1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:05,520 Welcome back to another inspiring episode of Add Up LND. 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:10,240 Today I have the absolute pleasure of welcoming a guest 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,120 who is not only a powerhouse in the LND world, but someone I've 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,160 admired and collaborated with in many ways behind the scenes. 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,880 James Gilchrist. James is an LND influencer, Ice 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,280 Spring advocate, consultant, and dynamic voice in our community. 7 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,800 He brings decades of experience and even more insight into what 8 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:37,000 what it really takes to grow, evolve, and lead with purpose in 9 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,240 this field. From his early days in the 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:43,400 theater to launching his own consulting agency, Lighthouse 11 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:49,080 L&D, James shares how leaning into curiosity, connection, and 12 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:54,120 courage shaped his unique path. In this episode, you'll hear 13 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:58,880 wisdom on everything from breaking into L&D and embracing 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:03,160 AI to dismantling imposter syndrome and rethinking how we 15 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,680 define confidence and success. If you're a navigator. 16 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:12,120 If you're navigating your own career pivot, feeling stuck in a 17 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,480 sea of shoulds, this conversation is exactly what you 18 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:18,760 need. So grab your notebook because 19 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,120 James is about to drop some truth bombs and I know you're 20 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,520 going to walk away with new clarity and inspiration for your 21 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,440 own journey. Let's dig in. 22 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,560 Hi, we're ispring, an international team of e-learning 23 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,720 enthusiasts who help more than 60,000 clients across the globe 24 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,440 succeed with better online learning. 25 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:46,360 Our two flagship solutions are ispring Suite and ispring Learn 26 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,800 LMS. Ispring Suite is an intuitive, 27 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,360 all in one authoring tool for creating engaging e-learning 28 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,240 content, and ispringlearn is an innovative online training 29 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,960 platform for onboarding, upskilling, and certifying your 30 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,680 teams. We also provide tons of free 31 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,480 resources for aspiring and experienced e-learning 32 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,840 professionals, conduct weekly webinars with top industry 33 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,560 experts, and organize annual e-learning conferences, 34 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:18,120 challenges, and championships. We'd be happy to get to know you 35 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,880 and pick a solution that fits your needs best. 36 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:26,880 Go to www.icepringsolutions.com to learn more about us, download 37 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:33,080 our resources, and connect. Hello everyone and welcome to 38 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,680 another fantastic episode of Add Up. 39 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,120 L and DI am feeling very excited today to have this guest on this 40 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,520 show. James Gilchrist is here and he 41 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:46,480 is going to talk about all things L&D. 42 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,880 He's an influencer, works with Ice Spring, he has his own 43 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,720 consulting business. He's just he's an all around 44 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,560 just knows a lot of different things and I'm expecting and as 45 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:57,160 you should, a lot of great advice here. 46 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:02,360 So, James, welcome to the show. Thank you, Holly, and no 47 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,040 pressure. No pressure, you'll be fine. 48 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,600 You'll be fine. So why don't we start start out 49 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,240 with you telling us your story about how you started and where 50 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,080 you're at now. Like your path to how you came 51 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:16,640 here. You have your own business, you 52 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,880 do a lot of different things. So tell us about your your, your 53 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,600 journey. Well, I'm, it's lovely to meet 54 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,240 your listeners and I just want to say you and I have been 55 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,760 talking about doing this show for a while and there were a few 56 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:31,800 times when and when it didn't happen. 57 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,720 No, no, it's a, it's life. And but life is allowing us to 58 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,440 be here together today. And I just want to say how 59 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,960 excited I am to be in the room with you because I'm a, I'm a 60 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,280 huge fan and I love working with you. 61 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:52,280 And we have worked together sort of in tandem in a lot of ways, 62 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:54,280 but we haven't had the chance to do this. 63 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,640 We've never done a panel. We've never had the face to face 64 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,040 online. So I'm honored that you've got 65 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:00,600 me on your show. So thanks for that. 66 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,000 Ditto. I'm honored that you, you're, 67 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,040 you got to be here and that we got to meet in person in Las 68 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,720 Vegas last. Year, yes, yes, Dev learned last 69 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,480 year. I think that was the first time 70 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,640 we ever got to be in the in the same breathing the same. 71 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:19,800 Air, yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, well. 72 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:22,760 Well, tell us your story, James. I'm excited to listen to it. 73 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,720 OK, Well, thanks. So first, I just want to say I 74 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:31,600 was hosting a networking event a few weeks ago and I was inspired 75 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,960 to tell the folks in the room that when they went into their 76 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,760 breakout sessions and they began talking to each other for the 77 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,480 purposes of getting to know each other and hopefully forging some 78 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,480 connections and finding waves forward ways of working, 79 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,800 collaborating, etcetera. That they should be mindful of 80 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,200 their past and their story. Like you've just asked me to 81 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,560 share my story, but more focused on their future. 82 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,800 Where are they going? How do they feel about where 83 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:06,920 they are now in relationship to where they see themselves and 84 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,440 take people on that journey where what the future looks 85 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,160 like? What is it, you know, what do 86 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:17,360 you have in store for yourself? Because it's that story and that 87 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,920 journey that invites others to come on it with you. 88 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,640 You can't do anything about anything that's happened before. 89 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,840 And none of us really want to repeat what we've done before. 90 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,000 We're all looking for the next big thing and discovering what 91 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,560 makes us happy and figuring out, you know, how we can get more 92 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,640 passionate about the thing that happens today and tomorrow and 93 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,000 the day after that. So, so I will, but I but I 94 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,520 understand that context and knowing is in some cases, just 95 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,280 how you got into the field of L&D can be really interesting to 96 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:52,240 people who may be on at that point in their career 97 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,680 themselves. So I will tell a little bit of 98 00:05:55,680 --> 00:06:02,120 that story. I think it's good for folks to 99 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:09,080 know that I spent my entire 20s. I got an undergraduate degree in 100 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:13,120 music and print journalism, and I immediately started working 101 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,480 for a theater company. I was touring colleges and 102 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,600 universities doing theater and tended to inform and help 103 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,000 students get acclimated to the new, bigger world of being on 104 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,680 their own and living out, you know, often very far from home 105 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,840 and writing music and finding musicians and starting bands and 106 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:36,680 doing all of that. So no, I didn't, I didn't 107 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,880 graduate from my university and immediately try to find a job 108 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,320 working at some company that needed learning solutions. 