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The L&D Leader

Principles and Practice for Delivering Business Value

Use this practical guide to deliver value to the business as an L&D professional and equip employees with the skills they need to succeed in a constantly changing world of work.

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EAN: 9781398620278

Edition: 1

Published: 03 Oct 2025

Format: 234 x 156

328 pages

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About the book

Is your learning strategy delivering measurable value to the business?

The L&D Leader by Laura Overton and Michelle Ockers is a strategic guide for senior L&D executives and organizational leaders who want to align learning priorities with business objectives, build workforce capability and drive long-term performance.

Written by two leading industry voices, this book distills over 20 years of research with more than 10,000 L&D professionals and 230 learning leaders. It provides proven tools for assessing focus areas, adopting evidence-based practices and embedding principles that make L&D more outcomes-led, innovative, data-driven and agile.

You'll discover how to:
- Align L&D strategy with business priorities for maximum impact
- Build workforce skills that meet current and future demands
- Move beyond tools and models to create sustainable learning value
- Lead change in L&D culture, governance and delivery

With real-world examples from McKinsey & Company, Barnardo's, AstraZeneca and Multiplex, The L&D Leader equips senior decision-makers to transform learning into a strategic driver of business success.

Themes include: L&D strategy, leadership, governance, workforce capability, data-driven learning, business alignment

About the authors

Laura Overton is an award-winning learning expert with over 35 years' experience in the industry. She is the founder of Towards Maturity, an academic fellow of the CIPD and the Royal Society of Arts. Based in London, UK, she is consistently recognized as a significant global influencer of workplace learning trends.

Michelle Ockers is the Founder and Director of Learning Uncut where she helps organizations to develop a high-impact L&D strategy. Based in New South Wales, Australia, she is a popular keynote speaker and the host of the podcast series, Learning Uncut.

Laura Overton

Michelle Ockers

- Chapter - 00: Introduction – a navigator's tale;
Section - ONE: What got us here won’t get us there … or will it?;
- Chapter - 01: Calling all L&D leaders;
- Chapter - 02: Looking back to look forward;
Section - TWO: Equipped – navigation principles;
- Chapter - 03: Tuning in;
- Chapter - 04: Responding;
- Chapter - 05: Improving;
- Chapter - 06: Integrating TRI – astraZeneca’s learning transformation;
Section - THREE: Charting your course;
- Chapter - 07: Navigating safe waters – equipped for today;
- Chapter - 08: Beyond the horizon – ready for tomorrow;
- Chapter - 09: Journeying together;
Section - FOUR: Ready – the BOLD navigator;
- Chapter - 10: Mindset matters;
- Chapter - 11: Calibrating our BOLD compass;
Section - FIVE: Shaping the future;
- Chapter - 12: L&D – equipped and ready;
- Chapter - 13: Shaping our future;
Section - 14: Appendix 1 – learning performance benchmark;
Section - 15: Appendix 2 – tool to build your matrix of models;
Section - 16: Appendix 3 – learning science checklist;
Section - 17: Appendix 4 – L&D thinking habits continuum;
Section - 18: Appendix 5 – L&D sail plan;

Reviews

Marc Ramos, Global Head, Learning strategy and Innovation, ServiceNow

By advocating for leadership that is comfortable with ambiguity and change, The L&D Leader provides an indispensable guide for L&D professionals seeking to remain relevant and effective in an AI-driven world. What a great book!

Stella Lee Phd, AI literacy architect and Founder Paradox Learning

Practical, flexible and deeply human, this book is a call to action for anyone shaping learning in complex times.

Nigel Paine, Learning strategist, author and broadcaster

This is about remaining relevant in a world being turned upside down - nothing could be more important in this brittle age of turbulence and bewilderment.

Marie Daniels, APAC L&D Leader

Grounded in real-world application, it empowers L&D professionals to ask the right questions, challenge assumptions and experiment with new approaches to drive genuine value.

Charles Jennings, Director, Duntroon Consultants

This excellent book takes the reader on a voyage of discovery. It provides a robust set of principles for any HR, Talent or L&D leader looking to navigate today's fast-moving and increasingly technology-supported world.

Ryan Tracey, Senior L&D Leader

Packed with tried and tested advice from two stalwarts of the profession, the authors use real case studies to illustrate how we can shift from band-aid reactions to strategic solutions.

Stella Collins, Learning Strategist

A book packed with valuable principles that are evidence-based and grounded in the research and pragmatic experience. They unify diverse and complex ideas with a wonderful navigational story that resonates, bringing an unexpected magic to the book.

Ben Campbell, CEO Australian Institute of Training and Development

Written by recognized sector leaders, this book offers both seasoned professionals and emerging leaders a roadmap for driving organizational capability in today's complex learning landscape.

Vickie Roberts OBE, Head of Skills, HMRC

Working in a large, complex organization, I recognize the challenges and opportunities that Laura and Michelle have captured so perfectly. This book addresses those challenges and helps L&D professionals navigate the continuously changing waters in order to make a real difference and shape organizational future.

Piers Lea, Chief Strategy Officer, Learning Technologies Group

The L&D Leader is different because it delves into rich data collected over two decades and then gets creative about finding a way forward. This framework is both broad enough to allow agility, and focused enough to provide a valuable navigation tool for any aspiring L&D leader.

Jane Bozarth, Director of Research, The Learning Guild

Each chapter's inclusion of what gets in our way? points provides a realistic view of the work ahead for the L&D leader, and the built-in Field Notebook provides great opportunities for reflection and review.

Darryn Gray, Learning Designer, Founder of the Crackin’ LnD (Down Under) community

Every time I sat down to read The L&D Leader it helped create a still place to think. I'm in awe of the wisdom that Laura and Michelle have generated and brought to life in this book.

Martin Baker, CEO, The Charity Learning Consortium

The L&D Leader outlines the cross-sector learning principles our profession desperately needs to shape the future of workplace learning together.

Shannon Tipton, Learning Rebels

Kudos to Laura and Michelle for tackling how our professional mindset influences our impact- without this reset, we're simply putting new tools in the same broken toolbox that keeps us reactive instead of strategic.

Drew McGuire, Director, Capability Group

This is a masterclass in how learning can truly make a difference, from two of the most thoughtful and respected voices in the field.

Sandra Loughlin, PhD, Chief Learning Scientist, EPAM Systems, Inc.

The L&D Leader is both a clarion call for BOLD change in the L&D function and a blueprint for successful navigation of the new norm. It is a must-read for savvy learning leaders who want to shape the future of the field.

By advocating for leadership that is comfortable with ambiguity and change, The L&D Leader provides an indispensable guide for L&D professionals seeking to remain relevant and effective in an AI-driven world. What a great book!
Marc Ramos, Global Head, Learning strategy and Innovation, ServiceNow

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