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Today’s Thoughts ☠️

Hey there 👋,

With it being the night before Christmas, I’ll assume you either won’t see this till you land back at your desk (if so, hang in there friend) or you’re doom-scrolling through your emails from boredom.

Either way, I’m glad you’re here.

Since we’re reaching the end of another year, it felt right to do a bit of a reflection and recap (I can’t say ‘rewind’ as a certain streaming service has that IP) some of the biggest thoughts we covered in 2024.

I’ve written 132,000 words across 52 editions to 4,000 people in 2024.

These thoughts might not be the most popular according to my stats, but they’re the ones I believe are the most meaningful and that I enjoyed writing.

Today I’m sharing the 7 best thoughts from the newsletter in 2024.

And guess what? I want to hear your favourite too. Hit ‘reply’ to share yours.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready, 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

👀 In today’s chat:

• How is AI impacting your skills?
  

• 5 skills that matter for the future of work

• Get your ideas valued by mastering storytelling

(P.S. What do you think workplace L&D teams need to do to drive meaningful value for their business in 2025? Answer this one question survey to share your thoughts, and get exclusive access to the findings in January).

 THE BIG THOUGHT 👀

7 Thoughts I Loved Writing in 2024

1/ How Skills Killed The Job Title And Why That’s Not A Bad Thing

Despite 2024 continuing the trend of AI (and don’t worry, this list will feature some of that), I’m starting off with something more cultural in the business world.

At one time, the job title ruled all.

When I started my career, no one cared about your skills, just what you do at a company. I always found that bizarre. Today, thankfully, we seem to care more about having the skills to do the tasks businesses require of us.

Here’s my take on this shift.

Note: This is not about the continual debate in L&D about skill based organisations. I’ll leave that bickering to the LinkedIn gurus.

2/ How To Design Meaningful AI Skills Programmes

Obviously, I can’t not talk about AI.

Despite all the talk, I don’t see much focus on actually crafting structured and meaningful AI skills programmes. So, I decided to pull back the curtain on the playbook I’ve been using to help teams do just this.

I cover everything from discovery, skills maturity and 9 killer questions you must ask stakeholders.

3/ The Hidden Costs of Overcomplicating Learning

Let me be frank, a lot of L&D peeps make workplace learning incredibly complex.

Don’t fall into this trap. It’s much simpler than most make it, and if you want to do good work, you’d be wise to ask “What would this look like if it were easy?”.

4/ How To Get More People Adopting AI at Work To Build Modern Skills

Are we our own worst enemy with workplace AI adoption?

Many companies are facing challenges with AI adoption, and many of these are self-inflicted.

Here are just a few of the common pitfalls ↓

1. Banning AI tools or locking them into stale sandboxes with restricted features and constant surveillance.

2. Shadow AI adoption (my favourite term today), aka, workers secretly using AI to stay competitive and not fall behind.

3. Shame and fear of using AI tools at work

4. Assigning AI research and adoption to non-technical or junior staff who lack the expertise.

5. A spray and pray approach to support in building skills with company tools

AI adoption isn’t just about learning 'how' to use tools.

→ It’s about transformation.

It requires a fundamental shift in behaviours, mindsets, and skills - not just technology. If businesses fail to address this, they’ll continue to create more problems.

5/ How To Get Your Ideas Seen, Heard and Valued with Masterful Storytelling

While AI has been all the rage, and probably will be in 2025 too, we’re still in the business of people.

I’m a big believer that good stories entertain people, but great stories change people.

Without great storytelling skills, I wouldn’t be here writing these words or working with global brands. That might sound braggy, but it’s not my intention.

It doesn’t matter how great your product, project or career is if you can’t tell a compelling story about it.

6/ What’s The Real Impact of AI on Your Skills?

I love me a good bit of AI indulging as the next human.

But…all this rapid transformation has had me thinking…what impact are these tools (really) having on our skills?

My end goal with any tech is to nurture learning and improve performance.

It’s still early days, yet we’re seeing some positive and worrying trends emerge.

This thought has been my favourite to research, write and share with you. It seemed to have landed well too.

So, those 3 months of work were worth it.

7/ The 5 Skills That Matter For The Future of Work And How To Build Them

The future is human-powered, there! I said it.

Sorry to make all the AI social media gurus cry. I’m not onboard your AI-first train.

I spend about two months every year reading all the skills research I can get my hands on from global institutes. While it’s important to build some form of AI skills, as with other technologies, you need more than tech skills to thrive.

📝 Final thoughts

We have one more edition in 2024, so I’ll save my final reflections until then.

For now, thank you for joining me as always, and enjoy your holiday and end of year celebrations. P.S. Don’t forget to share your favourite thoughts with me too.

👀 ICYMI (In case you missed it!)

• A whole new world of learning with AI voice and vision.

• Why most companies are their own worst enemy with AI adoption at work.

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!

 TECH THOUGHTS 💾

I first shared this at the start of 2024, but it still has a lot of value.

If you have a paid ChatGPT license and want to try your hand at building a AI assistant, this is for you. I will be updating this in early 2025, along with more ‘how-to’ videos with other AI assistant building tools.

This tutorial will help you write effective instructions for your GPT.

P.S. Wanna build your L&D advantage?

Here’s a few ways I can help:

• Build your confidence and skills with the only AI course designed for L&D pros.

• Become a better L&D partner with the Art of Performance Consulting.

• Get a backstage pass to exclusive industry insights, events and a secret monthly newsletter with a Cult of Thoughts membership.

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