What can top brands teach us about e-learning?
E-learning designers are still catching up to what brand differentiation experts have known for a long time. Experience matters.
Consider Bubly, a maker of sparkling water, recently purchased by PepsiCo. Bubly doesn’t try to differentiate at the product level: in a blind taste test between Bubly and LaCroix, participants were unable to tell one from the other. Instead, Bubly focuses on the consumer’s experience of the product.
To begin, there’s the enthusiastic welcome: each can features a pull-tab greeting that mimics text messages – “hey u,” “hiii,” or “yo,” – simulating the kind of playful rapport you might have with friends and family. Next, the product’s peach, pineapple, and grapefruit-toned cans and smiling logo work together to convey positivity, creating a look and feel that aligns seamlessly with its slogan: “no calories. no sweeteners. all smiles.” Finally, Bubly gamifies buying. As writer Elizabeth Demolat points out, no store stocks all twelve flavors at any one time, leading to online and in-person buzz about where to find specific flavors. This strategy, along with the release of a variety of limited-edition flavors, has essentially turned “the act of purchasing a product into a treasure hunt.”
Bubly’s brand differentiation leverages enthusiasm, emotion, and excitement—experiential elements that echo the design pillars of best-in-class e-learning. Here’s how to incorporate each.
- Enthusiasm
Find new ways to breath energy into the experience. Take, for example, a short, animated video that uses action film motifs to explore emotional awareness in the workplace.
The sequence begins with an establishing shot of a manager providing constructive feedback to an employee. The action moves quickly into the employee’s brain, which is set up as a command center. A group of intelligence agents, straight out of Mission Impossible, look on with alarm. One more word from the manager on “areas for improvement,” and the emotion-regulating amygdala will be triggered, hijacking the employee’s normal reasoning processes. The intelligence agents strategize, introducing different tools and techniques that can be used to regain perspective, and the learning journey begins to take shape.
Greeted with a fresh, playful take on a critical workplace competency, learners are primed to go deeper.
- Emotion
How do you get beyond the rational regions of your brain – the ones that “control language, but not decision-making” – to tap into feelings and emotions? One particularly creative course on human anatomy leverages powerful visuals to reach learners on that deeper level.
Participants begin by learning that there are more nerve cells in the brain than stars in the Milky Way, observing a close-up of the brain’s circuitry dissolving into tiny specks lighting up the night sky. Because the underlying anatomy remains hidden, medical-aesthetics practitioners learn that they will essentially be working in the dark. The stars fade out slowly, one by one, until there’s nothing left on screen but total darkness—a strange, slightly unnerving experience that drives home the importance of understanding anatomical structures on a visceral level.
- Excitement
Give people something they’ve never experienced before by challenging the norms of typical training.
Data-protection policies, for instance, are critical safeguards wherever they’re in place, but existing e-learning on the subject is almost always designed as a passive, one-way transmission of information. One exceptional data-protection course takes a different approach, using live-action video and a dramatic soundtrack to depict a privacy breach occurring in real time.
While this can get gimmicky, immersing learners in a volatile environment with uncertain outcomes builds tension, a key lever for creating buy-in.
So, how can we help clients build better learning experiences?
Many clients see digital learning as a product, one that looks a lot like what’s already out there: didactic, uninspired, dull. By nudging clients toward digital learning courses that mirror what they already know about branding, we might just be able to help them build experiences that stand out in a crowd.
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In the 1990s, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) was the Big Bet. Companies launched tightly controlled pilot programs with hand-picked teams, custom software, and executive backing. The results dazzled on paper.
But when it came time to scale? Reality hit. People weren’t ready. Systems didn’t connect. Budgets dried up. The pilot became a cautionary tale, not a blueprint.
We’ve seen this before with Lean, Agile, even digital transformations. Now it’s happening again with AI, only this time, the stakes are different. Because we’re not just implementing a new solution, we’re building into a future that’s unfolding. Technology is evolving faster than most organizations can learn, govern, or adapt right now. That uncertainty doesn’t make transformation impossible, but it does make it easier to get wrong.
And the dysfunction is already showing up, just in two very different forms.
Two roads to the same cliff
Today, we see organizations falling into two extremes. Most companies are either overdoing the control or letting AI run wild.