109 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,400 That was not that was not the trajectory. 110 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,000 Yeah. No, not at all. 111 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,600 And apart from, you know, this strong feeling that I needed to 112 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,760 hang on to something that to someone else would look viable 113 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,040 on a resume like an English degree or my journalism degree. 114 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:06,040 I have always been someone who was looking, looking to the 115 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:10,160 stars, as it were, and not and trying not to get myself too 116 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,760 worried about, well, to use my mom's words, how to make a 117 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:19,440 living. You know, That being said, that 118 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:24,160 trajectory took me to Fast forward 10 years and I'm living 119 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:29,440 in New York City and I am auditioning for things. 120 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:33,680 I've been cast in a number of Shakespeare productions because 121 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,520 I tacked on a A2 year certification at a place called 122 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:41,040 the National Shakespeare Conservatory in my late 20s. 123 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,360 And I was lucky enough to get some great work and some great 124 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:47,760 parts and that sort of thing. But it's New York City, and if 125 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,240 you don't want to live with 10 people in a shoe box, you need a 126 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:56,760 little bit of money coming in. So it was network time. 127 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,680 I called a friend. I phoned a friend can iPhone, a 128 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,160 friend. I phoned a friend who said he 129 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:06,680 had just seen an opportunity to work. 130 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:12,000 Basically what how he described it was answering phones at a 131 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,760 payroll company and I was like, well, that sounds 132 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,080 straightforward, not very exciting, but you know, I 133 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,720 figured it would be flexible and it would pay the bills. 134 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:29,000 So what happened next? Well, they hire me, which in my 135 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,200 mind was kind of amazing because what they were hoping was that 136 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:36,120 they would be bringing people who had some business acumen and 137 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,240 understood payroll taxes and, you know, maybe a little bit of 138 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,280 accounting and, and all. And I had none of that. 139 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,720 But I, but, but I got hired and I went through their, what I 140 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:47,400 thought of as their two week boot camp. 141 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:53,200 So I'm being trained by someone on the job whose job is not to 142 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,960 train new hires, but is to be a manager in their own area. 143 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,360 And they have their own team and they are there doing the best 144 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:04,960 that they can to give people what they think they need to 145 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,080 know to succeed in the job. That's a nice way of putting it, 146 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,560 but it was disjointed, it was distracting. 147 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:14,720 There were questions that got left unanswered. 148 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,080 Training materials were definitely more missed than hit. 149 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,480 But when you know, but I've always been a good student, so I 150 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:27,200 applied myself and I felt OK. If what they've told me is what 151 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,040 I need to know, I am reasonably prepared to do this. 152 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,720 I couldn't have been more wrong. I got through it is all I can 153 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:37,160 say. I got through my last, you know, 154 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,600 the first four months of my time at this company were during the 155 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,000 busiest time of year for them, which was the end of the year 156 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,040 because lots more things happen in payroll and business and 157 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,360 stuff like that. So there I am struggling. 158 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,960 I'm going into my own manager's office like 6 times a day. 159 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,720 You know, I, I was the guy who would assure the customer that I 160 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,560 would get back to them and let them know the answer to their 161 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:02,880 question because I couldn't give it to him in the moment. 162 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,920 And then I would just run off with my notebook and be like, 163 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,560 OK, what did this mean and what happened and how badly did I 164 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:15,560 mess this up and etcetera. All of which brought me all of 165 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:19,440 that finds me at a time a few weeks into the job where I'm 166 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,040 sitting in the break room and I see they've actually posted 167 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:26,600 something on the cork board saying they're looking for a 168 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,120 training manager and I thought they're looking for a training 169 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,400 manager. I'm glad they're looking for a 170 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:33,240 training manager. It would have been great if they 171 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,280 already had a training manager. But but here's an opportunity 172 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:40,280 and I am fresh from out of the fire. 173 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:45,680 So I made an appointment, walked into the one person HR 174 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:51,000 department, sat down, introduced myself and explained that I was 175 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,440 really interested in this posting and I was hoping that 176 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,120 they would consider me for it and that I had these ideas and 177 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,400 that, this and that and the other I, you know, all of this. 178 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,080 And the woman sitting across from me, her name is Patricia. 179 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,320 Amazing person. We got to be great friends in 180 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,640 the future. She's sitting there in her 181 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:08,960 inimitable way, hands folded, smiling. 182 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,600 She's just she's just letting me run down, you know, everything I 183 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,560 have to say. And at the end she says, James, 184 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:20,000 well, I really appreciate you coming in to talk to me about 185 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,520 this. We'd kind of like to see how you 186 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:28,600 do at the job we just hired you for before we promote you into 187 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:32,000 this, into this position. But, and I give her credit for 188 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,560 this, she said if the efficient, if the position is still open 189 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:40,400 after the end of the year, come back and see me. 190 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,640 And I remembered that and I thanked her and I went back and 191 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:48,760 I lived out my life as a, you know, struggling payroll 192 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:53,400 accountant and came back to her office and at that point 193 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,880 explained how much I learned and that I was still very interested 194 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,920 in it. And she gave me the job. 195 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,760 So wow, that was. I knew that was gonna happen. 