Podcast Summary – Balancing Purpose and Pace in Modern L&D Leadership with Rebecca Alimorong of Robert Half
Meet Rebecca Alimorong
When you talk with Rebecca Alimorong, one thing becomes clear immediately: learning isn’t just her career. It’s her calling. Today, as the Senior Director of Global Learning Experience at Robert Half, she leads teams that design end-to-end learning experiences, leverage analytics for business impact, and choose the right modalities for the right outcomes. In her words, she’s “pretty passionate about building learning ecosystems overall that grow the people and the business together.”
But her path into L&D didn’t start in HR or education. It began in an unexpected place, legal operations, where early “light bulb moments” transformed her career and ultimately shaped her human-centered approach to learning today.
“I do sales training and enablement,” he told TrainingPros President Leigh Anne Lankford. “We’re a growing company and we’re hiring lots of folks, and I work with the sales leadership to put together programs to turn outsiders into insiders and help them get up to speed quickly.” That lens of business growth, velocity, and relevance shows up in everything he shared on the Learning Leader Spotlight episode.
It also makes him an ideal voice for L&D leaders who are trying to balance AI, speed, and quality.
From Legal Assistant to Learning Leader: The Light Bulb Moments
That Started It All
Rebecca’s entry into learning and development mirrors many modern L&D leaders; nonlinear, unplanned, and sparked by curiosity.
“I started out in legal,” she explained. “I was a legal assistant… and the tech boom was happening at that time in the mid-nineties, and I realized that people really didn’t know how to use the systems.” Legal teams saw learning primarily as “OSHA training or compliance,” not as a path to process enhancement or performance improvement.
Rebecca changed that.
Seeing colleagues struggle, she began “creating trainings and hosting little sessions” simply because she “had a knack for it.” Those sessions turned into something meaningful for her and for the people she helped.
“Those little light bulb moments just kept me going… and I was hooked.”
Those moments led her to establish a training function within the firm; a role that didn’t exist before. This set her on a lifelong path in L&D leadership. That early experience still inspires her today. As she put it, “Empowering people… seeing those meaningful moments happen” became the work she wanted to do.
Creating the Future of Leadership Development
Leading Global Learning at Robert Half: Strategy, Analytics, and Ecosystems
Today, Rebecca oversees a global portfolio of learning initiatives at Robert Half; a large, complex talent solutions organization operating across countries and business lines. Her role blends strategic alignment, leadership development, and data-driven decision making.
She summarized her remit succinctly:
- “I set strategy for our learning and development teams.”
- “We design the end-to-end learning experiences.”
- “We leverage analytics for business impact.”
- “We focus on choosing the best outcomes and modalities.”
Across her teams, the goal is consistent: learning experiences that strengthen both business performance and individual growth. It’s an approach deeply aligned with TrainingPros’ emphasis on learning ecosystems; integrated, scalable systems that serve the whole organization.
The Skill That Matters Most in Today’s Workplace: Adaptability Paired with Creativity
When asked what skill is most essential right now, Rebecca didn’t hesitate.
“I would say adaptability. In learning, it has to be adaptability paired with creativity.”
She sees adaptability not just as a nice-to-have, but a survival skill in a world where systems, tools, and roles evolve rapidly. “It’s not enough anymore to just go with the flow and learn the process and learn the technology,” she explained. “We really now have to unlearn and relearn so quickly.”
Her point is especially relevant for experienced professionals and Gen X leaders like herself:
“We have to stay ahead of the adaptability almost… and still do it in a creative way.”
Rebecca is intentional about protecting creativity inside L&D teams, even as technology and systems advance.
“No matter how systematic or how technology-focused we might get, that heartfelt creativity is always going to be at the core of learning.”
Creativity, to her, is the human thread that keeps learning experiences authentic, memorable, and meaningful.
Why L&D Must Evolve How We Search, Learn, and Find Answers
One of Rebecca’s most relatable insights is how dramatically our tools for finding information have evolved. She described the shift from library research, to keyword search, to conversational AI; and how unlearning matters as much as learning.
She recalled a conversation with a colleague that captured this shift perfectly:
“We moved from researching into this search model of searching on the web… and now we’re going to shift it to prompting and make it conversational.”
And in classic Rebecca humor, she added:
“Tomorrow it might be you blink twice when you want something done differently.”
Her point is simple but powerful: professionals who can’t adapt to new ways of learning (and new ways of finding learning) will quickly fall behind.
Her Go-To Sources for Learning Trends, Strategy, and Real-Time Insight
Like many seasoned learning leaders, Rebecca has built a personal approach to staying current, combining strategic research with real-time insights.
“I kind of break it up into three areas,” she explained:
- Strategic Resources: “Gartner, ATD, 4CP… those large areas that go beyond learning and dip into talent and HR.”
- Communities of Practice: She cites Learning Guild and community conversations on LinkedIn as invaluable peer-to-peer learning spaces.
- Real-Time Perspectives: “I follow Simon Sinek… and people I’ve met at conferences.”
These sources help her balance macro trends with peer insights and practical conversations about what real L&D teams are doing right now.
Sometimes those posts offer a reassuring moment, “I’m not the only one,”and sometimes they offer a preview of what’s coming to her team in six months. Either way, the connection matters.
A Culture of Mentoring: Learning From One Another
When asked about organizational development practices she values, Rebecca lit up when discussing mentorship at Robert Half.
“Mentoring is really big here… our mentoring program just won a Brandon Hall Award this year.”
She’s particularly proud of their workplace peer program, which she described as:
“Learning from one another… getting that support and having that lifeline to call.”
Mentorship isn’t an extracurricular activity in her world. It’s core to how people grow, develop, and feel supported inside a large, matrixed organization.
The Books Every L&D Leader Should Read (Including Her Own)
Rebecca is a lifelong learner and an avid reader. She recently joined the ranks of L&D authors herself.
“Okay, this is a shameless plug… but I just wrote a book.”
Her new title, Beyond the Grind, “is really focused on leading with purpose and not pace.” She wrote it because she “couldn’t find something that pulls it all together with real language”especially around burnout and the human side of leadership.
Her other top recommendations include:
- Artificial Intelligence for Learning: Using AI and Generative AI to Support Learner Development – Donald Clark
“It really helped me stay ahead of the curve” as instructional design and skills readiness evolve.
Her “go-to for storytelling, messaging, bringing people in.”
- How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
“An oldie but goodie… it doesn’t get stale.”
Her message is clear: great leaders learn broadly, read widely, and revisit timeless fundamentals.
Why Rebecca’s Story Matters for L&D Leaders Today
Rebecca Alimorong represents the qualities shaping the future of learning:
- Adaptability and a comfort with the unknown
- Creativity grounded in heartfelt purpose
- Strategic learning ecosystems that prioritize both people and business
- Mentorship as a cultural norm
- Continuous learning, unlearning, and relearning
- Practical wisdom gained from a real, nontraditional career path
Her journey, from legal assistant to global L&D strategist, reminds us that L&D is not just a function. It’s a career built
What Skills Do Learning Leaders Value Most in 2025?
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