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Steven A. White is president and special counsel to the CEO of Comcast. As president of Comcast’s West Division for 11 years, White was responsible for all Comcast Cable operations in the western US, leading nearly 30,000 employees, serving more than 11 million customers, and driving annual revenue of nearly $18 billion. Today, White applies the same winning philosophy to his current role. His latest book is Uncompromising: How an Unwavering Commitment to Your Why Leads to an Impactful Life and a Lasting Legacy.

Steven A. White

September 2022 - TD Magazine

It’s challenging to get noticed when leaders are distracted by today’s evolving workplace.

5 Factors to Consider When You Aren’t Promoted

John Sullivan is an internationally known HR thought leader from Silicon Valley, California, specializing in strategic talent management solutions. He is a prolific author with more than 900 articles and 10 books covering all areas of talent management. Along with his many articles and books, Sullivan has written over a dozen whitepapers, conducted more than 50 webinars and dozens of workshops, and has been featured in over 35 videos. He is an engaging corporate speaker who has excited audiences at more than 300 organizations in 30 countries on all seven continents. His ideas have appeared in major business sources, including the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, CFO, Inc., the New York Times, SmartMoney, USA Today, HBR, and the Financial Times. In addition, he writes for the WSJ Experts column and the LinkedIn Talent blog. Sullivan has been interviewed on CNN and the CBS and ABC nightly news, NPR, as well many local TV and radio outlets.Fast Company called him the “Michael Jordan of Hiring,” Staffing.org called him “the father of HR metrics,” and SHRM called him “One of the industries most respected strategists.” He was selected among HR’s Top 10 Leading Thinkers and was ranked #8 among the top 25 online influencers in talent management. Adding to these acclamations, Sullivan has also served as the chief talent officer of Agilent Technologies, the HP spinoff with 43,000 employees as well as becoming the CEO of the Business Development Center, a minority business consulting firm in Bakersfield, California. Sullivan is currently a professor of management at San Francisco State.

John Sullivan

Steven Rosato is a business development executive and general manager of OverDrive Professional, the leading reading platform for academic, corporate, and special libraries. Prior to joining OverDrive in 2016, Rosato was the event director of BookExpo America, spending 20 years as an executive with Reed Exhibitions. He worked extensively with senior government officials and publishing luminaries from China, Russia, Poland, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the Middle East while running BEA’s Global Market Forum program. Rosato is a graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University with a degree in Business Management

Steven Rosato

We’re standing at the edge of another historic shift. Just as the internet redefined business in the 90s and smartphones transformed the workplace in the 2000s, artificial intelligence (AI) is now reshaping how we work—and who does the work. According to the latest Microsoft Work Trend Index (WTI), this transformation marks the emergence of the Frontier Firm: organizations built around human-agent teams, digital labor, and AI-powered workflows.Eighty-two percent of leaders say this is the time to rethink strategy with AI as the driving force, but most organizations aren’t ready. AI has transformative potential, but the gap between AI adoption and workforce readiness is widening. Employees are still unfamiliar with integrating these tools into daily tasks. The AI readiness gap is growing. The promise of AI isn’t fulfilled by technology alone—it relies on people both skilled and confident in effectively using it. Sixty-seven percent of leaders know AI agents, but only 40 percent of employees do. Eighty percent of the global workforce lacks time to complete existing work.Without targeted AI workforce training and intentional change management, organizations risk rolling out tools no one knows how to effectively and securely use.Embracing AI as a Strategic PartnerAI is no longer just a tool—it’s a teammate. Every employee will manage AI agents, directing them to research, write, summarize, and execute workflows.This is already happening. The WTI found that 41 percent of managers expect to train agents within five years, 83 percent of leaders believe AI will enable employees to take on complex work earlier, and 78 percent of companies are considering AI-specific roles. Untrained employees will miss productivity targets; they will fall behind AI-empowered teams. Assuming tools like Copilot are intuitive is risky.An AI-Ready Workforce Is the FutureTo thrive in the AI era, organizations must equip teams with the tools, mindset, and skills to harness AI. This requires a comprehensive approach beyond tool adoption, focusing on strategic training, culture shift, and skills-building.AI Fluency – Knowing how to use tools, and how to prompt effectively, iterate with agents, and apply judgmentWorkflow Rethinking – Learning where AI fits—and when it doesn’t—in daily tasksConfidence and Culture – Encouraging a mindset of experimentation and trust Moving From AI-Curious to AI-CapableOrganizations investing in AI-upskilling are seeing tangible benefits. Seventy-one percent at Frontier Firms believe their companies are thriving, compared to 37 percent globally. These organizations aren’t just adopting technology; they’re cultivating a culture of confidence, adaptability, and innovation. The lesson is clear: success in the AI era hinges not just on access to tools, but on how well your workforce is prepared to use them.Getting there requires a structured, scalable approach to learning—one that meets employees where they are and helps them grow into new roles with AI.Your AI-Ready Workforce Is Within ReachEvolve 365 isn’t just another learning platform. It’s a training and transformation engine, purpose-built to help adapt to AI at scale. Here’s what sets it apart:Live, expert-led AI training: From Copilot to broader Microsoft 365 tools, our live training sessions focus on real-world use cases.Building the “Agent Boss” mindset: We train employees not just to use AI, but to manage it—developing skills like prompting, oversight, and refinement that mirror tomorrow’s job descriptions.Personalized coaching and support: Through “Ask Me Anything” sessions and white-glove onboarding, your teams get direct access to our AI experts.Measurable adoption and impact: Evolve 365 includes usage analytics, tracking, and adoption reports to help organizations measure progress. Evolve 365 helps organizations move their workforce from AI-curious to AI-capable. A focused approach to AI readiness can close the gap between potential and performance. Let’s talk about what AI readiness could look like for you and how Evolve 365 can make it happen.

