Why We Still Believe in Live Learning
I still remember the first time I watched Simon Sinek’s now-iconic “Start With Why” talk.
There he was: shirt sleeves rolled up, marker in hand, drawing those simple concentric circles on a flipchart. It wasn’t slick. It wasn’t polished. The sound quality, in some versions, was downright poor. But there was something unforgettable about it.
He wasn’t performing. He was sharing.
In a time when virtually everything we see online is manicured—edited, filtered, animated—something was compelling about watching someone explain how they believed the world worked, with nothing but a pen and a bit of conviction.
I’ve been thinking about that moment again recently.
We are accelerating—often at breakneck speed—into a world where slickness is cheap. We can generate compelling graphics, pitch-perfect scripts, and even simulated voices with near-zero effort or cost. The AI tools available to almost anyone can produce a polished learning module faster than it takes to make a cup of tea.
So why have we decided to launch www.PeoplePower.Live (coming soon) in this world of instant automation and asynchronous magic?
Why double down on live, messy human experiences?
Why not automate, syndicate, scale, and sleep while the money rolls in?
Here’s why:
1. We Learn More Than We Know—Socially
Learning doesn’t just happen in the content. It occurs in the spaces between.
It’s in the way someone shows up. It’s in the gesture before they speak. It’s in the quick intake of breath before someone disagrees, the body language of engagement or discomfort.
Even in virtual live learning, if the camera is on and the connection is decent, some of that still comes through.
We are hardwired to learn from others—not just from what they say but also from how they behave.
2. Learning Must Prepare Us for the Unpredictable
When the world gets more unpredictable, learning should, too.
There is nothing more predictable than a pre-scripted e-learning program—linear paths. Fixed outcomes. Click Next. Answer the quiz. Watch the explainer video. Repeat.
But the world we prepare leaders and teams for doesn’t work like that. It asks for judgment, improvisation, and adaptability. For the courage to act before you’re sure.
You don’t learn that in a tidy, trackable, LMS-approved sequence. You realise that when a moment catches you off guard, you must make sense of it—in real time, with others.
3. Learning is Inherently Human
We are becoming more isolated. More of our time—especially our learning time—is spent alone, facing a screen.
Children increasingly learn through game mechanics and algorithmic prompts. In the corporate world, we celebrate “efficiencies” that equate to less and less shared time, fewer cross-functional learning spaces, and more independent consumption of bite-sized learning assets.
But what we are missing is the connective tissue of an organisation.
Those cross-functional moments when someone sees the world differently, those moments of creative friction, those bursts of shared energy when something is made together—not consumed alone.
We don’t just want to learn to transfer knowledge. We want it to build the organisational fibre.
4. Attention is the New Currency
In the attention economy, the winners can hold a moment, capture the imagination, and energise participation.
When learning becomes boring, passive, and invisible—it loses.
Ask about more than the return on investment. Ask about the return on engagement, the return on energy, and the return on connection.
Did people emerge from the session more alive, capable, and bonded with one another? Did it change how they show up?
Because those are the things that matter.
In the coming weeks, I’ll share more about the thinking behind www.PeoplePower.Live (coming soon) —why we’re investing in live, human-centred learning experiences in a time that increasingly values scale and automation.
Yes, digital learning has an influential role to play. Yes, AI tools and asynchronous content can unlock access and affordability. Yes, self-paced content can meet specific learning needs—especially when curiosity is low-stakes or knowledge is technical.
But if you have the courage, the budget, and the desire to develop teams that are connected, creative, and ready for the unpredictable—
Choose live.
It will consistently deliver more than the happy sheet can measure.
