A Free Course on Talent Development — Plus a Sneak Peek at the Workplace Learning Report
Mark your calendar: The 2025 Working Place Learning Report arrives February 12 with a deep dive on career development — the strategy that’s “hiding in plain sight” to unlock faster upskilling for business impact.
But you don’t have to wait until then to start thinking differently about your talent programs. Take advantage of an unlocked LinkedIn Learning course from now through March 13. Leading Talent Development in the Era of AI is taught by Naphtali Bryant, a visionary learning and leadership expert, and it focuses on talent innovation to help organizations thrive amid disruption.
Read on for details on Naphtali’s course as well as a deeper look at the report’s research to guide your talent strategy for 2025 and beyond.
More on the free course and five talent foundations
Naphtali’s course is well-timed to sync with the Workplace Learning Report’s data and tips. Modern organizations, Naphtali says, must be “tenacious about embracing agility.” He points out that career development and generative AI (GAI) adoption can be twin engines for future success, each powering the other to unleash productivity, innovation, and adaptability.
A longtime LinkedIn Learning instructor, Naphtali brings more than 20 years of talent strategy experience in the tech and entertainment sectors. He has developed previous courses on learning culture, learning in the flow of work, and inclusive learning experience. He’s also an executive coach and leadership development consultant for RAC Leadership.
The new course will jump-start your thinking on five talent foundations (also covered in the Workplace Learning Report):
- Skills agility: The ability to build and adapt skills faster than ever.
- Internal mobility: Creating seamless pathways for employees to grow within your organization.
- Business impact and measurement: Demonstrating and aligning the value of development initiatives with business outcomes.
- Activating managers: Empowering managers as critical talent builders.
- Employee-led career development: Supporting employees in owning their career journeys.
Naphtali also shares tactical advice for influencing the C-suite executives whose buy-in is crucial for proactive innovation and bold experimentation. “Talent leaders,” he says, “set the tone for what’s possible in this era of transformation.”
An exclusive preview of data and insights
Titled “The Rise of Career Champions,” the 2025 Workplace Learning Report makes the case that career development has new relevance and greater value as organizations seek ways to help employees keep pace with changing technology and workplace dynamics.
The report analyzes the potential broader impacts of career support, finding that organizations with strong career programs outpace others on multiple indicators of business success. Those indicators include confidence in their ability to be profitable and to attract and retain talent.
Another indicator is technological readiness, specifically GAI adoption. And here’s one early data reveal: Career development champions are 42% more likely than all others to be “accelerating” or “leading” in GAI adoption.
Other report highlights include:
- New data on the powerful connection between career development and employee retention.
- LinkedIn platform insights on the 10 skills most at-risk from employee turnover, including skills that are hardest to replace.
- Case studies from companies that successfully leverage career development to drive measurable business impact.
- The best practices for strong career programs — including leadership development, mentorships, and internal mobility.
Final thoughts: Playbooks for action — and expert guidance
To further help talent leaders build effective programs, LinkedIn is publishing a series of playbooks to accompany the five talent foundations. The first, Talent Development’s Internal Mobility Playbook, is already published. Two more playbooks — one on agile upskilling and another on measuring the ROI of learning — will launch concurrently with the Workplace Learning Report.
Both the report and the playbooks showcase tactical guidance from more than 40 practitioners from around the globe, including leaders from Amazon, Coca-Cola, IBM, Visa, and Zillow. Thought leaders such as Al Dea, Dr. Terri Horton, Crystal Lim-Lange, and Josh Bersin also add inspiration to meet this moment of rapid change.
Consider this galvanizing thought from Josh: “Employees are saying, ‘I expect you as an employer to help me keep up, and if not, I’m going to go somewhere else.’”
It’s the perfect reminder to carve out time to set the right priorities. Napthali’s new course and the upcoming Workplace Learning Report are here to help.
