The Science Behind The Art Of Storytelling

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by Lani Peterson | November 14, 2017

This is the first of two posts co-written by Lani and Vanessa Boris, Senior Manager, Video Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Storytelling has the power to engage, influence, teach and inspire listeners. That’s why we argue for organizations to build a storytelling culture and place storytelling at the heart of their learning programs. There’s an art to telling a good story, and we all know a good story when we hear one. But there’s also a science behind the art of storytelling. Here’s how it works, starting with the science of the non-story: We’ve all listened to (and […]

Helping Leaders Become Teachers Is Hard, But It’s Worth It

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by Diane Belcher | November 8, 2017

The value of leaders being teachers When your leaders play a teaching role, the upside is tremendous. Having leaders who are closely engaged in formal employee development brings much-needed context and direction to work. Providing such context and direction helps establish a consistent and clear message across the organization – especially important in times of great complexity. Leaders are uniquely positioned to present concepts within their company’s specific context, and to show employees how learning aligns with business strategy and goals. This context takes learning from abstract to practical, as leaders connect the dots for employees and help them see […]

Strategic Thinking: Because Good Ideas Can Come From Anywhere

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by Janice Molloy | November 7, 2017

As part of our update to the Harvard ManageMentor Strategic Thinking topic, we asked Mason Weintraub, Director of Digital Engagement at Oxfam America, about the importance of strategic thinking. Here’s what Mason had to say: I often think I’m expected to have all the answers about what to do with digital strategy. But the reality is that I lead a very talented team, and one of the ideas that we have tried to engender on the team is that good ideas can come from anywhere. “Good ideas can come from anywhere.” Most of us recognize the wisdom embedded in that statement, […]

Highlights From Learning 2017: Change Is Difficult, But Necessary

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by Jen Sprague | November 6, 2017

Each year we gather in Florida with 1800 learning professionals for Elliot Masie’s Learning conference. Featured speakers this year included John Lithgow, who shared his insights on storytelling, and an interview with former First Lady Michelle Obama. In keeping with the storytelling theme, our sponsored session featured Tanya Brubaker of Johnson & Johnson, who shared Johnson & Johnson’s innovative program designed to align and drive innovation in their R&D group. Here are a few more of our key takeaways from Learning 2017: 1. The role of learning and development is changing Roles in the learning organization must change to adapt to digital […]

Creating Agile Learners With Harvard ManageMentor

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by Diane Belcher | October 17, 2017

It’s a complex world out there, and leaders and organizations must be able to quickly adapt and cope with continuous change.  Doing so requires that they master learning agility: the ability to let go of old ways of thinking, to stay open to new experiences, to experiment with new approaches, to take smart risks, and to learn quickly from both successful and unsuccessful outcomes. Learning agility is crucial to navigating today’s complex business environment. In fact, learning agility is one of eight critical leadership capabilities that we at Harvard Business Publishing believe all leaders need to learn and master to […]