196 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,640 That was the beginning. That was the beginning of my 197 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,800 next 23 years doing things related to training people and 198 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:15,080 creating learning solutions and figuring out what this whole L&D 199 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,720 thing is, which at the time, of course, that was not on my radar 200 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:21,080 at all. You know, I all I knew was I had 201 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,840 people in front of me who needed help and there was materials 202 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,840 that I knew had been used before that I was expected to use going 203 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,800 forward that I had used. And they didn't work for me. 204 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,720 So I didn't want to, I didn't, I didn't want to just repeat, you 205 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,040 know, wash, rinse, repeat process. 206 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:38,800 Yeah, yeah. Exactly. 207 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:41,600 So that's so that's the very beginning. 208 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,160 And I think the important thing to take away from that story is 209 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:49,720 recognizing that it's it was my experience, that it wasn't my 210 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:55,360 experience that allowed me to move the ball down the field to 211 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,440 be given an opportunity. All it took was me being 212 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,960 passionate enough about the problem and having and being 213 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,920 solution oriented that someone recognized that having me 214 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:13,840 working for them on that project or in that capacity would make 215 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,000 their life easier rather than harder. 216 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:20,920 Yeah, yeah, I love that. And that's what LM DS all about. 217 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:25,160 That's what it's all about. I love it that you you're a 218 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:26,720 theater person. I could see. 219 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,640 I can tell just from your voice and stuff that that would be an 220 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,840 expectation or an assumption of mine because your voice is just 221 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,120 and you the way you present yourself, you have so much 222 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:39,160 confidence when you're presenting or when you're you 223 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,640 know, you're the the person who's moderating stuff in the 224 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:43,200 sessions. I just love that about you. 225 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,480 I think you're one of the best people that I've ever seen, like 226 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,200 moderate some of those sessions and just be on a stage. 227 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,480 It's really interesting because a lot of us and people in the 228 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,640 audience too, that are in the L&D space, we kind of fell into 229 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,120 these roles. I took the more of the, I would 230 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:01,880 say, quote UN quote, the traditional path. 231 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:04,880 I was a high school teacher and then I transitioned into 232 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,800 e-learning and then went into higher education instructional 233 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,320 design. But I love the fact that your 234 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,080 story is not the traditional path. 235 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,760 Like you got a job because you're trying to make a trying 236 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,800 to make a living, you're trying to pay the bills and then you 237 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:19,680 kind of just put yourself out there. 238 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:23,040 You're very proactive about, you know, going into the office and 239 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,920 explaining why you'd be great fitter, the solutions that you 240 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,240 could just from knowing what you were doing. 241 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:33,000 I think that's that's so that's so cool and it and to me, like 242 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:34,680 that says a lot to our audience too. 243 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,720 Like don't just wait for somebody to come give you the 244 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,280 position. I think a lot of us are like, 245 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,160 we're stuck maybe in the old arcade days, like, oh, after 10 246 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,560 years, I'm really going to get that promotion from Bob and he's 247 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,120 going to see all the hard work I did and then it never comes. 248 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:53,920 Yeah, yeah. Well, that I love that you 249 00:14:53,920 --> 00:15:00,840 mention that because, because it is one of the things that I 250 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:05,360 learned by doing by putting myself into the business world. 251 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:11,560 And it just, you know, sink or swim resulted in me picking up 252 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,800 some ideas about how it all worked and what I needed to do 253 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:19,040 to succeed and what didn't work by virtue of experiencing it. 254 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,680 And I want to go back. First of all, thank you very 255 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,040 much for what you said about me as a presenter and and etcetera 256 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:30,760 facilitator. I just want to say for the folks 257 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:32,560 listening, 'cause this is about them. 258 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:35,520 Like this is a conversation we get to have, but in my mind, 259 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,800 it's all about whoever decides to tune in and listen to this 260 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,400 episode, what, you know, how are we making their day better? 261 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,560 That kind of thing. I just want to say that the 262 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:55,240 confidence that is perceived is, is part construct and part 263 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,640 choosing where to put my attention. 264 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:04,240 So if, for example, I were to tell you, putting my attention 265 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,520 on my audience didn't necessarily help me reach my 266 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:12,360 audience, that might not be the first thing you would expect. 267 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,240 I mean, kind of think, well, where you put your attention is 268 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,200 where the energy goes. And, and that's what we're, 269 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,200 that's what we need to do, right? 270 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,400 We've heard focus is important and putting yourself in the 271 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,240 shoes of your, of your learner or your listener or your, in 272 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,840 your case, your audience, right. But one of the things that I 273 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:32,080 learned as a performer, A musician, playing on stage with 274 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:39,560 a band, doing my own music, acting in plays, auditioning. 275 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:44,320 Yeah, that stuff scares me. Which is, which is it's a that's 276 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,880 a whole nother. Like there's a wonderful, 277 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,560 there's a wonderful story to tie the art of auditioning with 278 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,360 succeeding in business, which maybe we can get into. 279 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,480 But for now, I just want to say I learned early on that in those 280 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:03,600 moments when I was on stage, that if I detected my focus or 281 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,720 my attention moving away from what was happening in the 282 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:12,640 moment, away from my other actors, away from what my 283 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,680 thoughts needed to be related to what I was doing. 284 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,599 I'm, I'm channeling Yoda here. I'm like, never his mind on 285 00:17:20,599 --> 00:17:23,119 where he was, what he was doing, right? 286 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:28,240 Anytime my attention drifted, anytime I started to imagine 287 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:32,560 seeing myself as others were seeing me, the wheels came off 288 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,320 crash and burn. So one of the reasons why I get 289 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,040 so excited about presenting and facilitating these days is 290 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,800 because I spend time. And I know I'm going to spend 291 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:49,040 time beforehand asking myself the question, why am I doing 292 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,400 this? What is it that I care about? 293 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,560 What is the best possible outcome? 294 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:00,400 And is this fun and answering those questions for myself so 295 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,280 that I can facilitate a networking event and be 296 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,800 passionate and outgoing and hopefully engaging because I 297 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:13,920 truly care that everyone who's there is gonna have a great 298 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:15,840 experience. That's what I care about. 299 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:18,680 So I just lean into that. Like, what do I care about? 