Episode 24: What L&D Can Learn From Product Management
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There's nothing I love more than when someone takes on an L&D role from another industry and becomes immediately confused as to why our profession functions the way it does. It provides an immediate opportunity for new ideas and conversation. This was the case for today's guest, Rashi Kakkar, when she moved from a career consulting in product management into an L&D leadership role. The result was a marriage of the two professions. One where the best pieces from each were elevated and the confusing bits eliminated. It turns out L&D can learn a lot from product management.
Rashi and Jess discuss
Shifting L&D from a project-based to a product-based mindset
Organizing L&D teams around stages in the employee journey rather than siloed functions
Embracing iterative development, frequent user testing, and ongoing refinement
Conducting regular user discovery sessions to understand needs and challenges instead of waiting for training requests to arrive on our desks
Tracking impact longitudinally, across the employee journey, not just from individual interventions
About Rashi Kakkar
Rashi Kakkar has two clear professional drivers: Creating human-centered products, experiences, and services and achieving organizational success and growth by unlocking human potential As a global lead within McKinsey’s Leadership Center of Excellence, Rashi is dedicated to building large-scale institutional capability through a skills-first approach. At McKinsey, she has advised Fortune 100 clients on complex strategic, operational, and organizational challenges. Rashi has successfully driven digital transformations, enhanced organizational effectiveness, and redesigned operating models, all grounded in a foundation of human-centered qualitative and quantitative research. She has also led multiple enterprise-wide agility and innovation programs to deliver impactful results.
Before joining McKinsey, Rashi worked at a boutique design thinking firm, where she developed expertise in human-centered design, experience and service design, and innovation. Earlier in her career, she gained valuable experience as a professional sports agent, specializing in talent management, sponsorship sales, and licensing and merchandising. Outside of her professional endeavors, Rashi is passionate about writing as a way to refine her thinking. She authors a bi-weekly newsletter with over 1,300 subscribers and has published more than 80 opinion pieces in leading global publications. An avid golfer, former varsity tennis player, and newly minted pickleball enthusiast, Rashi balances her professional pursuits with an active lifestyle and a love for sports.
Find and connect with Rashi Kakkar
Newsletter: https://decksanddiapers.substack.com/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rashikakkar
X (Twitter): https://x.com/rashi_kakkar
Coming Soon!
Jess's book, L&D Order Taker No More! Become a Strategic Business Partner will be published by ATD Press later this year. To be the first to get behind-the-scenes updates, early sneak peeks, and join the launch party, join Jess's email list! You'll get the L&D Must Change newsletter delivered to your inbox weekly as well as special updates on the book when available. Click here to join!