AI-Curious to AI-Capable: Build Your AI-Ready Workforce

“Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.”That quote, from the legendary Frances Hesselbein, supports her enduring passion for creating the leaders of the future who are “mission-based, values-based, and demographics-driven.”The Association for Talent Development mourns the loss of Hesselbein, a supporter and champion of talent development and learning. She passed away December 11 at the age of 107.She was a keynote speaker at the ATD 2003 International Conference & EXPO and a recipient of (then) ASTD’s Champion of Workplace Learning and Performance Award in 2005. She also authored the chapter “Leading the Workforce of the Future” in The ASTD Leadership Handbook.“Our Champion award is given to an individual whose advocacy, commitment, and actions in support of learning and development have influenced audiences and organizations, and Frances exemplifies the spirit of this award,” said Tony Bingham, ATD President and CEO. “We’re grateful for the decades of thought leadership that she generously shared with our global talent development community.”As a pioneer in her work with leadership and social service, Hesselbein was a visionary and extraordinary leader who was an early adopter of diversity and inclusion. Best known for her 13 years as CEO of the Girl Scouts, she spent more than 40 years defining leadership and the value of serving others. In 2022, she received the President’s Volunteer Service Award.“Frances was born in 1915, before women had the right to vote. By the end of her long life, she had refocused the mission of the Girl Scouts of America to equip young women for roles in society and introduced innovative ideas into leadership development,” said Pat Galagan, ATD’s former executive editor. “She advocated a circular management style, which was more inclusive than top-down hierarchies, sharing leadership to ‘the outer edges of the circle.’”“Leadership gurus such as Warren Bennis, Peter Senge, and Jim Collins recognized her as one of the most innovative and inspired leaders of their time,” Galagan continued. “When asked by a journalist who was the greatest CEO in America, Peter Drucker named Hesselbein, saying, ‘Frances Hesselbein could manage any company in America.’”“Frances Hesselbein was one of the most impactful and admirable Level 5 leaders of the 20th century,” author Jim Collins noted. “She taught me that one of the greatest sources of energy is leadership done in a spirit of service. Her most enduring impact is through the multitude of leaders—in business, in the military, in the social sectors—inspired by the guiding principle of her life: ‘To serve is to live.’ We have lost an irreplaceable light in our world, andin our lives. Her greatest gift was her uplifting example.”Her impact on diversity was felt during her time as CEO of the Girl Scouts. She changed the standard Girl Scout handbook by hiring educators and artists to write four different handbooks reflecting the different cultural identities of members.“In my life, I have had the honor to work with many amazing leaders. Frances Hesselbein is the greatest leader that I have ever met,” said Marshall Goldsmith. “She was also the most kind and gracious human being. When I met Frances, I was doing pioneering work in 360-degree feedback that was customized to fit the organization’s values. I volunteered to work with Frances and the Girl Scouts. She ‘led by example,’ was the first to get feedback, and always worked at becoming an even more effective leader. Since then, she has shared her wisdom with many of my CEO clients. Frances Hesselbein will always be my number 1 hero!”She was president and CEO of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management (now the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute) and the editor in chief of the award-winning Leader-to-Leader journal. She also served as the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at the United States Military Academy at West Point.According to her obituary, “Hesselbein served on multiple boards including Pennsylvania Power and Light, Mutual of America, and the Bright China Foundation. She chaired the United Way of Central Pennsylvania. She was invited to the White House by seven different presidents and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. She was appointed to the Presidential Commissions on National and Community Service by President George \[H.\] W. Bush in 1992 and 1993.”“I will always remember Frances for her leadership in the Girl Scouts and for giving hope and inspiration to everyone she touched at every age,” said Elaine Biech. “She was one of the first people to write about women in leadership and so I often quoted her. One thing that resonated with me was her belief in learning by doing and to me that is what I believe is critical: experiential learning.”Hesselbein wrote two memoirs—Hesselbein on Leadership and My Life in Leadership—and was the co-editor of 27 books published in 29 languages.In an August 11, 2017, Lehigh Valley Style article, “Hesselbein said she hopes she’s remembered for truly practicing what she preaches: ‘Mission. Innovation. Diversity. Those words are my battle cry.’”