300 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,040 Why am I here? And pretty soon I'm not thinking 301 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,000 about myself. I'm not thinking about how I'm 302 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,800 doing. I'm not thinking about what I 303 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,720 said 2 seconds ago. I'm just in the moment and I'm 304 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,880 present. And everyone, no matter what 305 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,000 circumstance you're going into that may feel uncomfortable, if 306 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,240 you ask yourself those questions and you teach yourself to get in 307 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:44,520 touch with that part of you, that is the why you know why 308 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,160 you're doing it, why you're doing what you do. 309 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:50,640 You will feel more confident, you will seem more confident, 310 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:55,600 and you will actually be better at what you're there to do. 311 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,400 So that's that's my my hope that people sort of shake away. 312 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,320 I love that and that's what I think about with the podcast. 313 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,120 That's what I think about every time I present. 314 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,400 Like I want to be so on and prepped for the, what I'm 315 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,920 sharing with the audience that I want them to feel like, you 316 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:17,160 know, when people say to me at the end of like a presentation 317 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,720 or the end of like a, a conference, you know, 318 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,640 interaction or something that they feel more confident and 319 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:28,200 they feel ready to start again or they feel more motivated. 320 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,680 That's exactly what I want to happen. 321 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:33,880 That's exactly what I want. I want to give back. 322 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:38,240 I'm just, you're at the stage in your career where you're like, I 323 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,560 just want to share what like you, what I've learned and don't 324 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,840 make the same mistakes as me. It's kind of like raising 325 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,600 children, like the we don't want our kids to make the same 326 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,000 mistakes that we made as we were growing up or, you know, 327 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,880 learning different things. And I think what you're kind of 328 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,760 alluding to here is an imposter syndrome that kind of flutters 329 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:57,920 about throughout L&D. And. 330 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,920 I think people really struggle with that. 331 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,800 Yeah, absolutely. Imposter syndrome is running 332 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:09,280 rampant, and it's obviously not limited to our industry. 333 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,040 It happens everywhere. But there's an aspect of what we 334 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:16,640 do that involves putting yourself in view. 335 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,920 You know you can. You can have a job where no one 336 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,920 ever sees you do what you do. IT. 337 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:24,960 Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I was 338 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:26,560 actually. Thinking about them permits. 339 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,160 I was like in the, I was in the server room, you know, in my 340 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,440 mind, they were like looking at the keyboard sticking out of the 341 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,600 wall anyway. But yeah, the point is, it is 342 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:38,240 true that there is an aspect of the all the things that get 343 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,680 folded up into our larger world, whether it's talent development, 344 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,280 human resources, learning and development, you know, creating 345 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:47,840 the solutions, delivering the solutions, presenting the 346 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:49,760 solutions, pitching the solutions. 347 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,880 I mean, there's a lot of people there's, it's all, it's all 348 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,960 people all the time. You know, when and many people I 349 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,640 speak to who are getting into instructional design talk about 350 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,280 how excited they are to learn the tools and create the stuff 351 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,080 and tap into their inner creative, artisanal, what have 352 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,800 you to produce, right. And that is fun. 353 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,920 And I spent 20 years loving that I could do that. 354 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:20,800 But as I came to lean into this chapter of my career slash life 355 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:27,400 experience, I thought about what mattered to me and where I felt 356 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:33,480 the most at home. And despite being that guy for 357 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,240 all those years that, Oh well, we need this built like James. 358 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,800 James is up on that. He's up on the latest tech he 359 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:41,760 knew. He's the guy who's teaching 360 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:43,600 other people how to use this tool we just bought. 361 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,360 You know, I was that guy. Right, like you're the expert. 362 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,160 Exactly. But where I really shine and 363 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,080 where I personally get the most satisfaction and gratification 364 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:58,760 is in the conversations with people that are about to decide 365 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,680 what to do next. Those moments where decisions 366 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,600 get made. Those moments where a direction 367 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,000 that you've been going in for a long time suddenly forks and you 368 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,600 choose to go off in a new direction. 369 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,840 And one of the wonderful things about how learning and 370 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,480 development I see is transitioning as a result of the 371 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,240 latest influx of technology is that we're being given tools 372 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,120 that allow us to be more flexible in the moment we can 373 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:28,800 create the resource. And I just talked, I'm gonna 374 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:33,400 drop a name, Jen Kamerdiner. She's one of the lovely people 375 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,160 that I have worked with directly as a client of Lighthouse L&D 376 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,000 Consulting in the past few years. 377 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,760 She has a company called Clear Path Learning Solutions. 378 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,640 They're, they're a great, they're a great firm on a great 379 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:52,360 L&D firm with great leadership. That said, one of the things 380 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,200 that I posted about I commented on a post of hers just today on 381 00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:01,520 LinkedIn was to say Once Upon a time, the problem was that 382 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:08,320 figuring out how to position all the resources needed for a team 383 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,880 equidistant from the point of need. 384 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,440 Meaning it would be just as easy to get this resource when you 385 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,560 needed it as it was to get that resource. 386 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,080 Think of the person or business in the center of a circle and 387 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,000 all the resources needed to make everything keep running smoothly 388 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,840 in a circle around them. You know, equidistant in every 389 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,200 direction. The problem was, even if you 390 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,720 could set up a system like that, you couldn't scale it because 391 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,920 the knowledge that was required of the person or the business or 392 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,000 the team in the middle of the circle at any given moment, 393 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,880 depending on what was fluctuating in their business 394 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,280 world, wasn't. That was the IECE that was 395 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,080 missing. Meaning they know there's a 396 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,560 problem, they know they need to react, but they didn't know what 397 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:58,360 tool to use to react, how to react, when to react, unless 398 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:01,080 they could find that person who had that knowledge trapped in 399 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,440 their head or it was in a learning module or etcetera. 