Road 1: The free-for-all
Everyone’s experimenting. Product teams are building bots, prompting, using copilots. Finance is trying automated reporting. HR has a feedback chatbot in the works. Some experiments are exciting. Most are disconnected. There's no shared vision, no scaling pathway, and no learning across the enterprise. It’s innovation by coincidence.
Road 2: The forced march
Leadership declares an AI strategy. Use cases are approved centrally. Governance is tight. Risk is managed. But the result? An impressive PowerPoint, a sanctioned use case, and very little broad adoption. Innovation is constrained before it ever reaches the front lines.
Two very different environments. Same outcome: localized wins, system-wide inertia.
The real problem: Building for optics, not for scale
Whether you’re over-governing or under-coordinating, the root issue is the same: designing efforts that look good but aren’t built to scale.
Here’s the common pattern:
- A team builds something clever.
- It works in their context.
- Others try to adopt it.
- It doesn’t stick.
- Momentum dies. Energy scatters. Or worse, compliance says no.
Sound familiar?
It’s not that the ideas are flawed. It’s that they’re built in isolation with no plan for others to adopt, adapt, or scale them. There’s no mechanism for transfer, no feedback loops for iteration, and no connection to how people actually work across the organization.
So, what starts as a promising AI breakthrough (a smart bot, a helpful copilot, a detailed series of prompts, a slick automation) quietly runs out of road. It works for one team or solves one problem, but without a handoff or playbook, there’s no way for others to plug in. The system stays the same, and the promise of momentum fades, lost in the gap between what’s possible and what’s repeatable.
We’ve seen this before
These aren’t new problems. From BPR to Agile, we’ve learned (and re-learned) that:
- Experiments are not strategies. Experiments show potential, not readiness for adoption. Without a plan to scale, they become isolated wins; interesting, but not transformative.
- Culture is the operating system. If the beliefs, behaviors, and incentives underneath aren’t aligned, the system breaks, no matter how advanced the tools.
- Managers matter. Without their ownership and support, change stalls.
- Behavior beats code. Tools don’t transform companies. People do.
Design thinking promised to bridge this gap with user-driven iteration and empathy. But in practice? Most efforts skip the hard parts. We tinker, test, and move on, without ever building the conditions for adoption.
AI and the new architecture of work
Many organizations treat AI like an add-on—as if it’s something to bolt onto existing systems to boost efficiency. But AI isn’t just a project or a tool; it changes the rules of how decisions are made, how value is created, and what roles even exist. It’s an inflection point that forces companies to rethink how work gets done.
Companies making real progress aren’t just chasing use cases. They’re rethinking how their organizations operate, end to end. They’re asking:
- Have we prepared people to reimagine how they work with AI, not just how to use it?
- Are we redesigning workflows, decision rights, and interactions—not just layering new tech onto old routines?
- Do we know what success looks like when it’s scaled and sustained, not just when it dazzles?
If the answer is no, whether you’re too loose or too locked down, you’re not ready.
The mindset shift AI demands
AI isn’t just a tech rollout. It’s a mindset shift that asks leaders to reimagine how value gets created, how teams operate, and how people grow. But that reimagination isn’t about the tools. The tools will change—rapidly. It starts with new assumptions, new stances, and a new internal leader compass.
Here are three essential mindset shifts every leader must make, not just to keep up with AI but to stay relevant in a world being reshaped by it:
1. From automation to amplification
Old mindset: AI automates tasks and cuts costs.
New mindset: AI expands and amplifies human potential, enhancing our ability to think strategically, learn rapidly, and act boldly. The question isn’t what AI can do instead of us, but what it can do through us—helping people make better decisions, move faster, and focus on higher-value work.
2. From efficiency to reimagination
Old mindset: How can we use AI to make current processes more efficient?
New mindset: What would this process look like if we started from zero with AI as our co-creator, not a bolt-on?
3. From implementation to opportunity building
Old mindset: Roll out the tool. Train everybody. Check the box.
New mindset: AI fluency is a core human capability that creates new realms of curiosity, sophistication in judgment, and opportunity thinking. Soon, AI won’t be a one-time training. It will be part of how we define leadership, collaboration, and value creation.
