iVentiv Ltd

Your TOP FIVE controversial L&D opinions 📢📢

iVentiv is a community made up of the brightest minds in Learning, Talent, and Leadership. Over the past 18 years, you’ve come together around the world to discuss your pain points, your biggest challenges… and your most ‘controversial’ views on the direction of your function.

As part of every video we’ve recorded for our interview and podcast series this year, we’ve asked for your most controversial L&D opinion. Our top five:

#5
‘Where I think, controversially, L&D need to step-up is to be aligned around those key strategic priorities of what the business is doing and less focused on the learning reaction and the learning assessments and really be able to tie the two together.’
- Grainne Wafer

#4
‘Someday the need for any kind of technical expertise would be gone. And so instead, what would differentiate a person is really much more about their people skills in terms of how they connect with others. How can they identify, navigate, and even leverage the human connection piece of it’
- Michelle Agnew

#3
‘When everything is at the fingertips, do we really need to spoon feed our leaders? Do we need to spoon feed our people? Or do we truly empower them and enable that learning culture and that natural curiosity that they could satisfy through a variety of Learning tools out there? Do we really have the answer?’
- Yulia Denisova

#2
‘Learning or personal development is not a cost center. It's not a cost block. We still have that in the mindset of many levels that learning is somehow a cost. And it's only looked at as the cost. And that's difficult because if you need it to be strategic, you should rather look at it as a lever or as an enabler for business strategy.’
- Laura Medina Escolano

#1
‘People still believe that wellbeing belongs in benefits, and I really feel like that it is leadership development. If we're going to build sustainable performance, we have to design sustainable humans. And giving people access to wellbeing benefits is great. But if you don't teach them why and give them permission to do it in service of their wellbeing, again, we're just learning, we're not developing.’
- Amy Cribb

What’s your controversial L&D or Talent opinion?

Let us know in the comments 👇

This week we’re celebrating all things Nigel Paine, Co-Presenter, Learning Now TV & Former Head of People Development, BBC.

As part of our Chair Appreciation series, we’re highlighting Nigel’s continued contribution to our community. He has already joined two of our events this year and will return as Event Chair at Learning Futures Basel this October, marking his 14th time chairing an iVentiv event.

With more than 25 years of experience in corporate learning, Nigel brings exceptional depth of insight and expertise to our community from his time at the BBC, in academia, consultancy, podcasting, and plenty more besides. He has been a long-standing part of our events and continues to help shape and inspire conversations across the industry.

Join us in celebrating Nigel, and the influence he has on the iVentiv community and wider Learning & Development space.

Meet Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj: Professor, thought leader, consultant, coach, and iVentiv Event Chair in 2026 💪💪

In the latest in our series celebrating the friends and experts who are chairing iVentiv events in 2026, today we wanted to tell you a little more about Shaheena.

A globally recognised thought leader, consultant, and coach, Shaheena has been attending iVentiv events on multiple continents since 2022. Later this year, she will chair events in Dubai and London, bringing her characteristic mix of academic rigour and financial strategy to the conversation.

Shaheena has over two decades of experience as an adjunct professor and regular business school lecturer who has co-authored four books on leadership, most recently Take the Lead in 2024. She is also a regular contributor with media outlets including Forbes, the BBC, Euronews, and the Financial Times.

Her expertise on leadership, innovation, and diversity is matched by a breadth of knowledge across the world of Learning, Leadership and Talent. We are very excited to have her as part of our line-up of event chairs this year, so please join us in celebrating everything she brings to the iVentiv community!

Skills-based organisations? Re-framing Talent in the age of AI? Managing change? Reshaping the workforce?

At Talent Management Zürich this week, you took on all these questions and more. By taking the time to connect with peers and take the pulse of the industry, you gave yourself the best possible chance of getting ahead 🚀

It’s been a wonderful week, and we are very grateful to Melissa Necaise and ABB for hosting the discussions and sharing their Talent story with the group. Thank you also to event chair, Tyra Malzy, for guiding the conversations and being so generous with your advice.

We are very thankful to all of you who gave up your time to join the discussions and share your challenges, especially facilitators Thomas Cunningham-Fahie, Cindy He, Sabrina Kipp, Sina Melder, James Blaker, Cherry-Lijun Sheng, Guillaume Delacour, Anand Chopra-McGowan, Vidhi Thakker, Lisa Meier, Titusz Kovacs, Helen Macdiarmid, and India Boddy.

Last but not least, none of this would be possible without the support and expertise of our event partners EZRA, BTS, Valence, Hult Ashridge Executive Education, EF Corporate Learning, Headspring Executive Development, GP Strategies Corporation, The Oxford Group, and HEC Paris Executive Education.

iVentiv will be back in Switzerland at the EY wavespace™, hosted by Simon Brown, later this year. Until then, thank you all for being part of the conversation 👏

Talent and Leadership Executives! When your function is under scrutiny, not to mention dealing with unprecedented change, you need a reliable way to find new ideas from Talent leaders who get it.