400 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,480 So you can't scale because there's always that moment where 401 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,200 you sort of jam the gears, you know, shift up. 402 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:11,920 You're trying to, you're trying to upshift you. 403 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,080 Bottleneck things, yeah. Yeah, like you get this little 404 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,800 bottleneck, right. So, but now with AI and the 405 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:22,240 tools that we have to make it possible for on the fly people 406 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,240 to ask the question that they need answered and get the 407 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,200 information that tells them exactly what resources to tap 408 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,160 into. Now we're flying. 409 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:32,880 Now I. Love it. 410 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,600 That's the advantage of this new world we find ourselves in, and 411 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,400 it's what we've always wanted. We've always talked about 412 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:43,080 creating learning paths that were flexible and customizable 413 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,560 and specific to the learner and the need of it. 414 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,600 So much work in the background. Yeah, yeah. 415 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,600 Oh my God. To create that, Yeah, right. 416 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:58,560 And a week, a month, a year from now, so much has changed that 417 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,920 all those mechanisms are like train tracks leading nowhere. 418 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,040 Like so all the work you did to build it in the first place, 419 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:10,000 you're like, well, it's hard to convince the higher ups to throw 420 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,760 that much money at the problem to do it all over again. 421 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,320 Because you see immediately, well, we're going to be in the 422 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,520 same situation. So we have to, you know, we have 423 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:18,800 to figure out a new way of doing this. 424 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:23,320 But now with the where we find ourselves now, and this is what 425 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,840 gets me excited when I see people like you and David Kelly 426 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,160 and Karen North and Tom McDowell. 427 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:30,840 I just read his newsletter this morning. 428 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,800 The all. Those oh, I love Tom. 429 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,920 Oh gosh, he's so great. They're dropping these truth 430 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:41,240 bombs, suggesting that hey, rather than being afraid of the 431 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,960 what these tools like AI can do, get excited about how you can 432 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:50,120 leverage those tools to do what we've always dreamed of, right? 433 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:54,920 Don't be afraid of the tool. Be excited that now what we've 434 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,720 always wanted to create and have told people would be the ideal 435 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,240 solution, we actually get to here. 436 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,440 Yeah, I know. It's fantastic. 437 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,680 And the thing about it is it's like the people that are 438 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,280 resisting are creating the stigma around it that is truly 439 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:16,080 unnecessary at 25 years into the 21st century. 440 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,120 I everything that. So I just recently, I use a tool 441 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:24,120 called Motion. I'm not getting any things from 442 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:25,800 them. I honestly have been using it 443 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:30,720 for about a year and they just incorporated some AI, they call 444 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,280 them AI employees. So they each do like different 445 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,280 things. And one of mine is that it 446 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,360 responds to e-mail messages. It's like it drafts it. 447 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:41,200 It just writes a draft to the e-mail that somebody sent me. 448 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,120 And I'm like, this is a game changer for me because I spend 449 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:49,440 as a director so much time curating the correct words or 450 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,520 what to say or how to respond, you know, and like, be a 451 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,360 perfectionist. And it's just saving me so much 452 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,960 time. And I'm like, one thing I really 453 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:03,960 truly feel is that instructional designers or people in learning 454 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:08,440 and development now get the space to actually be creative 455 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,560 instead of worrying about the scripting, instead of worrying 456 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:16,840 about the, the whole like outline of the course and trying 457 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,040 to figure that out in five to seven days or something like 458 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:21,920 that. Like it's already done. 459 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,360 So you really get to be in that design element. 460 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:26,960 You really get to be in that development piece and be super 461 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,520 creative. It's been what I've been hoping 462 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,600 for and wanting for my entire career as an instructional 463 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,680 designer is something to take off that pressure so I can sit 464 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:40,680 in this space and just figure out new ways to kind of tap the 465 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,960 psyche, the motivation, all that psychology stuff that goes into 466 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:46,640 instructional design. Yeah, yeah. 467 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,400 Yeah, it's it's amazing. I I don't know how people live 468 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,440 without AI. How, how do we do it? 469 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,280 It's like before the Internet. Yeah, yeah. 470 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,360 Well. So, so, so let, I'll add 471 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,640 something to that because I agree with that. 472 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,360 But again, thinking about so people, people who may this, 473 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,680 this is the thing about change. The thing about change is it's 474 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,120 always uncomfortable, right? The reason change is 475 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:17,320 uncomfortable is because you are not yet lined up with what comes 476 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:21,400 next, right? Being shown a new way of working 477 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,120 or a new circumstance, or your your team is being reorganized, 478 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:29,000 or you've got a new manager. Like all of those things feel 479 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:33,000 uncomfortable because we put our focus on what is different, what 480 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,520 we don't have any more that we used to have or that we knew. 481 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,880 We put our focus there. And we tell that story over and 482 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,960 over again, you know, in the break room to our wives, to, you 483 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,040 know, we just, we just we just a bit about the fact that, oh, 484 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:47,120 they don't know what they're doing. 485 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,120 They're they're the. Typewriter is gonna last 486 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,160 forever. It's the main. 487 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,640 Yeah, yeah. Whatever, whatever it is, just 488 00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:02,760 recognize that the change, that what you don't hear in that in 489 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,040 the complaining conversation is this. 490 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:10,160 That if you are fundamentally someone who appreciates and 491 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:14,000 understands how to get in the minds of someone who needs to 492 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,280 learn something, you are going to be that person. 493 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:21,840 Provided you get out of your own way and allow yourself to lean 494 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:26,440 into some of these new resources and tools that business needs to 495 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:33,640 help them create good content. And that piece of it, that's, 496 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,400 that's what you're not hearing. You're only hearing how instead 497 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:41,640 of me, the AI is doing all the work. 498 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,760 And the, and the answer is the AI can do, the AI gives you that 499 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,320 flexibility, right? And I had no idea that this is 500 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:49,640 where this conversation was going to go. 501 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,440 Me either and I but I'm loving it so much. 502 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,320 Yeah, but just, but just think about the flexibility we were 503 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,480 talking about a minute ago. The AI is giving you the ability 504 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,720 to pivot and one of the biggest problems with old 8 L&D models 505 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,400 that I'm sure many of thus anyone who's been in the career 506 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,720 for 10 years or more understands. 