Take it from the 2015 LearningElite winner's CLO herself — a learning leader's development is never complete.
by Ed Cohen
June 8, 2015
In April at the most recent Chief Learning Officer Symposium in Miami, the LearningElite rankings were announced, and Qualcomm topped the list. They have had a long legacy of learning since the 1980s under the leadership of Tamar Elkeles. I first met Tamar back in 2000, when I joined The Conference Board. She was very active in the same group as me. We had the opportunity to share and learn from all of the members. Tamar has always been on the forefront of learning. Her passion and enthusiasm is contagious and highly motivating.
The day after the awards ceremony, I had the chance to catch a few minutes of her time to speak to me about my favorite topic: what learning leaders can do to development themselves throughout their careers.
Tamar sited three important development opportunities that she told me had the most influential on her career. They were:
- Networking with colleagues and peers from being a part of different organizations
- Future of Learning at Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Economist program on innovation
Now, Tamar is not just a lifelong learner and CLO of the top-ranked organization on this year’s CLO LearningElite list, she is also an author with two books that I highly recommend be on every learning leader’s bookshelf.
The first is her newest, which she co-authored with Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Jack Phillips, called “Measuring the Success of Learning Through Technology: A Guide for Measuring Impact and Calculating ROI on E-Learning, Blended Learning, and Mobile Learning.”Her other book, published in 2006, remains a staple for CLOs and is called “The Chief Learning Officer.” Tamar teamed with Jack Phillips to write this book, which describes how the CLO and the learning function adds strategic value to organizations.
I think that one of the best ways to know how other learning leaders became successful is to find out from them on how they develop themselves. What about you? What development opportunities have you experienced that had a profound influence on your career? Send them to me and I will be happy to pass the information along to learning leaders.
Next up, building a learning strategy in times of uncertainty — seems like the new status quo. Have you built a solid learning strategy during times of uncertainty that received the buy-in from leaders? If so, share your experiences, and I will feature you in this blog. Please send your thoughts to me at ed@nelsoncohen.com by June 17.