From sparkles to scale
In most organizations, the spark isn’t the problem. Good ideas are everywhere. What’s missing is the ability to translate those isolated wins into something durable, repeatable, and enterprise-wide.
Too many pilots are built to impress, not to endure. They dazzle in one corner of the business but aren’t designed for others to adopt, adapt, or sustain. The result? Innovation that stays stuck in the lab—or dies.
Designing for scale means thinking beyond the “what” to the “how”:
- How will this spread?
- What behaviors and systems need to change?
- Can this live in our whole world, not just my sandbox?
It’s not about chasing the next use case. It’s about setting up the conditions that allow innovation to take root, grow, and multiply, without starting from scratch every time.
Here’s how to make that shift:
1. Test in the wild, not just in the lab
Skip the polished demo. Put your solution in the hands of real users, in real conditions, with all the friction that comes with it. Use messy data. Invite resistance. That’s where the insights live, and where scale begins. If it only works in ideal settings, it doesn’t work.
2. Mobilize managers
Executives sponsor. Front lines experiment. But it’s team leaders who connect and spread. Equip them as translators and expediters, not blockers. Every leader is a change leader.
3. Hardwire behaviors, not just tools
The biggest unlock in AI is not the model—it’s the muscle. Invest in shared language, habits, and peer learning that support new ways of working. Focus on developing behaviors that scale, such as:
- Change readiness: the ability to spot opportunity, turn obstacles into possibilities, and help teams pivot.
- Coaching: getting the best out of your AI “co-workers” just like human ones.
- Critical thinking: applying human judgment where it matters most—context, nuance, and ethics.
4. Align to a future-state vision
To scale beyond one-off wins, people need a shared sense of where they’re headed. A clear future-state vision acts as an enduring focus, allowing everyone to innovate in concert. That alignment doesn’t stifle innovation. It multiplies it, turning a thousand disconnected pilots into a coherent transformation.
5. Track adoption, not just “wins”
Don’t mistake a shiny, clever prompt for progress. A great experiment means nothing if it can’t be repeated by many people. From day one, design with scale in mind: Can this be adopted elsewhere? What would need to change for it to work across teams, roles, or regions? Build for transfer, not just applause.
The real opportunity
AI will not fail because the tech wasn’t good enough. It will fail because we mistook experiments for solutions, or because we governed innovation into paralysis.
You don’t need more control. You don’t need more chaos. You need design for scale, not just scale in hindsight.
Let’s stop chasing sparkles. Let’s build systems that spread.
How AI is accelerating leadership development by enabling more practice
In today’s fast-paced business world, developing leaders who can navigate complexity, inspire teams, and deliver results is more critical than ever. Yet, traditional training methods often fall short in addressing the scale, personalization, and immediacy required to create lasting change. AI-powered practice bots are emerging as a transformative solution, offering leaders unparalleled opportunities to practice, grow, and improve—faster and more effectively than ever before.
Feedback with precision and accessibility
Feedback is the cornerstone of leadership development. However, research from Gallup reveals that only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they receive improves their performance. Feedback all too often misses the mark, because it is too vague, infrequent and not relevant to the job at hand. AI practice bots address this gap by providing instant, objective, and actionable feedback through simulated conversations. Well trained practice bots, armed with leading-edge, business-specific knowledge on the critical skills needed for leaders, offer the most valuable simulated conversations, and the most accurate feedback.
These bots mimic real-world scenarios such as performance reviews, stakeholder negotiations, and high-stakes presentations. Leaders gain immediate insights into their communication style, areas for improvement, and actionable next steps—all without the need for scheduled coaching sessions.
Moreover, AI expands access to high-quality feedback across all levels of leadership. No longer confined by time, geography, or resource constraints, organizations can now equip every leader with the tools they need to grow. This scalability ensures consistent, equitable development opportunities while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
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Limitless practice for deeper growth
Behavioral change is built through deliberate practice, yet many traditional training programs provide limited opportunities for leaders to apply what they’ve learned. A study from the American Psychological Association (APA) highlights that repetitive, focused practice is essential for mastering new skills.
