The Learning Business

“The learning business” is a concept at the heart of our work. Having now written and spoken about it in many places, we thought it would be helpful to pull together some our most essential learning business resources into a single page, representing a sort of informal curriculum. These are materials you can work through individually, or – much better from our point of view – use as the basis for ongoing departmental or team discussions and planning within your organization. We’ll return to this page often over time to flesh it out and update it, so we recommend that you bookmark it.

Keep in mind that if you offer learning experiences to adult learners as part of your business model, we view you as being in the learning business. It does not matter whether you are selling learning directly – e.g., as a main business or business line – or whether it is part of the value proposition for a broader business model – e.g., a member benefit. Either way, you are in the learning business.

Learning Business Podcast Episodes

To start with, here are the Leading Learning podcast specifically dedicated to the concepts of “the learning business” and “leading learning.” Keep in mind that we provide extensive show notes for all of our episodes, so even if you don’t want to listen, clicking through will provide you with content you can read on each topic.

• The “Why” of the Learning Business
  As the title suggests, in this episode we discuss why we believe the concept of the learning business is so important. We start with an abbreviate version of our definition of the concept, in case it is not already familiar.

• The Learning Business Manifesto
  The manifesto is intended as a succinct way to state some of the key ideas and principles that should drive a successful learning and education business.

• The Learning Business Professional
  We believe that the people who work in learning businesses fulfill a very different role from those found in the other types of education and training organizations. And because it is a different role, it requires a different mindset, skill set, and body of knowledge.

• The Learning Business Maturity Model
  The Maturity Model brings it all together into a framework to help organizations assess capabilities and to surface problem areas – and then provide a clear way to move from problem to opportunity and from there, towards innovation. You can also read more about and download the related resources in this foundational post on the topic.

• Exploring What It Means to Lead Learning
  Finally, our vision of the learning business is underpinned by our view that the most successful and impactful organizations lead learning in the fields and industries they serve. In this episode, we discuss what that means.

Additional Episodes

All of the items linked to above contain or point to additional resources, but here are direct links to several other episodes that are very closely related to the concept of the learning business. Again, keep in mind that there are extensive, text-based show notes to go with each of these episodes.

• The Mainstreaming of Lifelong Learning
  Until recently, “lifelong learning” has been a sort of musty old term. No longer. In this episode we discuss why.

• 10 Critical Shifts in the Market for Lifelong Learning
  The learning landscape has changed and continues to change dramatically. In this episode, we highlight what we see as 10 of the most critical shifts organizations need to be tracking.

• One Word: Impact
  Long term success in the learning business really comes down to whether your efforts are having an impact. In this episode, we discuss what that means and the implications for organizations in the learning business.

• The New Learning Landscape: Two Shifts and a Gap
  In this episode we discuss two critical shifts – an economic shift and a power shift – that have occurred in the market for adult lifelong learning and the gap they have created.

Other Learning Business Resources

We offer a range of free resources for learning businesses on our main resources page.  For your convenience, we thought we would highlight a few of the most essential ones here.

• The Market Insight Matrix
  Succeeding as a learning business requires really understanding your market – and then leading it. The Market Insight Matrix is an essential tool.
• The Value Ramp
  One of simplest, and yet most powerful tools, the Value Ramp can help you develop a product strategy that makes sense.
• The Learning Business Maturity Model
  We reference this above, but it is such an important resource, we want to be sure you don’t miss it.
• Learning Platform Selection Resources
  Technology is such an important part of the new learning landscape that we want to be sure you know we have these resources available.

Again, you can find other valuable resources on our main resources page. Please note that everything mentioned here and nearly everything mentioned in the resource center is free. We make these resources free because we feel it is extremely important to spread knowledge about the concept of the learning business as broadly as possible. To that end, we would be truly grateful if you would make use of the social sharing buttons you find on this and other pages to share these resources with others.

Thanks so much,

Jeff & Celisa
Tagoras