In Memoriam: Frances Hesselbein

Winter 2014 - The Public Manager

While innovation occurs constantly—incentivized by familiar devices such as patents, research grants, public procurement, and tax deductions—some barriers prove so stubborn that they demand a different type of incentive, a more dramatic and exciting

Prizes! Innovation, Risk Shifting,and Avoiding Contracts and Grants

One of the unique products to emerge in an increasingly crowded field of social tools is Pinterest, a fun combination of social bookmarking, images, commenting, and public sharing.  It’s a great place for connecting with and sharing resources for your own professional development.But that doesn’t mean everyone is ready—or knows how—to use Pinterest. Here is some help.Lead them to waterI’ve been dealing with introducing new techs and tools for a long time now.  The best way I’ve found of encouraging acceptance and use is introducing a tool at the moment it will solve someone’s problem. A lot there depends on serendipity and hearing opportunity when it knocks. And one of the easiest ways to teach people to use (and like) a tool is to give them something fun to do with it.I’ve tricked (er, I mean led) lots of people to Pinterest by asking them to share photos of their favorite holiday decorations (even better if they tell a short story with it).  We’ve even developed a few Pinterest traditions, including the fabulous annual collaborative Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide . I hadn’t intended to do it this year, but demand from people on Twitter I don’t even know prompted me to again host the Thanksgiving Gallery of Hand Turkeys. Some 42 people contributed, from age 5 up, individually and as families, and some from other countries where they don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving. Is it silly? Sure. But it builds connection and community, and it is fun. More important, it helps people understand and use the tool. And when I ask some of them later to find and share an image they’d include on a virtual tour of their workplace, well, they’ll already know how to do that. Now, here are some ideas for L&D practitioners looking for ways to incorporate Pinterest into practice. Collaborative bookmarkingCheck out this collaborative board from Tracy Parish. She invited industry friends to pin their suggestions for good books about instructional design. Most include a comment from the pinner about why they chose it, and link directly to Amazon so they can be purchased.  Note the number of comments, including some from authors of the books pinned. Building a narrative/backchannel learningI recently attended the pilot of Mike Rohde’s new Sketchnote Workshop.  While I tweeted it, as usual, I realized the visual nature of it might be better suited to Pinterest.I began documenting my day and uploading photos and comments as we switched activities or shared what we were doing. It built a nice narrative of the day and offered a place for quick conversation.  This also supported backchannel learning for colleagues who were unable to attend the workshop. A friend, intrigued by the tweets, visited the Pinterest board and ended up sketchnoting the meeting she was in that day. She’s now bringing Mike in to deliver the workshop for the Atlanta ASTD chapter (February 11: check back on the chapter’s event page for details coming soon).Board: My Day at Mike Rohde’s Pilot of His New Sketchnote WorkshopVirtual field trips Offer tours of facilities to new hires; tours of your training center to first-time visitors; tours of a conference site. You can use these for recruiting to show potential hires how the workplace looks, such as pictures of areas where defibrillators are installed. You might include pictures of company extras; a friend who’s worked at a local big company for years didn’t know there was a meditation garden until I posted a photo of it.Overview of topic or area of interest and handout replacementAlthough I’ve been offering it in webinar format for years, my “Tips for the Positive Deviant” session suddenly caught fire last May. There was so much interest in it I finally set up a Pinterest board with highlights and key points from the session, additional resources with links for easy access, and a link to the ASTD webinar recording. This also serves as a much more robust takeaway than a copy of my