AI bots remove barriers to practice by offering leaders unlimited chances to rehearse critical conversations, test new approaches, and refine their strategies. Whether delivering constructive feedback, managing conflict, or influencing stakeholders, leaders can practice important conversations without fear of judgment or failure.
Available 24/7, these bots integrate development into daily routines, accelerating skill acquisition and embedding new behaviors. The result is not only faster growth but also greater confidence and readiness to tackle complex challenges.
Amplifying human insight through AI
AI bots enhance leadership development not by replacing human expertise but by amplifying it. They excel at handling repetitive, data-driven tasks such as providing feedback and tracking performance trends. However, the role of human insight—through coaching, mentorship, and relationship building—remains irreplaceable.
According to Deloitte, organizations that combine AI-powered tools with human-led learning experiences see a 33% increase in effectiveness. AI provides the structure and scalability to ensure consistent development, while human experts bring empathy, context, and nuance to guide leaders on their unique journeys.
This synergy between technology and human insight accelerates individual growth while creating a ripple effect across organizations. Leaders not only develop the skills they need to excel but also inspire their teams and drive meaningful cultural change.
Transforming leadership development with AI practice bots
AI practice bots enhance leadership development by:
- Delivering precise, personalized feedback: Instant insights empower leaders to grow faster and with greater clarity.
- Offering unlimited opportunities to practice: Leaders can refine critical skills anytime, embedding growth into their daily routines.
- Providing data-driven insights: Bots analyze performance trends across leaders within an organization to inform targeted training strategies.
- Scaling impactful learning: Accessible to leaders across geographies and roles, AI ensures consistent and equitable development opportunities.
By enabling leaders to practice more, grow faster, and lead with confidence, AI-powered bots are transforming leadership development—one conversation at a time.
Discover how AI practice bots can enhance your leadership strategy and deliver lasting results.
How do you more effectively drive learner engagement and concept retention in your digital learning courses? Sound is key. Why? Sound elicits emotional responses which make moments more memorable, and also shapes your unique sense of space, time, and reality. Adding a layer of sound would amplify presentations of any kind.There are three elements to consider when incorporating sound into digital learning courses: sound effects, voice talent, and transitions.
- Engaging sound effectsPractitioners of mindfulness meditation focus on the present moment in order to reach a particular mental state. The present moment is always changing, of course, depending on the surrounding constellation of smells, sounds, sights, and feelings. Try to isolate the ambient sounds in the air, and you will come to appreciate both the limits of your focus and the omnipresence of sound. Note, too, how memories involving both sight and sound are more vivid than those derived from just one sensory channel.Sound effects can perform numerous functions: emphasize a particular point, underscore a key concept, balance serious content with humor, and more. Try, for instance, to imagine films such as Star Wars, Titanic, or The Godfather without their orchestral scores and soundtracks. Just as sound effects are critical to each story on an emotional level, they can make the digital learning experience more meaningful and memorable.Consider using ambient sounds that are colloquial to your learners, such as the "ding" signaling the arrival of a new text message, or the "whoosh" of sending an email. Using these sounds tactfully throughout your presentations will increase learner engagement by initiating states of excitement, focus, or reflection. However, be sparing in your use of such effects, as space is essential for the appreciation of sonic subtleties.
- Appropriate voice talentYour choice of voice talent is critical – any recognizably-human voices invoked for digital-learning purposes must align with your organization’s cultural DNA and corporate identity.For the digital learning course in question, be sure to consider its subject matter, audience, and tone. After identifying each, decide whether a stodgy accent, homey lilt, or something else entirely would facilitate the most engaging learning experience. Once you have a few options, be sure to send samples to your client for feedback and approval. Reactions to voices, after all, are highly personal.
- TransitionsTry now to pinpoint all the recurring noises around you, whether infrequent or ever-present. Depending on where you are, you may hear the low hum of a fridge, the persistent honk of a horn, or even the steady beating of your heart. These periodic sounds, absorbed subconsciously, signify the passage of time and transformation of your surroundings.Transition sounds, like the famous musical motifs in each aforementioned film, aid in memory retention by stimulating an emotion, foreshadowing an event, or accentuating a concept. In digital learning courses, transitions work best at the beginning and end of a module. That said, if placed tastefully throughout a course, transition sounds will add polish, build a brand, and encode content in a memorable way.
