Greg Brown’s Post

Today, Udemy released its Q1 2024 Global Workplace Learning Index, a quarterly look at the emerging skills in demand with thousands of Udemy Business professional learners. As workforce needs continue to evolve, we’re seeing employees invest their time in developing in-demand skills to keep up with new challenges and opportunities. In this quarter’s report, we saw new or continued interest in topics including sustainability, GenAI, cybersecurity, IT certifications, and language acquisition skills. For organizations, the transition to a skills-based approach to talent management practices we’re seeing in all regions and sectors will only be successful if leaders make upskilling and reskilling a priority and easily accessible. That means employees have the opportunity to learn what they need to within their flow of work. The skills required for professional and technical roles quickly evolve, and learners need to adapt to the changing expectations to be successful in their roles over the long term. After taking a look at the Index, I’d encourage all leaders to take action to equip their workforces for the evolving demands of the future. By prioritizing upskilling and reskilling within organizations, we can all help shape an agile and adaptable workforce. https://lnkd.in/g73QpJ75

As the global landscape continues to prioritize sustainability and responsible business practices, organizations must equip their workforce with the necessary skills to navigate this evolving terrain. And yet, according to research from EY, less than half of CFOs indicated their workforce has the right ESG (environmental, social, and governance) skills to respond to evolving sustainability standards. I’m proud that Udemy has become the go-to platform for ESG upskilling and reskilling to address this gap. We’ve seen a staggering 3,128% year-over-year increase in ESG course consumption on our Udemy Business platform, reflecting a growing demand for skills that drive sustainability and corporate responsibility. At Udemy, we understand that investing in ESG skills isn't just about doing good—it's about driving long-term financial success while positively impacting our world. Our commitment to sustainability extends beyond course offerings: We're proud to also share our comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions calculations, aligning with global sustainability goals and reinforcing our dedication to responsible business practices.

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the Australian Grand Prix and my first-ever Formula 1 race celebrating the first McLaren Racing F1 podium of the season. It was unlike any other sports event I’ve seen, partly because I’ve started to learn about what happens behind the scenes of the race. Last year Udemy became the official learning and skills partner of the McLaren Racing Team. After spending so many hours talking about how our partnership could work, it was thrilling to see firsthand how internal upskilling and reskilling through Udemy can drive high performance on the racetrack. The race wasn’t all that made the trip to Melbourne an important one. I also had the chance to sit down with many of our customers to talk about their highest priorities. Two key topics that came up: #1: Leadership skills in the age of generative AI Our customers see that frontline managers are the organizational culture carriers and that they need more support to help them manage changes in the organization. This has become a priority, especially to support frontline managers in leading the generative AI transformation. These are employees who often get overlooked when it comes to leadership development, but that’s changing.      #2: Creative ways to approach AI upskilling Several of the leaders shared their experiences on how they are introducing (or in some cases not) AI into their organizations. One story that stood out to me was from a leader who took the concept of pair programming and expanded it to their broader team.  Recognizing that some of their most experienced leaders lacked prompt engineering expertise, and some of their junior team members lacked experience and knowledge, they started pairing these two groups together. The result has been magic. Now, organizational leaders are able to prompt GenAI to maximize impact, and more junior individuals are learning valuable knowledge and context, thus giving the whole team the ability to tackle interesting problems and opportunities at rapid speed. When it came to the concept of the Skills Based Organization, many leaders told us that they are still exploring this transition, with some being further along than others. However, all acknowledged the value of recognizing skills as the new currency for talent in their organizations. The key, we all agreed, is to get started – even if it means starting small. After all, Formula 1 drivers aren’t made overnight and neither are award-winning learning leaders.

Regularly, I speak to leaders around the world who have the same concern: their workforce isn’t equipped to navigate the generative AI transformation. This week, Udemy is releasing new research, providing key insights into how leaders can close the gap between what they think is a priority for GenAI and where their teams feel they need help and support. While nearly all of the 2,500+ leaders and employees who participated in the research (88%) agreed that effective leadership was critical to the success of their organization’s GenAI initiatives, only 55% felt confident in their leadership team’s ability to guide them through the AI transformation. Specifically, only 48% of employees believe their executives are ready to successfully lead GenAI initiatives; 44% of employees are confident in their leadership team’s ability to mitigate the risks associated with GenAI; and 42% of employees believe their management team is communicating effectively about their GenAI strategies and initiatives. The message from this research is clear. At this moment, there is a gap between expectations and reality, and it’s not enough for leaders to focus only on learning the technical skills associated with GenAI. They also need to work on power skills such as change management, communication, collaboration, and decision-making. Bottom-line: leaders need to focus on building confidence and trust. If leaders don’t have the skills they need to guide their workforce, organizations will struggle to maintain high employee engagement, keep up with competition, and remain innovative and adaptive. This is something we have thought about a lot at Udemy, and it is one of the reasons we developed the Udemy Business Leadership Academy GenAI course offering—to help leaders learn from their peers about how to lead through GenAI and thrive. 

