real.Share them. As Nemtim showed with his bucket list, you need others’ help. All too often, we don’t share our goals due to fear—either because we’re afraid of what others may think or because we fear falling short of accomplishing them.Persist. Sometimes we fail because we give up too quickly. Nemtin showcased his persistence in his and his friends’ efforts to play basketball with President Obama.Go for moonshots. Nemtin, smiling, noted that the level of competition for reachable goals is much higher than the competition for ambitious moonshot goals, which few people strive for.Give. Nemtin briefly recalled speaking at ATD TechKnowledge 2019, where he shared the stage with Tiago, a brain stem tumor sufferer who, through the Make a Wish Foundation, expressed his desire to go bobsledding. As a result of Nemtin and the conference attendees, Tiago realized his dream.Ripple effects happen not only from big things—for example, a smile causes a ripple, as does a compliment—Nemtin pointed out. And we don’t necessarily see those reactions happening, and that includes training and development results. But know that as talent development professionals, said Nemtin, you create a positive difference in others.Share your ATD Virtual Conference experience on social media. #ATDVirtualConference

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