AI is changing L&D, but Laura Overton believes the real innovation starts somewhere else: in our minds.

In this episode of the Rogue L&D podcast, Tom Bailey is joined by L&D researcher and author Laura Overton to explore what it really takes to create business impact through learning. Laura shares insights from 20 years of research into high-performing L&D teams, the role of innovation and AI, what L&D can learn from strategic marketing, and why curiosity and critical thinking are essential for the future of the profession. She also reflects on her career, Towards Maturity, and her new book, The L&D Leader.

Laura’s Bio

Laura Overton is a researcher and award-winning learning analyst who has spent 35+ years observing how L&D professionals drive business value through continuous disruption. For 15 years she led Towards Maturity, the industry's longest-running global benchmark programme, producing over 70 research reports. Laura is the founder of Learning Changemakers and co-author of The L&D Leader: Principles and Practice for Delivering Business Value (Kogan Page). She is an Academic Fellow of the CIPD and the first woman to receive the LPI Colin Corder Award. Right now, when everyone's talking about navigating unknown territory, her pattern-making helps learning leaders discover new pathways to business impact.

High-performing L&D teams think more like strategic marketers. They start by understanding what the business and its people actually need, rather than trying to match a learning product to the problem.

Laura argues that the real opportunity with AI is asking, ”Can I do something today that I couldn't do yesterday?” Technology alone won't transform L&D if we're still operating within the same old definition of what an L&D professional does.

Laura's research has consistently focused on how learning innovation can deliver better business impact. She argues that curiosity, critical thinking and questioning the data are essential, even if you aren't a data analyst yourself.

Key Takeaways

1. Start with the business problem, not the learning solution

2. AI is only as innovative as the thinking behind it

3. L&D needs to get better at understanding business impact

Timestamps:

• [00:00:54] Meet Laura Overton and her L&D journey
• [00:02:42] What was Towards Maturity?
• [00:05:12] Why L&D research needs deeper reflection
• [00:08:32] Laura's North Star: learning innovation and business impact
• [00:09:36] What is the best learning innovation?
• [00:10:44] How AI is changing the way L&D thinks
• [00:12:22] What L&D can learn from strategic marketing
• [00:14:24] The library programme that transformed frontline behaviour
• [00:31:36] How L&D professionals can use research and data
• [00:36:28] Laura's advice: be bold, business-aware and open-minded

Links

• Laura Overton on LinkedIn

• Learning Changemakers Website

• Tom Bailey on LinkedIn