When Learning Finally Becomes The Work with Lori Niles-Hofmann

About this episode

Corporate learning used to measure success by the size of its course catalogue and the number of completions. That world is fading. Employees now have access to commercial-grade learning inside tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, and leaders expect proof that learning actually shifts performance, culture and results.

Lori Niles-Hofmann thinks this is the reckoning the profession has needed for years.

Lori is a long-time learning strategist and co-founder of Eight Levers, with more than twenty years of experience in L&D across international banking, consulting and marketing. She specializes in large-scale digital learning transformation and helps organizations use data, platforms and design to make learning a business driver instead of a content factory.

Her book, "The Eight Levers of EdTech Transformation: A Field Guide to the New Future-Focused L&D," lays out a practical model for CLOs who know that the role must evolve.

In this episode of Leadership NOW, we talk about:

• Why L&D will be under extreme pressure from external learning experiences if it does not change • What it means to stop being a course factory and start running campaigns built around triggers and performance • Her view of the LMS as invisible middleware, living inside tools like Copilot, rather than a portal people “go to” • How to work with HR, IT and finance as part of a skills supply chain instead of a standalone training shop • The learning–work continuum, where every task can become a learning opportunity that feeds directly into output • Learning triage, closed-loop reporting and how data can move L&D from order taker to strategic partner

Lori also shares why she believes we are only millimeters away from truly contextualized, personalized learning experiences at scale, and what learning leaders must do now to be ready.

Find out more:

Lori Niles-Hofmann: https://www.loriniles.com/

Dan Pontefract and the Leadership NOW podcast: https://www.danpontefract.com