slides or other usual event handout.Prework or snapshot of planned conversationAs one of the moderators of the weekly Twitter-based #lrnchat sessions, I often see the problem of having a chat catch someone’s eye after it’s underway. They want to join in, but they are coming into the conversation late, sometimes to a topic that’s a bit esoteric. Or—and I’m guilty too—they didn’t read an article we suggested for prereading. So, we’ve started using a Pinterest board to support some of these chats. Participants can check in quickly and get an overview of the topic—just the gist of it, sometimes, but enough to help them participate more fully. Here’s one we created to support a #lrnchat conversation focused on our own beliefs and metaphors about learning and teaching, and what those beliefs mean to one’s practice.Course resources and supportAssistant Professor Steven Bickmore uses Pinterests boards to create reading lists for each of his courses.  They’re easy to update, more enticing than a list of typed titles, and available for the rest of us to peruse.Encouraging reflectionI’ve reused the “metaphor” board described above as a reflective activity for students in instructional design and train-the-trainer sessions. They are asked to review it and then provide a verbal or written description of their own metaphors and how they are borne out in their own practice.Job aidsWhile I prefer Snapguide for preparing job aids these days, you could easily build a guide in Pinterest. Be sure to add images in reverse order.  As comments can alter layout and size, you might want to number them, too.  Post pictures of equipment repairs and workarounds. And remember: You don’t have to be the one doing all the pinning.Collaborative class activitiesHere are some ideas:Invite pinners to share images of customer service issues (like stained carpets and water cooler with no cups). Have a conversation about corporate culture based on pinned images of company furnishings and signage. Post pictures of the different ways a classroom can be set up, and ask participants in a train-the-trainer course to describe how each setup might affect interaction and social activities.Have learners share images of final projects.Did you have groups discuss an issue and create a flip chart report?  Post pictures of the charts.Host a Pinterest Appy Hour: Invite pinners to share their favorite new app from the past year; their favorite productivity app; their favorite photography app, their favorite app for travel, and so on.Have learners create a class book recapping activities and takeaways.Reaching other learnersOne of my historical concerns about many social tools is that so many of them are heavily text-based: blogs, microblogs, text chats, and so forth. In my world this can marginalize those with low-literacy skills or those with English as a second language.  We’re in a world in which the vast majority of our workforces own some kind of mobile phone or device—most of them with cameras.  The potential for user-generated images to support and include these workers is tremendous.Logistical tips and advice for using PinterestHere’s how Pinterest works:Pinterest is free. It is available on desktop or via a free mobile app.Pinterest allows you to pin images from a website and, from other Pinterest boards. You can also pin by uploading images from your own computer or mobile device.Pinterest boards are public to view; anyone can see them without an account.In order to create boards and pin to them, you need your own account.At this time, Pinterest doesn’t allow for moving pins around a board. To build a chronology—like a story from start to finish—you need to upload in order you want them to be viewed.You can set up “secret” boards to work on until you are ready to publish them. At this time only the board owner can work with the secret boards; they can’t be shared with other pinners.You need to issue invitations to other pinners. While some complain that Pinterest doesn’t offer users public boards on which everyone can pin, it also means that spammers can’t just pin on any board. It makes it a bit safer for those concerned about material inappropriate for some audiences.Sometimes for the sake of speed or including people who for whatever reason don’t have or want a Pinterest account, I just ask people to send me images and I upload them myself.