507 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:12,920 You have those projects that got started back in the day and took 508 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,480 forever. And when it was done, you 509 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,480 realized, Oh my God, if if we were, we're launching this, but 510 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,600 if we had started working on it last month, we wouldn't be 511 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,800 launching this. We'd be creating the thing that 512 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,720 we actually need, but we have to launch this because this is 513 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,800 where we spent all the money. So we have to start tracking how 514 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,160 effective it is and did it move the needle and do we get an ROI, 515 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,800 blah, blah, blah. But the joy of thinking smaller 516 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,120 and bigger at the same time is that we have the tools that 517 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,920 allow us to create the as needs solutions when they are needed. 518 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:51,880 And if we can all sit back and recognize that the business 519 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:56,200 world as our lives is moving and changing so quickly that 520 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,280 attempting to plant a flag at any point along that journey and 521 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,240 say this is where we're going to stay and we're going to live and 522 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,600 we're going to focus on this problem and we're going to solve 523 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,720 this problem is an outmoded way of thinking. 524 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,640 You have to assume that you are you. 525 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,560 We are all running. We're all in a race. 526 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,840 And the trick is to figure out what are the small things you 527 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:20,320 can fix fast and quickly along the way to enable everyone else 528 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,400 to keep running. You know, just keep people from 529 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,800 stumbling. Don't worry about bringing them 530 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:29,240 all back into the dugout and, you know, talking to them for 45 531 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:30,600 minutes about how to play the game. 532 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,480 No, the game goes on. You got to fix it on the fly. 533 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,680 You know what I mean? 100% And I love the baseball 534 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,680 analogy because it's a fantastic one. 535 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,880 So as we're coming to wrap, this has been a great conversation. 536 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,200 I've loved what you've been saying here, but we have a lot 537 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,920 of listeners who want advice. You know, you probably get, I'm 538 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,600 just going to assume LinkedIn messages about how you're doing 539 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,640 all that you're doing and doing it so well. 540 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,800 I get tons of LinkedIn messages, especially from transitioning 541 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,840 teachers about like, how did I get into L&D? 542 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,240 How did, how do I have like this vast network? 543 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,120 Like what did I do? Like every time somebody asks me 544 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:13,280 that, I'm like, it's really not just one thing, it's a, it's a 545 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,880 lot of different little things. I kind of bring it all together, 546 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,440 but coming from you, I'd love to know any advice you have for 547 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,120 people who are looking to transition into learning and 548 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,720 development or start their own business like you have. 549 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,920 They really want some takeaways like they want to listen up. 550 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,240 So they're like, what are the what are the three things we can 551 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:37,440 do today? Well, it's I, I appreciate the 552 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,800 opportunity to speak to it. And I just want to say upfront 553 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:42,880 that I'm going to quote Tom McDowell. 554 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,480 As a matter of fact, I'm going to say I'm not an expert and the 555 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:55,640 and I don't know is a viable answer, but but I will say I if 556 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,440 for me to answer the question, the only way I can answer it is 557 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,960 from my own experience. So it comes with that caveat, 558 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,240 meaning I don't expect everyone who's listening to this to 559 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,400 necessarily line up with everything that I think and nor 560 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,320 do they find themselves in my circumstance. 561 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,240 Everyone has their own and they're all doing the best they 562 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:20,320 can to to work within what they feel like are the constraints 563 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:22,080 put upon. Them 100%. 564 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:27,920 So, so if you imagine yourself, if you're not a transitioning 565 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,320 teacher and you're listening to this, just put yourself in 566 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,440 there. Put yourself in the mindset of 567 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,040 someone who is in that situation. 568 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:39,080 You're leaving what feels like a career that you have sunk your 569 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,960 heart and soul into and countless hours and a lot of 570 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:46,600 your own money in the hopes of making of helping people and 571 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,720 helping people succeed. I mean, that is the primary goal 572 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,560 of teaching is that you want to lift people up. 573 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,760 You want to help people do what they want to be able to do and 574 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:56,240 give them good advice along the way. 575 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:02,600 And now you are trying to find work in an arena where every 576 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:07,320 like the the ecosystem of education is nowhere to be 577 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:11,440 found. So all all the rules have 578 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,400 changed, all the requirements have changed, all the 579 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,760 expectations have changed. And yet the fundamental thing 580 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,199 that you want to continue doing is the same. 581 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:24,840 So there are a lot of what I call artificial constraints. 582 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:30,120 Anyone can stand or sit as I am here and say, well, if you want 583 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,520 to succeed, you're going to need to learn this and apply this and 584 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,880 understand this and, and, and basically buy into all of the 585 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:42,199 reasons why what you do is different, right? 586 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,600 And the problem in my opinion with that approach is that you 587 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,320 will never get to where you're trying to go. 588 00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:54,040 You will be forever trying to learn the thing, upskill, 589 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,280 acquire the knowledge, build the reputation, etcetera, etcetera. 590 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,080 You will just be on a treadmill that never gets you where you 591 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,440 want to go. So I would say this, don't focus 592 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:09,120 on what is different and don't focus on what other people are 593 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:10,960 saying that you have to do first. 594 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,880 Throw that out the window my in my opinion, and focus and focus 595 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:21,200 instead on the area in which you would truly like to be teaching. 