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3 ideas that will benefit your learning and skills that have nothing to do with AI

Human is still cool, ya know...

Author

Ross Stevenson
February 24th, 2026

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 TODAY’S THOUGHTS ☠️

Hey there 👋,

This strange thing happens when I appear on podcasts, online events or in real life ones (which is super rare).

People introduce me as an “AI strategist” or “AI expert”, neither of those statements is true. I have and always will be a learning strategist focused on learning technology.

While AI is part of my work, it is not ‘the work’. The real work is about enhancing human performance with learning. I assume that since everyone on LinkedIn is calling themselves an “AI strategist” these days, this is where the confusion arises.

Because of that, it seems to surprise newer people to my work if I talk about anything other than learning and AI.

This always makes me laugh because I’ve been covering the human side of learning technology for nearly 8 years now in this newsletter and the STT blog. I recently shared that one of my ambitions in 2026 was to bring more of a human and analogue focused lens to my work alongside all the tech coverage.

So today, I’m sharing 3 ideas that will benefit your learning and skills that have nothing to do with AI.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

P.S. Your app might clip this edition due to size. If so, read the full edition in all its glory in your browser.

 IN THIS DROP 📔

  • Finding purpose in the noise

  • The L&D product dilemma

  • How I stopped losing my most valuable ideas

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 THE BIG THOUGHT 👀

3 Ideas That Will Benefit Your Learning and Skills That Have Nothing To Do with AI

Shocking, I know

God damn AI, am I right?

It's everything, everywhere, all at once, and kinda feels like a chokehold at times, or maybe that's just me.

Yes, I have contributed to this myself in my domain of learning. I love to endlessly explore how modern technology can enhance and amplify human learning, but these AI bros on social media are making it hard for me to keep enjoying that.

Nonetheless, while AI is cool, sexy and is an integral part of the infrastructure of how work and learning are done, we have more to life than those two little letters.

So, I thought what better way to bring some balance to AI everything than by sharing some good old-fashioned analogue tools that any human can plug and play.

My promise in 2026 is to do more of this alongside all the good learning tech stuff you know me for.

Ok, now that's outta the way...let's get to those ideas:

1/ Finding purpose in the noise

There’s a lot of noise in the world.

We compare ourselves to others we shouldn’t, fear the tech takeover and continue to be glued to sensationalist headlines curated by outlets that position themselves as ‘news’.

It’s tough, and I feel it too.

Before the tidal wave of AI, 'purpose at work' used to be one of the top drivers in both L&D and employee engagement strategies. It's fallen to the side in the rush to jump on the AI bandwagon, yet, it feels like a crisis of purpose could be on the rise.

If AI is threatening to do everything that we do, where does that leave me and you?

It’s for that reason that purpose both at work and in real life is having more of a moment. A 2025 Deloitte survey across 44 countries with 24,000 participants uncovered that 89% of Gen Z and 92% of Millennial respondents class purpose as paramount to job satisfaction. We see this backed up in research from Gallup, where they discovered that employees with a strong sense of purpose are 5.6x more engaged with work than those with low purpose.

So, bottom line…purpose, meaning, or whatever you label it, is incredibly important in work and life.

The natural question becomes: 'How do I define my purpose?', a big question, but one only you can answer. I shared a few strategies that have worked for me in this pursuit in a recent edition of my newsletter. I'm not saying they're 'the way', but they're 'a way'.

2/ Would you pay to use your own L&D product and services?

DRAMA...

But I feel like it has to be said, as it is the ultimate test in my opinion.

If you’re not prepared to cough up, let’s say, $100 a year to use your L&D product, then don’t expect your workforce to do it.

This is the same question I ask when crafting my products and services. We each vote with our time, attention and money. It’s the ultimate compliment for someone to say ‘yes’ to all three.

I can sleep at night knowing I say YES to these.

I encourage you to reflect on the same at the start of every year when everyone talks about ‘Learning Strategy’.

Don’t just focus on strategy, understand the value.

Ask your whole team, if this was a paid product, would we all pay to use it?

The answer to this is everything you need to know.

Dropbox, the cloud storage provider, was created in this way. Drew Houston, the CEO, was so frustrated with existing solutions that he built his own. He pays for it, and it turns out millions would pay for it too.

If you wouldn’t buy your own product, why should anyone else?

3/ A simple skill-building system to stay at the cutting edge

Ahh skills...why do we insist on making it so hard?

Our industry is built to support best in class skills, yet we find so many ways to make it complicated with complex terminology like oncologies, taxonomies and the latest ‘skill-based systems’, whatever that means.

I feel exhausted just reading that last sentence.

It can be simpler, it should be simpler.

Part of my rituals at the beginning of the year involves analysing my skillset, but with none of the complex tools our industry chucks at us. Instead, I use something much simpler to ensure I have the most cutting-edge skills to do what I do, and keep ahead of the pack.

This is what I do.

I grab a notebook or open a doc and do the following:

  • List my current high-level skills

  • The emerging technology, trends and challenges in my industry

Then, I ask these questions:

  1. What skills are expiring and no longer serve me and/or the world today?

  2. What skills do I need to evolve to meet the demands of today?

  3. What are the emerging skills I can get ahead of?

Yes, it’s that simple.

You can call me crazy, but I believe you could graft this onto a much larger population of a workforce, too. We’re often convinced that it all needs to be complex to be valuable, but that’s not right.

Sometimes the simple things can have the biggest impact.

Final thoughts

Ok, that’s it for this one, friend.

Expect more analogue and digital tools to keep coming your way. At the end of the day, we all know that any tool is only good in the hands of a competent human.

→ If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it wherever you hang out online, tag me in and share your thoughts.

A MESSAGE FROM DEEL

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 VIDEO THOUGHTS 💾

How I Stopped Losing My Most Valuable Ideas With A Little Help From AI

Long videos and podcasts are packed with valuable ideas, but how much of them do you actually remember?

In this video, I share my personal workflow for using AI tools to extract key ideas, insights, and takeaways from long-form content like webinars, interviews, and lectures. I’ll show you how to break it down efficiently without losing depth or meaning.

You'll learn how I combine AI tools like NotebookLM, smart questioning, and human review to move from passive watching to active insight generation.

Enjoy 😊.

Till next time, you stay classy, learning friend!

PS… If you’re enjoying the newsletter, will you take 4 seconds to forward this edition to a friend? It goes a long way in helping me grow the newsletter (and cut through our industry BS with actionable insights).

And one more thing, I’d love your input on how to make the newsletter even more useful for you!

So please leave a comment with:

  1. Ideas you’d like covered in future editions

  2. Your biggest takeaway from this edition

I read & reply to every single one of them!

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