At iVentiv’s Talent and Leadership London, hosted by Louise Scott-Worrall (Partner and Head of Learning Services) and KPMG at their Canary Wharf HQ, you’ll spend two days immersed in interactive workshops with senior leaders at some of the world’s biggest companies.

The provisional agenda already includes:

🔸 Conversational sessions chaired by Event Chair Karen Kocher (GM, Global Learning & Skilling, Microsoft)
🔸 Breakout discussions with Talent and Leadership leaders, including Amaranta Varvaro (Global Head of Talent Management, Reply), Alok Singh (Group Head of Talent Management, Bupa), and Sarah Grice (Group Head of Talent, Barclays)
🔸 An in-depth look at how leaders adapt to a complex world, with Karen, Marc Burrows (Chief People Officer, KPMG UK) and Kevin Oakes (Chief Strategy Officer & Founder, i4cp)

That’s in addition to open networking sessions and iVentiv’s trademark mix of collaborative workshops and peer coaching, designed to get you talking. iVentiv events were designed as an alternative to the traditional “sit and listen” conference. After more than 300 events, iVentiv has an all-time event satisfaction score of 93% from senior leaders around the world.

Thanks to the support of event partners Valence, CoachHub - The digital coaching platform, The Leadership Trust, KPMG, TechWolf, The Oxford Group, Center for Creative Leadership, and NovoEd, attendance is free for Global Heads of Talent, Leadership, and Executive Development.

Find out more and register here: https://iventiv.com/events/talent-management/talent-leadership-london-executive-knowledge-exchange?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=WLLL_190526_TLLondon_150926

Zurich, it’s time to take the pulse of Talent Management in 2026 🩺

At Talent Management Zürich this week, you have the opportunity to work with your fellow Heads of Talent on shared questions around strategic workforce planning, AI, ROI, leadership, coaching, culture, skills, change, and so much more.

Hosted by ABB and Melissa Necaise (VP, Talent & Learning Manager), iVentiv is bringing the conversation to Zürich this year at the home of a global technology leader and one of Switzerland’s biggest companies.

With Tyra Malzy (Chief People Officer, Zoī) set to Chair the discussions, over the next two days you’ll dive into facilitated conversations with Thomas Cunningham-Fahie, Cindy He, Sabrina Kipp, Sina Melder, James Blaker, Cherry-Lijun Sheng, Guillaume Delacour, Anand Chopra-McGowan, Vidhi Thakker, Lisa Meier, Titusz Kovacs, Helen Macdiarmid, and India Boddy on the topics that matter most to you.

Event partners EF Corporate Learning, HEC Paris, The Oxford Group, EZRA, Valence, Headspring Executive Development, GP Strategies Corporation, and BTS will also be on hand, with a wealth of experience drawn from work across hundreds of global organisations.

This event is fully booked and every session is participant-led. This is not a ‘sit and listen’ conference, it’s a chance to have a real exchange with peers working on the same challenges.

Ready to get started? Zürich, let’s go 🏃‍♀️‍➡️

Carlsberg DO iVentiv events, and they’re probably the best events in the world 🌍

Last month, the iVentiv community in Denmark came together at one of the most visually stunning venues in our 18 years.

The Carlsberg Museum features beautiful outdoor spaces, exquisite works of art, striking marble rooms, and decades of history dedicated to one of the world’s most iconic brands.

And last month, we added a room full of Learning leaders committed to generating new ideas and supporting one another 🧡

Our photographer (thank you, Cedric D. Vincent!) captured some fabulous shots from the day, and we wanted to share the highlights with you. Thanks to Shannon Custard for inviting us, and don’t forget to join an iVentiv near you!

Thank you, Texas! It’s been two days of intense ideation, close conversation, and amazing ambition 👏👏👏

With the inspiring surroundings of Toyota’s North America HQ, you’ve tackled questions of culture, technology, and the future of work. You’ve worked together on the role of Learning in organisations that are changing before our eyes, and you’ve built new connections.

What comes next? That’s for you to decide. Whether it’s a follow up call, a new initiative, or a difficult internal conversation you’ve been putting off, now is the time to take action.

Thank you to Laura Martinez and Chris Johnson at Toyota for inviting us back, and for everything you’ve done to make this week happen. Thank you also to event Chair Charles Jennings, and facilitators Alexa Goldberg, Nikhil Shahane, Jessica Cavett, Vidya Krishnan, Jim Hemgen, Anthony Allen, Todd Moran, Amy Gingerich, and Steven Turner for guiding the conversations.

None of this would be possible with the support of event partners Novoed, Techwolf, Workera, Abilitie, OpenSesame, Udemy Business, and USC Marshall Executive Education. Thank you for your support of the iVentiv community and all your contributions to the conversations.

We’ll be back in the US next month for Learning and Talent Chicago. Until then, thank you to everyone who attended 🌎