People and Performance Podcast · 2025-09-04 · 12 min
What happens when you treat problems as gifts rather than obstacles? According to Mike Taylor , cybersecurity professional at Nationwide and instructor at Franklin University's instructional design program, this mindset shift creates the foundation for powerful organizational learning. During this enlightening conversation with host Chris Bjorling, Mike challenges conventional L&D wisdom by emphasizing the critical importance of audience understanding before content creation. "If you have one size fits all, it really means one size fits none," he explains, advocating for learning experiences that are simple, relevant to specific roles, and emotionally resonant with learners. Mike offers a refreshing perspective on failure and conflict, sharing a transformative moment when a former boss taught him to welcome problems: "If you don't know about the problems, you can't fix them." This philosophy extends to his views on artificial intelligence in leadership development, where he encourages organizations to experiment now rather than being left behind - comparing today's AI hesitancy to early resistance toward email adoption.
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