Pinterest for L&D

Anne Bruce doesn't just speak for a living, she's also a talent manager and an executive coach who helps speakers and authors including celebrities, politicians, sports figures, and well-known business leaders soar to the next level of their career. With a background in broadcast journalism and years of extensive television work, Anne has written for clients and projects in Hollywood and New York. Her clients have appeared on Ellen, Shark Tank, Steve Harvey, Today Show, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360, and more. She's also carved a niche in coaching talent to write and deliver popular TEDx and TED Talks.Anne has had the privilege of speaking, writing, and conducting talent projects worldwide for organizations like the American Red Cross, Baylor University Medical Center, Sony Entertainment, Sony International, Saks Fifth Avenue, GEICO, Ben & Jerry's, Accenture, Coca Cola, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, The White House, the Pentagon, the FBI, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Columbia University School of Business, the Conference Board of Europe, and NASA, where she produced a documentary on the lives of women astronauts.She is the author of dozens of e-books and more than 23 books, which have been translated into more than 36 languages worldwide. Some of Anne's books include Speak for a Living: The Insider's Guide to Building a Speaking Career; Discover True North: A 4-Week Program to Ignite Your Passion and Activate Your Potential; Be Your Own Mentor; How to Motivate Every Employee; The Manager's Guide to Motivating Employees; and Building a High Morale Workplace; and Leaders Start to Finish: A Roadmap for Developing Top Performers (2nd edition). She's also been a featured author for Perfect Phrases for Employee Development Planning, part of McGraw-Hill's Perfect Phrases series. Anne also authored and acted as acquisition editor for the Pocket Tool Kit series. She has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, London Times, San Jose Mercury News, Newsweek, and Inc. magazine, among others.Anne's home base is in the greater Los Angeles area at Channel Islands Beach her favorite place to coach clients and film her popular weekly video blog, #30SecondsAtTheBeach. She has also partnered with her co-author Sardek Love, to launch The Speak for a Living Success Academy, a program for aspiring and accomplished speakers.

Anne Bruce

Most of us are aware of the growing presence of Millennials in the workplace. This Research Week post discusses some of the research from ATD and other resources on Millennials at work, their skills, and preparing them to become leaders.Who Is a Millennial?The Millennial generation is projected to become the largest generation in the United States workforce. Millennials are defined roughly as those born between 1977 and 1997. Other generations often view Millennials as those who “want a fast-track to the C-suite, constant recognition and validation, and rewards whether they necessarily earned them or not,” according to the ATD Research report, Leadership Development for Millennials: Why it Matters.What Skills Do Millennials Bring to the Workplace?The 2015 Millennial Majority Workforce Study, from online workplace Elance-oDesk and Gen-Y consulting firm Millennial Branding, found that almost 70 percent of hiring managers believe Millennials possess skills that previous generations do not, including fresh ideas, adaptability, and tech-savvy. Because of these skills, and the fact that two-thirds of Millennials feel it is their professional obligation to stay current with the latest technologies, Millennials may be the answer to the current technological skills shortage in the workforce. Finding, Retaining, and Training Millennials With the skills that Millennials possess and the sheer fact that they will make up a large share of the U.S. workforce, it is imperative to know what Millennials want and need. But how easy is it to find the right Millennial for the job and keep him or her at the job?According to the same study from Elance-oDesk, 53 percent of hiring managers say it is difficult to find and retain Millennials, and only 14 percent indicate it is easy. Meanwhile, the Leadership Development for Millennials report finds that the average tenure for a Millennial at an organization is just two years, compared to five years for Generation X and seven years for Baby Boomers.  Some insights into how to attract and retain Millennials can be found in a recent report from Deloitte, Mind the Gaps: The 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey, which finds that 60 percent of respondents feel a sense of purpose is part of the reason why Millennials decided to work for their current employer. Likewise, Deloitte reports: “Among businesses where Millennials say there is a strong sense of purpose, there is significantly higher reporting of financial success, employee satisfaction, and recruitment.”In addition to knowing how to attract and retain Millennials, knowing how to train them to become effective leaders will be critical for organizations as this new generation begins to dominate the workforce. According to the Leadership Development for Millennials report, most organizations don’t currently offer leadership development programs specifically for Millennials, even though many lack leadership skills. However, organizations that devote resources specifically to training Millennials (for example, having rotational development programs for millennials) have more success in developing their leadership potential than those that do not.More on Millennials in the WorkforceTo learn more about how organizations are preparing the millennial generation to manage and lead effectively now and into the future and how organizations can appeal to millennials, the full research report Leadership Development for Millennials: Why it Matters is available here. ATD Members have complimentary access to the whitepaper version of the report.

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