by Site Staff
November 12, 2008
I got a question from Martyn Bullard, an “early adopter” of our recently launched CLO-Network and the head of IS learning and development for the EMEA region of law firm Mayer Brown. He’s working on a dissertation for his MBA that asks whether “the concept of chief learning officer as practiced in the U.S. [is] transferable to the U.K.,” and he wanted my — ahem — “expert” advice on this subject.!@!
Now, I’m just a humble journalist, but I managed to cobble together a few thoughts based on the many interviews I’ve conducted as a writer and editor for Chief Learning Officer magazine. Here’s part of my reply:
“I imagine most of the people who have CLO titles would tell you they’re moving toward strategic alignment and getting a seat at the executive table, if they aren’t there already. (Clearly, these two objectives are related to each other.) And this is all stuff you probably already know.
“So, as far as your specific concentration goes, I would say that in my many years of writing for this magazine, I have interviewed some learning leaders in foreign firms, including U.K.-based companies such as British Airways and Reuters. For examples, see these links:
1. https://www.clomedia.com/implementations/2005/July/1026/index.php
2. https://www.clomedia.com/departments/2005/June/998/index.php
“I found most of them had more or less the same understanding of learning and how it should serve the business as forward-thinking learning executives in the United States. Based on those interactions, I would say that the answer to your question would be a resounding yes. (Then again, I imagine your research will expose you to a greater range of U.K. companies and industries.)”
Martyn is currently looking to interview some U.S.-based learning executives for his dissertation. If anyone wants to participate, please feel free to send him a message on his profile page.