Dr. Serena Goncalves-Firsh, the Global Head of Talent at SoftwareOne, shares her refreshingly candid perspective on the evolving role of Learning and Development (L&D) in today’s organizations.

You’ll hear her challenge traditional approaches to employee learning, advocate for seamless integration between learning, talent, DEIB, and performance, and call out industry complacency.

Serena also shares how her small but mighty team serves 14,000 employees across the globe by staying closely attuned to actual business needs and leveraging the power of data and AI—not just for content creation, but for true predictive insights.

Listen in for a fascinating discussion that covers everything from the purpose of L&D, how technology is reshaping talent strategies, to the importance of connecting learning directly to organizational impact.  

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

• [00:00] Integrated learning & talent strategy.
• [09:10] Rethinking organizational learning approaches.
• [21:47] Defining HR's role in automation.
• [29:04] Streamlining your learning and development team.
• [31:23] Creating GCP learning journeys.
• [34:49] Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in workplace policy.
• [40:34] AI's Role in boosting efficiency and elevating humanity.
• [47:08] Organizations as continuous learners.

Resources & People Mentioned

• Curious Advantage by Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones
• The 70:20:10 Institute
• Lori Niles-Hofmann on LinkedIn
• Jay Wetterau on LinkedIn 
• Nigel Paine 
• Learning Technologies Awards 

Connect with Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch

• Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch, FLPI on LinkedIn 

Connect With Red Thread Research

• Website: Red Thread Research
• On LinkedIn
• On Facebook
• On Twitter

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