Last week, for the first time at Udemy, we brought together senior leaders from across the business for an in-person leadership summit in Dallas. Colleagues flew in from around the world – Australia, India, Ireland, and Turkey, to name a few countries. The two main objectives of this summit were to continue to build trust as a team and think holistically about the business. First, spending time to build trust and relationships is one of the best investments you can make as a leader. Trust is often built primarily through in-person connections. I heard from many of our leaders that they felt they were able to develop deeper connections with each other even in a few days. Building trust means we not only have more fun working together but it also helps teams engage in constructive debate around ideas and strategies. Second, it’s critical that senior leaders have a business-wide perspective. Part of the summit involved a simulation exercise where cross-functional teams had to run their own fictional company making key business decisions and weighing trade-offs to help drive successful outcomes prioritizing revenue, profitability, and employee engagement. Developing a broader perspective is critical. It allows us to break down silos, appreciate different perspectives, and execute our strategy together, as one team. Developing trust and perspective allows us to do something else important: commit to our mission, and hold each other accountable for the outcomes we want to achieve. We accomplished a lot during the week. Our leaders came away energized, more informed about our objectives, and with better cross-functional connections to deliver on our plans for 2024 and beyond. I am excited by the energy and focus the team brought and for what we can accomplish together as we continue on our mission to transform lives through learning and realize our vision of a world where everyone, everywhere has access to the skills they need to unlock their potential. 

Udemy's enterprise customers across the globe recognize that we are at the forefront of the next phase of digital transformation. The most important and rewarding part of my job is getting to meet with them to understand their current and future L&D needs, as well as the business outcomes they are trying to achieve. The number one request we hear from customers is that they want a partner to help them develop a strategy around generative AI in order to enhance productivity, foster innovation, and create sustainable value. That’s why today we’re releasing our GenAI Skills Pack as part of Udemy’s Intelligent Skills Platform. In the Pack, we’re providing professionals with the necessary guidance through curated learning paths to navigate the AI landscape successfully. The GenAI Skills Pack will enable Udemy Business customers to achieve key learning outcomes by providing a fundamental understanding of GenAI and how to responsibly use it across the entire organization. Whether a worker is in finance, HR, marketing, sales, data science, software engineering, or any number of other roles, our Pack will help them efficiently develop a fundamental understanding of GenAI and to acquire the skills necessary to effectively leverage the technology. I encourage you to take a closer look at the GenAI Skills Pack to learn more about the curated content and learning paths. We look forward to helping you and your team accelerate progress toward your business goals. 

The number one topic of discussion we are having with leaders from many Udemy Business customers is centered on developing a strategy around generative AI. The complexity of this challenge cannot be overstated. The diverse nature of teams and the individualized learning paths each role requires reflect the multifaceted nature of generative AI itself. Skills are not static, as they are rapidly evolving at a pace that is being further accelerated by advancements in technology. To execute a strategy around generative AI effectively, it is equally as important to develop the soft skills of your leadership teams, such as effective communication and active listening. To help our customers navigate this challenge and deliver better business outcomes across the organization, we have published a comprehensive guide designed to support generative AI readiness for corporations. Udemy’s GenAI Roadmap eBook is a compilation of insights and experiences gathered from supporting nearly 16,000 Udemy Business customers. This strategic manual not only addresses the 'how' but also answers the question we hear most frequently: Where do I start?

When life is chaotic, I’ve learned to react in a way that might seem counterintuitive. I get very calm. I know I need to block out the noise and focus on one or two key objectives. I know I need to control what I can control, and allow the rest to fly by. One of the ways I do this is by following the Pareto Principle. It teaches us that 20 percent of actions generate 80 percent of results. In these moments of chaos, I ask myself: What are the 20 percent of actions I need to be focused on that will generate 80 percent of the outcome? It’s easy to get caught up in what you can’t control – like the macroeconomic environment or media conversations. Reacting to the chaos with calm didn’t come naturally to me as a leader at first.  I learned it from the philosophy of stoicism, which encourages the cultivation of key virtues, like courage, discipline, wisdom, and justice. Cultivating these virtues means having the courage to do what’s right, even if it’s not popular. It means having the wisdom to know when I don’t know the answers and need to educate myself. It means sometimes taking myself out of the equation and doing what’s best for the people I’m leading, or my family.  None of it is rocket science, but anchoring to these virtues has helped me lead, especially during uncertain times.

Many thanks to Preston Fore at Fortune for inviting me to contribute to his latest article about the best ways to gain essential business skills, and why upskilling effectively is crucial to keep up with workforce demands. Our latest Global Workplace Skills Index shows surging demand in skill areas like career development, listening and work-life balance, for example. As Preston points out, it can be hard to know where to start learning these “power” or soft skills because there’s no single recipe for becoming a great leader quickly. It’s different for each person. What we do have that will change the game is generative AI, which will give us increasingly personalized and adaptive learning experiences, and accelerate our capacity for learning these key business skills. Skills are the new workplace currency, and ongoing skill enhancement is essential to stay relevant and competitive. I’d encourage you to read Preston’s full article. https://lnkd.in/ghmpDB7T

Today, Udemy released its Q4 2023 Global Workplace Learning Index, a quarterly report highlighting emergent skills that are growing in demand among thousands of professional learners. The index shows us how some of the larger trends of 2023 – like GenAI, building inclusive global workplaces, hybrid work, and macroeconomic uncertainty –  translated to skills development. We saw some of the biggest surges in skills like chatbot development, listening, and customer service. The most successful professionals today know that it takes both technical and human skills to win at work. To be a transformational leader, it’s not enough to be an AI expert. You also need to know how to listen, collaborate, and communicate. The index is a reminder that we all need to prioritize learning technical skills alongside human, or “power,” skills to meet the evolving demands of this moment. https://lnkd.in/gPd-bYk7