A respectful provocation on why we need to reimagine learning in the age of AI.
We've professionalized organizational learning to the point where we've sterilized it. Training Is Broken challenges the fundamental assumptions that keep training and L&D trapped in a cycle of expensive ineffectiveness—from ignoring the reality that 70% of learning is forgotten within 72 hours, to the illusion that transferring information creates lasting change. Through twelve provocative essays, this book questions what we've normalized: the metrics that measure activity instead of impact, the frameworks that promise control but deliver constraint, and the belief that learning happens through instruction rather than curiosity.
The book is organized into four parts:
Part I: The System Is Broken
We begin by exposing the fundamental flaws in how training is conceived, measured, and timed. These essays reveal an industry optimized for activity rather than impact.
Part II: Why It Fails
Next, we examine the human factors—credibility, context, and expertise—that doom even well-designed programs. These essays explain why training that looks good on paper fails in practice.
Part III: What Actually Works
Then, we explore alternative approaches aligned with how humans actually learn. These essays show what becomes possible when we stop forcing learning and start enabling it.
Part IV: The Path Forward
Finally, we imagine what learning could become if we had the courage to let go of what doesn't work. These essays point toward a future where learning is personal, contextual, and driven by genuine need rather than organizational schedules.
Each essay stands alone, but together they tell a larger story: the death of training as we know it, and the birth of something better.
The Goal
This book doesn't offer a guaranteed formula. It offers questions, frameworks, and provocations designed to help you think differently about how adults actually learn—and what that means for how you design, deliver, and measure learning in your organization.
The goal isn't to convince you that everything you're doing is wrong. It's to help you see what might no longer be working—and give you language and frameworks to experiment with what comes next.
How To Get It
Free Access
(Completely Free. No Email. No Strings Attached)
Read the complete book or individual essays to spark conversations and rethinking possibilities in your organization.
Available now:
Download Full Book Download Audiobook Download Individual EssaysPremium Options
For those who prefer a physical copy or dedicated e-reader format.
Amazon (Paperback)
The easiest and fastest option for most readers worldwide.
ISBN (Paperback): 979-8-218-88142-9
Kindle (eBook)
Read instantly on Kindle or the free Kindle app on any device.
Independent Bookstores
Prefer to support local or independent bookstores?
Available through independent bookstores worldwide. If the book isn’t in stock, most stores can order it for you using their standard systems.
Libraries
Want to access the book through your library?
Libraries can acquire the book through their normal catalog and purchasing channels.
Book Navigator
What It Does
You don't have time to read through all 12 essays in the book Training is Broken. You want to read but not yet sure if it's worth your time. Or, you've just read the book. You're intrigued about possibilities. You see the problems clearly.
But now what?
- How do you prioritize what would be most useful to read?
- How do you apply the insights to your specific situation?
- How do you communicate the ideas in this book to your team and stakeholders?
- What should you actually do differently on Monday morning?
Generic advice won't work. Your context is unique. Your challenges are specific.
Why It Exists
Reading a book gives you insight. Applying that insight in your specific organizational context—with its unique politics, constraints, and opportunities—requires a different kind of support.
The Book Navigator bridges that gap. It knows the book's arguments, evidence, and frameworks as deeply as you will—and helps you translate them into actionable strategies for your role and situation.
How It Works:
Over 125+ Expert AI Prompts Across 6 Reader Types
Rather than generic AI responses, the Navigator offers curated and professionally written prompts organized by reader type and use case:
Six Reader Types:
- CEO / Board Member
- CHRO / Chief People Officer
- CLO / Chief Learning Officer
- L&D Team Member
- Learning/Training Practitioner
- Curious Reader
What Makes It Different
- Zero generic advice: Every response is grounded in specific arguments and frameworks from the book
- Role-specific guidance: Prompts designed for your professional context and political reality
- Strategic depth: Not a chatbot—a thinking partner that understands organizational complexity
- Implementation focus: Designed to move you from insight to action
Four Modes of Engagement:
Synthesize concepts, clarify arguments, translate into executive language
Example (CEO): "Summarize this book's core argument in terms that will resonate with a board focused on ROI and risk."
Diagnose your current situation, identify blind spots, surface hidden assumptions
Example (CHRO): "What cultural assumptions might our current training approach be reinforcing that could limit organizational agility?"
Design interventions, adapt frameworks, create implementation strategies
Example (CLO): "How can I use the SPARK framework to redesign our leadership development program while working within existing budget constraints?"
Navigate stakeholders, build coalitions, address resistance, craft messaging
Example (L&D Team Member): "My team is skeptical about 'another learning initiative.' How do I position this as fundamentally different?"