Key takeaways:
- There is no playbook for L&D right now. Leaders are being held accountable for proving business impact, building leaders who perform under change, operating at speed, and defining L&D’s role in AI — without a clear answer for any of it.
- Peer intelligence is replacing best practices. In its first year, the Learning & Development Board grew to nearly 175 senior L&D leaders across 58 companies — helping each other to make smarter decisions on AI strategy, impact measurement, org design, vendor selection, and more.
- The leaders who move fastest aren’t the ones with the best frameworks. They’re the ones with access to real peer insights at the moment they need it, and that’s what year two of our community is focused on.
A year into building the Learning & Development Board, one thing is clear: there is no playbook for L&D right now.
Not for proving the impact of learning initiatives. Not for building leaders who can perform in constant change. Not for how to use — and scale — AI. And yet, L&D leaders are expected to have answers.
That’s the challenge our members have faced: high expectations, low clarity.
What we’ve seen over the past year is that the most valuable conversations aren’t about best practices. They’re about what’s working, what isn’t, and what people are trying next — because in this environment, no one has it fully figured out.
A Year of Building, in Numbers
The L&D Board started with a simple idea: if you bring together the people doing this work — at the scale and seniority of real enterprise L&D — the conversations would be different.
A year in, the community has grown to nearly 175 L&D leaders across 58 companies, including AbbVie, Allstate, Dell Technologies, Fidelity Investments, Medtronic, Southwest Airlines, T-Mobile, Target, Prudential Financial, Boston Scientific, and Liberty Mutual.
These are heads of L&D, leadership development, sales training, and talent enablement — running real programs, against real budgets, inside the world’s largest organizations.
“The Learning & Development Board provides an invaluable forum for senior learning leaders to address the most pressing challenges in our field. By fostering a trusted, peer-driven environment, the Board enables members to exchange best practices, explore innovative approaches, and collaboratively shape future strategies.” — Kim Troxell, Head of US Commercial Learning & Development, AbbVie
The 5 Questions L&D Leaders are Being Held Accountable For
Across hundreds of conversations, the same five questions keep surfacing as career-defining pressure points:
- Can you prove L&D is driving measurable business outcomes? “We have data, but it’s not telling a clear story.”
- Are your leaders able to perform in today’s environment? “We’re investing in leadership, but not seeing behavior change.”
- Can L&D operate at the speed and scale the business requires? “We can’t keep up with demand.”
- Is L&D focused on the right priorities? “We’re not in the right conversations.”
- What is L&D’s role in AI? “We’re experimenting, but don’t have a clear direction.”
These are showing up in budget reviews, leadership conversations, and day-to-day decisions.
The Learning & Development Board provides an invaluable forum for senior learning leaders to address the most pressing challenges in our field. By fostering a trusted, peer-driven environment, the Board enables members to exchange best practices, explore innovative approaches, and collaboratively shape future strategies.
Kim Troxell, Head of US Commercial Learning & Development, AbbVie
What’s Actually Emerging
A few patterns we’ve seen across industries:
- L&D is becoming a decision function, not just a delivery function. The hardest part isn’t building content. It’s knowing what to do, when, and why.
- Speed is becoming the competitive advantage. As one member put it: “It’s like having experts on speed dial.”
- Peer insights are replacing static best practices. Static frameworks aren’t holding up against the pace of change.
- AI is creating urgency, but not clarity. Everyone is experimenting. Very few have a clear operating model.
- Leadership development is under pressure to prove itself. Not participation. Performance.
How Members are Helping Each Other
Not polished case studies — real moments where decisions were shaped.
Pressure-testing an AI strategy. A member who recently moved from a long-standing HR role into Talent Management used our North American Learning Executive Summit to shape her organization’s AI approach. “The sessions and conversations played a pivotal role in shaping our AI strategy and approach for Global Operations. Hearing from peers and experts about the practical challenges and innovative solutions around AI helped me pressure-test decisions and avoid potential missteps as our team moved forward.”
Validating how to measure training impact. Another member used the community as a brainstorming partner while exploring personalized, predictive learning journeys. “It has served as an effective forum to test whether an initiative we’re exploring is working, how to identify potential pitfalls, and how to surface the right partners to engage along the way.”
Course-correcting in real time. As David Curtis, Sr. Manager of Leadership and Employee Development at Pacific Gas & Electric Company, described it: “These insights have prompted me to reassess some of my approaches and course-correct where necessary, leading to more effective outcomes.”
Finding validation — not just answers. As Nicole Krause, Director, Headquarters Learning and Development at Target, put it: “I really appreciate hearing from other companies that are experiencing similar challenges. It has served as inspiration and validation that we are not alone in the problems we face.”
What came up repeatedly wasn’t just what was discussed — but how we’re creating solutions for L&D leaders.
“A truly open, non-competitive environment where knowledge is freely shared and real challenges are tackled through thoughtful peer-to-peer conversations — without the noise of vendor selling.”
I really appreciate hearing from other companies that are experiencing similar challenges. It has served as inspiration and validation that we are not alone in the problems we face.
Nicole Krause, Director, Headquarters Learning and Development at Target
What’s Changing in Year Two
Year one was about understanding the problem. Year two is about going deeper on solving it.
- More working sessions, less broad discussions. Smaller groups, real challenges, live problem-solving.
- Sharper focus on the 5 questions L&D leaders are being held accountable for.
- Increased focus on AI — practically, not theoretically. Not “what is AI?” but: What are you actually using? What’s working? What’s scalable?
- Leadership grounded in real experience, with top L&D leaders shaping the agenda.
- Structured around in-progress decisions, not abstract trends.
Join the Learning & Development Board for More Insights
L&D leaders are operating in a function that’s being redefined in real time. The question isn’t whether you have all the answers — it’s whether you have the right people to think them through with.
What we’ve seen over the past year is simple: the leaders who move fastest aren’t the ones with the best frameworks. They’re the ones with access to real insights at the moment they need it.
“The Learning & Development Board has been an exceptional space to connect with peers across a wide range of companies and industries. I’m grateful for the openness of this community — its willingness to share, support, and help one another grow.” — Kendra Smith, Head of Talent & Learning at LyondellBasell
Learn more and join your peers leading L&D at the world’s largest companies to get the full story of what actually works (and what doesn’t) that you won’t hear from other sources.
