How to Thrive (or Fail) in Building a Learning Culture

Leaders in today’s age of digital and AI are challenged by accelerating disruption to their existing customers, markets, and technology. To survive and thrive, leaders must foster a learning culture by finding ways to leverage and integrate knowledge, experience, and creativity across their workforce, supply chain, and the broader ecosystem.

Creating a learning culture is hard. We cringe when we hear horror stories, and we celebrate success stories. There is much to learn from both! This paper assembles patterns of behavior often found in learning organizations. For each pattern, we identify a key principle, illustrate it with stories of it being transgressed and stories of it being adhered to, and give specific actions you can apply tomorrow. Each learning pattern is independent from other patterns, allowing leaders to understand and apply them separately or in small groups, depending on their needs.