When Everything Is Changing, Invest in What Doesn't

Uncertainty isn’t a temporary condition anymore. We can’t just wait it out. It may simply be the new name of the learning and development game.

AI is a perfect example. Not just because “AI is moving fast”—I think we’ve all said that enough—but because the ground underneath our investments keeps moving. An L&D capability that felt custom, expensive, and cutting-edge six months ago can suddenly show up as a standard feature in a tool you already own.

That’s exciting, but it’s also incredibly disorienting if you’re responsible for L&D inside an organization.

• How do you make smart investments when the technology keeps changing?
• What should you build? What should you buy? Who should you hire?
• Where should you experiment—and how do you keep speed from turning into slop?
• How do you create something today that won’t feel obsolete before you’ve finished rolling it out?

I keep coming back to one answer: When everything is changing, invest in what doesn’t.

Content Creation Has Gotten Easier. Development Hasn’t.

Content libraries were around before AI. Now, with AI’s powerful tools, I am seeing the industry create more and more. But just because we can, doesn’t mean we should or that it’s needed.

AI can generate a course remarkably fast. The first time you see it happen: wow.

Then we do it again and again and again. Another explainer video. Another podcast. Another branded job aid. Another infographic. Another polished piece of content competing with thousands of other pieces of content employees already don’t have time to consume.

And that leads to an important distinction: Access to content is not the same as experiencing development.

An employee may appreciate having a huge, self-paced eLearning library available, or having access to AI-generated podcasts on a weekly rather than quarterly basis. They may love having an AI coach or agent available exactly when they need help.

But ask someone about the most meaningful development experience of their career and they probably won’t tell you about the library they had access to.

They’ll tell you about a leader who believed in them or a cohort they learned alongside.

Maybe they’ll describe the leader who gave them a stretch assignment or a coach who challenged their thinking.

For most people, personal and professional development is enhanced when they engage with others in person.

I saw that firsthand at the CLO Exchange last month in Park City, Utah—and kudos to whoever picked the location. These smaller learning conferences where you spend three days together—sharing meals, sharing ideas, sharing honest stories about the reality we face—have been the most meaningful experiences I’ve had this year and a way for me to stay on top of industry trends, challenge my own thinking, and build new relationships in an ever evolving industry.

When you give people space to get out of their day-to-day environment, meaningful conversations and new relationships open minds and doors.

Creating the Human Experience

What if we became more intentional about creating the human experiences that support and enhance development?

Consider something as familiar as an internal train-the-trainer initiative.

In many organizations, becoming an internal facilitator can feel like one more responsibility added to someone’s already-full job: “Congratulations! In addition to everything else you do, we’d like you to teach this course.”

But what if we designed the initiative as career and leadership development instead?

Imagine people applying or being nominated to become part of an internal faculty. They participate in an immersive certification experience. They practice together. They receive coaching from experienced facilitators. They earn a meaningful digital credential that they can carry with them and share professionally. They’re connected to a faculty community. They gain visibility with leaders across the organization.

Now facilitating isn’t just a task—it’s an opportunity to build executive presence, confidence, communication skills, relationships, and organizational visibility.

The company gets scale. The person delivering that scale gets development.

That’s a very different value proposition. The same is true for leadership development.

We absolutely could—and should—give every leader access to digital learning, an AI coach, videos, tools, and resources.

But imagine pairing those scalable resources with an experience leaders genuinely look forward to: a cohort of peers, time away from their normal environment, conversations about real leadership challenges, opportunities to practice, reflect, and maybe even participate in some wellness or movement activities.

Not because we’re trying to make learning feel like a vacation, but because human beings sometimes need to get away from the relentless pace of work long enough to think differently. And it sends another message that matters: We think your development is worth your time.

Use AI to Elevate the Human Experience

As digital interactions become more common, real human interaction can become one of the most valuable assets L&D can offer.

We are living in a renaissance period where we can create content in seconds, freeing up our time. Let’s allocate that time to investing in experiences that bring people together and help them grow.

AI still has a role to play, but it should be designed to elevate—not replace—the human experience. For example, let AI:

• Help someone prepare for an in-person program by reflecting on a current leadership challenge
• Generate a difficult conversation they can practice before coming to class
• Personalize examples based on someone’s role
• Remind participants of commitments they made during an offsite
• Provide just-in-time coaching weeks later when the real situation shows up

Teams invest in offsites because AI and Zoom can’t reproduce what happens over dinner. This is the same reason people join professional communities. Access to information isn’t enough—people want access to other humans wrestling with the same things they are.

We crave interaction, connection, physical environments, conversation, laughter, reflection, and sometimes simply a brain break. Those aren’t inefficiencies we need AI to engineer out. They’re part of what makes development work.

Build for What Will Still Matter

None of us knows exactly what AI will be capable of a year from now. That’s the uncertain—and uncomfortable—part.

But we actually know quite a bit about what people will still need.

They’ll need leaders who give them feedback, along with opportunities to practice difficult things in safe environments.

They’ll need moments to step away from the day job and think, as well as exposure to people and ideas outside their usual circles.

They’ll need to feel that someone cares about and is investing in their growth. And they’ll need help making sense of constant change.

In the meantime, let’s not mistake creating learning content with actual learning and development.

Zack Kass talks about a future of “unmetered intelligence”—a world where intelligence itself becomes abundant and increasingly inexpensive. I think there’s an important implication in that idea for those of us in L&D.

When intelligence is abundant, content is infinite, and answers are available on demand, what becomes scarce?

Time, attention, connection, belonging, and shared experiences.

The feeling that someone thought your growth was important enough to create something meaningful for you.

In other words: A meaningful experience with other human beings.

And in an uncertain world, that may be one of the smartest investments L&D can make.