596 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,480 OK, maybe you were an algebra teacher, maybe math. 597 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:29,360 Maybe math has been the thing that made you excited because 598 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,240 you love the solving of the problems and you like seeing the 599 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:35,640 light go on in people's eyes when they realized, oh, I can 600 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:40,880 plug anything in and it works. You know, figure out what area 601 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:45,080 of business is doing things that makes you feel this way. 602 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:49,800 You feel about your primary area of interest, like what it is 603 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:54,600 that you love, why you love teaching what you teach and make 604 00:35:54,600 --> 00:36:02,120 your goal to be forming connections with that field and 605 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:07,360 those individual companies that are doing that thing in the day 606 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:13,760 of ATS and resumes being it's like, it's like processed food, 607 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:15,400 right? The difference between food and 608 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,920 processed food is the difference between the resume that in that 609 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,800 Once Upon a time was sort of telling a story and then became 610 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,760 a thing designed for machines to allow a hiring person to have 611 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,560 less, less, fewer resumes on their desk, right? 612 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,960 That was the goal, right? Let me have to spend less time 613 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:36,160 wading through my applicants right that so so. 614 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,600 So interesting to me is that we've created these barriers 615 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,520 that people have created companies for to overcome these 616 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:43,640 barriers. So there's ATS companies, 617 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,080 companies that focus on the fact that you can't get through an 618 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:48,360 ATS system and you pay them to figure out how to. 619 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,040 Yeah. Anyways, that's a conversation 620 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,000 for another day, but that bothers me. 621 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,520 Absolutely, absolutely. And but the, But the point here 622 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,800 is that if you focus on the problem, if you focus on the 623 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,840 obstacle, you will forever be focused on, you will forever be 624 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,120 dealing with the obstacle and the problem because there's 625 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,120 always another way to try and solve that problem, right? 626 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,400 Because some you know, you, you, as you said, the companies are 627 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:16,280 lining up people on LinkedIn, people on social media lining up 628 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,560 to give you the plan that guarantees that you will be able 629 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:23,280 to jump all of the hurdles as the hurdles keep client keep 630 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,120 getting higher and higher and higher, right. 631 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:29,760 So my feeling has been I look at my past, I look at my journey 632 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,160 and I say, when did my moments of success happen? 633 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,520 How did they happen? What, what were they the result 634 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,680 of me efforting my way into the room? 635 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:43,240 Or did they happen because suddenly a door opened? 636 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:48,080 Because I was fully, because I was so focused on the thing that 637 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,720 I wanted to do and was excited about that. 638 00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:52,520 People came in to see what I was doing. 639 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,040 The door opened and people came in, People came to me. 640 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,800 I'll use another acting analogy. The difference between stage 641 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:04,680 acting and being on camera has to do with whether you are 642 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,560 putting yourself out there far enough for the audience to feel 643 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:14,880 like they're inside you in a play, and being so at one with 644 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:19,400 who you are that the audience gets pulled into you when you're 645 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,160 on camera. OK, so I'm going to say think of 646 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:28,320 yourself as a movie star less than a Shakespearean actor. 647 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,800 Don't be worried so much about what you're putting out so that 648 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,440 people see you the way you think they need to see you based on 649 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,440 your ever changing thoughts and what you're being told about 650 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,240 what they need to see. IE putting yourself in the box 651 00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:45,960 someone else created when they don't even know themselves what 652 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:47,880 needs to be in it, but they're happy to tell you. 653 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:52,040 You have to align with all those things and instead focus on what 654 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,480 brings you joy. And that's going to be really 655 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,880 uncomfortable. It could be very uncomfortable 656 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,040 to change your focus that much and to really start spending 657 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:04,360 time with yourself and asking yourself if I didn't have to 658 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,160 worry about what anybody else thought of me. 659 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:08,360 If I didn't have to worry about what anybody else said I should 660 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:09,880 be doing. If I didn't have to worry about 661 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:13,680 following all of these rules, all of these rules, what would I 662 00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:15,400 do? What would I want to? 663 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,400 Be my God, I'm super inspired right now. 664 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,920 Need to reflect more. Yeah, well, that's and that's 665 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:26,320 it. That's it, man, slipping into 666 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:30,640 my, as people say to me often. You said people reach out to you 667 00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:32,640 and ask you questions about this stuff all the time, right. 668 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,600 I'm like, people reach out to me and say you're a little rough 669 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:37,280 around the edges, but I like that about you. 670 00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:41,880 I don't think it'd be like that at all. 671 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,560 I really don't I. Really. 672 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,160 Don't, but that's funny that they say that. 673 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:49,480 But the reflection, you are absolutely right. 674 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:50,840 And that is really the heart of it. 675 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:57,800 And and more than any other thing like sure, I could say go 676 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,360 where? Go where there are fewer people, 677 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,640 meaning don't stand in the largest crowd and expect to be 678 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:12,000 spotted right. And don't think, don't think of 679 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:17,920 companies as fortresses. Companies are made-up of people, 680 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:23,400 and they're just like we know now that everything that appears 681 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,960 to be solid matter is actually made-up of atoms that, 682 00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,480 relatively speaking, are miles apart from each other inside 683 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:32,600 this thing. Anything we, you know, the table 684 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:36,120 in front of me, I tap, it feels solid, but it's actually empty 685 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:39,120 space. It's mostly empty space made-up 686 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:44,560 of individual atoms. Well, companies are made-up of a 687 00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:49,160 lot of space that exists between the people that run them and 688 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:52,720 everybody has a job to do. So when you see a social media 689 00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:55,440 post, for example, don't think of it as the voice of the 690 00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:57,840 company, even though that's what the company wants you to think. 691 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,000 The company doesn't want there to be any personal association 692 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,360 with an individual. They want to say this, this is 693 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:08,120 our mask, this is our, this is our, our, our map to for 694 00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,280 success. This is what we do a large scale 695 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:15,200 structures, etcetera. But the reality is, is there, 696 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:18,080 there's somebody who worked till 8:00 last night to make sure 697 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,320 that that post went out and looked the way it did and made 698 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,760 the last minute correction that their CEO demanded, etcetera, 699 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:27,360 etcetera, etcetera. Talk to the company like you 700 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,120 were talking to the people in the company. 