These are just a few of the ways that sound can be used in your digital learning courses as a design pillar, making training more engaging and enjoyable. Whether you meditate or passively absorb your surroundings, sound adds texture, depth, and meaning to the fabric of our lives. How will you use sound to build your next creation?
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La maggior parte delle riunioni di vendita non fallisce.
Semplicemente non porta a una decisione.
Ed è lì che si perde valore.
I clienti di oggi sono più informati, più selettivi e hanno meno tempo.
Non hanno bisogno di altre presentazioni di prodotto.
Hanno bisogno di conversazioni che li aiutino a stabilire le priorità, decidere e andare avanti.
Eppure, il 58% delle riunioni di vendita non riesce a creare valore reale.
Non perché i venditori manchino di capacità, ma perché le conversazioni non sono progettate per far avanzare le decisioni.
“I clienti non agiscono su ogni esigenza che riconoscono.
Agiscono quando qualcosa diventa una priorità.”
In questo breve executive brief scoprirai:
- Perché la maggior parte delle conversazioni informa… ma non porta all’azione
- Cosa spinge davvero i clienti a stabilire priorità e muoversi
- Come creare urgenza senza compromettere la fiducia
- Il passaggio dal presentare soluzioni al facilitare decisioni
- Cosa distingue le conversazioni che si bloccano da quelle che accelerano il progresso
Se i tuoi team stanno affrontando trattative bloccate, decisioni ritardate o un pipeline lento, questo brief ti aiuterà a capire il perché e cosa fare in modo diverso.
Scarica l’executive brief e scopri come progettare conversazioni che portano davvero a decisioni.
A maioria das reuniões de vendas não fracassa.
Elas simplesmente não levam a uma decisão.
E é aí que o valor se perde.
Os clientes de hoje estão mais informados, mais seletivos e com menos tempo.
Eles não precisam de mais apresentações de produto.
Precisam de conversas que os ajudem a priorizar, decidir e avançar.
Ainda assim, 58% das reuniões de vendas não conseguem gerar valor real.
Não porque os vendedores não tenham capacidade, mas porque as conversas não são desenhadas para impulsionar decisões.
“Os clientes não agem sobre todas as necessidades que reconhecem.
Eles agem quando algo se torna prioridade.”
Neste breve material executivo, você vai descobrir:
- Por que a maioria das conversas informa… mas não gera ação
- O que realmente faz os clientes priorizarem e avançarem
- Como criar urgência sem prejudicar a confiança
- A mudança de apresentar soluções para viabilizar decisões
- O que diferencia conversas que estagnam daquelas que aceleram o progresso
Se suas equipes estão enfrentando negócios estagnados, decisões atrasadas ou um pipeline lento, este material vai ajudar você a entender o porquê — e o que fazer de diferente.
Baixe o material executivo e aprenda como desenhar conversas que realmente impulsionam decisões.
La mayoría de las reuniones de ventas no fracasan.
Simplemente no llevan a una decisión.
Y ahí es donde se pierde el valor.
Los clientes de hoy están más informados, son más selectivos y tienen menos tiempo.
No necesitan más presentaciones de producto.
Necesitan conversaciones que les ayuden a priorizar, decidir y avanzar.
Y, sin embargo, el 58% de las reuniones de ventas no logra generar un valor real.
No porque los vendedores carezcan de capacidad, sino porque las conversaciones no están diseñadas para impulsar decisiones.
“Los clientes no actúan sobre cada necesidad que reconocen.
Actúan cuando algo se convierte en una prioridad.”
En este breve informe ejecutivo descubrirás:
Por qué la mayoría de las conversaciones informan… pero no generan acción
- Qué es lo que realmente hace que los clientes prioricen y avancen
- Cómo crear urgencia sin dañar la confianza
- El cambio de presentar soluciones a facilitar decisiones
- Qué diferencia a las conversaciones que se estancan de las que aceleran el avance
Si tus equipos están experimentando acuerdos estancados, decisiones retrasadas o un pipeline lento, este informe te ayudará a entender por qué y qué hacer diferente.
Descarga el informe ejecutivo y aprende a diseñar conversaciones que realmente impulsen decisiones.