Learning 2017: Blog 2. Smart people saying smart things at Learning 2017

Sometimes quotes and oneliners of speakers are enough to get a lot out of. I always get inspired by specific things people say. Whether there very conscious of choosing their words like Michelle Obama or whether they also like to try out new things like Julian Stodd, words are always somehow chosen in the brain to express thoughts.

So for you I have gathered some quotes from speakers at Learning 2017 that inspired me. They are not always literal but they are what has been said. Read them and ask yourself: What do I think?

• CLO McDonalds: Be a learning leader as well as a business leader. The job of the learning department is to keep away all barriers for not learning. You would want the company to work for the people. Not the other way around.
• Elliott on gamification: Gamification is about finding the learner engagement and fun is part of the process.
• CLO Comcast: The “now” is more and more about the future.
• Deloitte: The process of personalisation helps us understand what people really need.
• John Lithgow: Silence in a story, when you least expect it, can be very powerful.
• John Lithgow as a learner: Make learning a habit.
• Richard Culatta: It’s hard to learn in an environment, where your thoughts are not challenged.
• IBM: We are not learning enough from other professions, marketing is also now a technology profession. And they weren’t like that a couple of years ago.
• IBM: You don’t need to become a coder yourself, but you do need to understand the technology to decide on the next steps in your learning strategy.
• Bob Mosher: Performance support is all about: Give me enough so I can get back to work.
• Julian Stodd: The socially dynamic organisation is not constrained in any sense. Change is part of daily life.
• Julian Stodd: Social exclusion is important in organisations and the reason people don’t speak up. Neurologically we want to be part of the group.
• Julian Stodd: There is no lack in engagement ever, people just decide what we engage in.
• Julian Stodd: Trust in organisations is not one thing, it is a basket of things. Every individual different views and different definitions.
• The Home Depot: A learning solution evolves. It doesn’t happen overnight. And there is a lot of failure along the way to make it better.

Michelle Obama

Highlight of the event was definitely the key note of Michelle Obama. It is impossible to describe the vibe in the room when Michelle Obama walks in. It is also impossible to explain what a wise woman she is. How she touches hearts by being able to understand the issues we struggle with every day, as people, as women, but especially as mums . She spend a surprisingly amount of time talking about her own family life and what that looks like for them. She discussed the book on her garden with vegetables and how she started the conversation on healthy eating when her own daughter gained weight.  But she also discussed education and how she is passionate to work with girls all around the world to help them get the education they deserve. Because it is impossible to describe all of this I have just collected some bits of what she said:

• Presidency doesn’t change you, it reveals who you are
• There is no onboarding for presidency. You don’t get a training or a book “how to do it” And that would be impossible anyways. So you have to learn it on the job. But the job of being president is too hard to learn on the job.
• Learning for her in “on boarding’ herself meant meeting people. She invited former first ladies in the white house. Make sure you learn from people who’ve been there before you, they have been where you are and it is important to stay connected.
• On education for little girls around the world she said: How can kids that don’t have all the technology we have, have the same chance in society. We need to help them.