701 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:34,240 I have had so, so much of my success. 702 00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:37,640 I have not, I have not. Like, it's not like I carved it 703 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,800 out of the rock with a pickaxe. Like I'm, I'm, I don't, I don't 704 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,600 like sweating, you know, I don't, I don't want to work 705 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:49,320 really hard on things that don't immediately give me a sense of 706 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,800 joy as I'm working on them, right? 707 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,800 Efforting is not my way. But when I look back at any 708 00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:59,400 success that I've had, I recognize it's because I have 709 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:06,160 allowed, I have allowed the connection that led to the 710 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,720 opportunity that led to the success. 711 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:13,200 And we all need to be, I think, working harder. 712 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,920 Not, you know, joke tongue in cheek. 713 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:22,840 We need to be working harder at allowing those connections to 714 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,560 happen. Yeah, 100%. 715 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,120 James, this has been a great episode. 716 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:31,840 I've really enjoyed this. Tell people where they can 717 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:33,600 connect with you. Where can they find you? 718 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,600 So it's a great example of not doing things the traditional 719 00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:42,720 way. I started Lighthouse L&D 720 00:42:42,720 --> 00:42:47,880 consulting because someone wanted to work with me and they 721 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:53,920 assumed and they assumed that they could because they figured 722 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,840 I had to be offering my services out as a consultant. 723 00:42:58,720 --> 00:43:01,800 And so I immediately said, yes, that is exactly right. 724 00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:06,120 And my company is called this and I will be happy to work with 725 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:09,040 you. And then I had to go create my 726 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:11,240 company. I had to create. 727 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:13,560 I had to create a presence. I had to create a brand. 728 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:15,360 I had to think about what I wanted to do. 729 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:18,680 Now, that isn't to say that two weeks prior to that, I hadn't 730 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,360 stood in my living room and said to my amazing wife, Julie 731 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:26,800 Sherwood, that all the things that I was not going to do 732 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,680 anymore, the things I was not happy about, the things the box 733 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:32,400 I didn't want to put myself into and what I did want. 734 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:36,280 I just did a tirade to the universe about what I want and 735 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:40,000 what I don't want. And that, in my opinion, is what 736 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,720 that was the door. That was the door that opened. 737 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,160 I opened it for myself. I said I'm going to allow myself 738 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,840 to believe that I can do what I want and not do the stuff I 739 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:51,840 don't want to do. And two weeks later, somebody's 740 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,920 reaching out to me, assuming I have a business and wanting to 741 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:57,000 pay me. Yeah, that's. 742 00:43:57,920 --> 00:43:59,760 Awesome, so I don't have a website. 743 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,320 I still don't have a website. I've been doing this for 2 1/2 744 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,480 years and the only place that I ever the the where I like to 745 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:08,360 focus is LinkedIn. So I put all of my time and 746 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:13,240 energy on LinkedIn so people can find me at my LinkedIn address, 747 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:16,480 which is basically the LinkedIn URL plus James we're. 748 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:18,880 Gonna have it. All OK. 749 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:20,640 Yeah. Yeah, it's all gonna be there 750 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:22,520 for you. So I'm so glad that you're out 751 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:26,120 of LinkedIn world. It, it, it, it's a great space. 752 00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:29,480 It's, you know, some people kind of bashed on it, but I don't 753 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:31,800 know where I'd be without LinkedIn at this point in the 754 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,960 community and the support and all the people that are there. 755 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,840 I don't think I would truly be motivated to go and do these 756 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,640 things you're say doing like find your passions, don't do the 757 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:43,440 things you don't want to do, do the things you want to do. 758 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,320 It's just, it's so inspirational. 759 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:50,000 So thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your 760 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:53,000 experiences and talking with all these different things about us. 761 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,160 I know the audience is like probably like, wow right now and 762 00:44:57,160 --> 00:44:58,680 they want to come out and talk to you. 763 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,720 And everything will be in the show notes about how to connect 764 00:45:01,720 --> 00:45:04,800 with James out on LinkedIn. And of course, if you have 765 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,840 questions, reach out to me, reach out to him. 766 00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:10,800 We're happy to to support you if you're making this transition 767 00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:13,320 into L&D. So, James, thanks so much for 768 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,640 coming on the show. My absolute pleasure. 769 00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:20,320 Thank you for the questions. That's why I like to do podcasts 770 00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:23,080 because I never know what I'm going to say and I don't know 771 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,480 what I think until I say it. So you've just given me more 772 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,720 clarity, which I love, and I just want to double down and 773 00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:32,360 repeat what you just said to anyone listening to the show 774 00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:36,160 you. What if you have a question? 775 00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:39,160 If you feel like you should be closer to the answer than you 776 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:43,080 are, and you want to reach out to someone and get help, Holly 777 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:46,320 is an amazing person to talk to. I am happy to talk to you. 778 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:49,880 The field of L&D is full of generous people, and the only 779 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,680 thing standing between you and getting those answers is your 780 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,680 willingness to ask for the help that you need. 781 00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,560 Absolutely, absolutely. Well said. 782 00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,560 Thanks, Holly. Hi, we're Ice Spring, an 783 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,480 international team of e-learning enthusiasts who help more than 784 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:09,000 60,000 clients across the globe succeed with better online 785 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:11,440 learning. Our two flagship solutions are 786 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,120 ispring Suite and ispring Learn LMS. 787 00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:16,534 Ispring Suite is an intuitive, all in 788 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:33,720 Go to www.ispringsolutions.com to learn more about us and 789 00:46:33,720 --> 00:46:36,360 connect. Thanks for spending a few 790 00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:38,680 minutes with Holly. She knows your podcast queue is 791 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:41,400 packed. If today's episode sparked an 792 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,600 idea or gave you that extra nudge of confidence, tap, follow 793 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:49,280 or subscribe in your favorite app so you never miss an episode 794 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:52,560 of Ed Up L&D. Dropping a quick rating or 795 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:56,040 review helps more educators and learning pros discover the show, 796 00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:58,000 too. Want to keep the conversation 797 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:00,280 going? Connect with Holly on LinkedIn 798 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:02,600 and share your biggest take away she reads. 799 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:05,440 Every message. Until next time, keep learning, 800 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:08,080 keep leading, and keep believing in your own story. 801 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:09,040 Talk soon.