Podcast Summary: Designing Learning That Feels Human and Drives Performance with Yusuf Sadrud-Din of Whistle Express Car Wash
Yusuf did not wander into learning by accident. He grew up watching two very different models of education in action. His mother was a teacher. His father designed training as a program manager supporting the U.S. Department of Defense. One worked in classrooms, the other in complex systems. Together, they gave him a front row seat to what it looks like when teaching and performance intersect.
He followed his mother first. Yusuf spent about six years as a school teacher before deciding to try his father’s world. To make the transition, he completed a degree in technology management at Nova Southeastern University, then moved from Jacksonville to Atlanta for his first formal learning and development role.
That move turned into a long-term career. Today at Inspire Brands, he acts as both facilitator and program manager, designing experiences that support leaders, managers, and frontline employees across the business. In many ways, his work sits at the intersection of classic instructional design, modern learning experience design, and talent development strategy.
For organizations that do not have the benefit of an internal talent experience leader, partnering with experienced instructional design consultants or eLearning developers can help fill that same gap and bring a learner centered perspective to complex initiatives.
How Learning and Development Has Grown Up
Asked about the biggest changes he has seen in L&D over the past several years, Yusuf does not start with tools. He starts with professionalism. He has watched the field become more human centered, more intentional, and more tightly connected to real business performance.
In his view, the best teams today are designing with the learner at the center, not just pushing information. That means thinking beyond “courses” toward complete learning journeys that combine experiences, reinforcement, and performance support. It also means using data and forecasting to act as true business partners rather than order takers when stakeholders ask for training.
This shift aligns with what many learning and development leaders experience in their own organizations as they move from reactive training requests to proactive learning strategies. For companies that are modernizing their L&D function, resources like TrainingPros’ overview of learning and development services can help clarify what a mature, strategic L&D model looks like.
Designing Learning in the Flow of Work
Yusuf is particularly energized by the shift away from one-time events toward learning in the flow of work. He points to examples from retailers like The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Target, where employees can ask a question on the sales floor and receive not just an answer, but a step-by-step action guide that helps them serve customers in real time.
These are not traditional courses. They are dynamic performance support tools that blend knowledge, guidance, and job aids into one experience. For Yusuf, this is where learning is headed. Design is not just about what happens in a classroom or LMS, it is about what happens in the moment of need.
He also believes learning management systems must evolve with this mindset. Instead of being a library of one-off events, the LMS should support an integrated journey. Learners are prepared before training, supported during the experience, and then followed over time as their skills transfer to the job. Some organizations are already doing this by combining their LMS with performance support systems and learning pathways that track real behavioral change.
For L&D leaders exploring similar approaches, working with custom learning partners to design performance support, simulations, and just in time resources can accelerate this shift.
Empathy as a Core Design Skill
If Yusuf had to choose one critical skill for learning professionals today, he would not pick a software platform or a technical method. He would choose the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Whether you are working with a SME who is juggling multiple priorities, a manager who is accountable for results, or a learner who has to make time for training on top of a full workload, empathy sits at the center.
He reminds designers and facilitators that “your training is just a little blip in that person’s life.” Then he adds the hard part, “you are kind of negotiating for that time. So, make sure it’s impactful. Make sure it’s easy. Make sure it’s usable.”
To do that well, Yusuf encourages L&D professionals to listen carefully to how their learners talk, work, and think. He likes to gather user stories whenever possible and pay attention to rhythm and language. Even when courses use AI generated narration, the script can still sound like the learner and reflect the way they would “hear it in their head.” That takes time with the audience and a deliberate focus on learner personas and learning experience design.
For sales teams in particular, he sees performance support as often more valuable than long training events. Tools and resources that slot into the workday can feel much less like a cost and more like a direct boost to performance.
Mentors Who Changed His Thinking
No learning leader gets where they are alone. Yusuf credits much of his development to a mentor at The Home Depot, where he spent five years earlier in his career. That mentor, Alan Feld, is a well-respected leader in the learning space who helped Yusuf rethink almost every part of his design practice.
Alan pushed him to see that everything in a learning experience can be measured, from the story arc to the objectives, and that measurement is not just about data points. It is about creating learning that connects and sticks. He also modeled how to build strong relationships with SMEs and how to immerse learners in an experience, so they feel more than a passive obligation to “click through” a course.
Yusuf has taken those lessons forward into his own mentoring. While he does not currently participate in a formal mentoring program, he has personally helped six former teachers transition into instructional design and L&D roles. Many of them come to him thinking “I know how to write training, I want to be an instructional designer.” He responds with a structured, six weeks, learn-by-doing-journey that ends with a simple course, a portfolio, and the skills to interview for L&D roles.
For organizations that want to create their own mentoring or upskilling programs, TrainingPros’ mentoring resources and access to experienced L&D consultants can help structure those pathways for internal talent.
Elements of a Learning Journey for Instructional Designers
Investing in His Own Growth
Yusuf does not just coach others. He invests in his own development with the same seriousness he brings to his learners. Recently, he hired a career coach to help him navigate his next phase of growth. They meet roughly every other weekend to work through career decisions, mindset, and strategic planning.
He talks about this with gratitude and also with a clear message to other learning professionals. You do not have to navigate your career alone. Coaching, whether from a formal executive coach, a mentor, or a peer network, can help you see blind spots and step into new opportunities with more confidence.
This focus on growth mirrors what many organizations are trying to build for their employees. From leadership development programs to coaching skills for managers, companies are investing heavily in building a coaching culture.
Staying Current in a Fast-Changing Field
To stay plugged into the latest in L&D, Yusuf leans heavily on community. He attends ATD chapter meetings regularly and values the chance to hear what peers are trying, struggling with, and celebrating in their own organizations. He also reads widely, from LinkedIn articles to industry magazines like Chief Learning Officer.
Conferences play a role, too. Yusuf recently attended the ATD International Conference in Washington, DC, where he met practitioners from around the world and encountered approaches he had never seen before. Experiences like that, he says, help him benchmark both where he is and where he wants to go next as a learning leader.
For learning professionals looking to follow a similar path, organizations like the Association for Talent Development and publications like Harvard Business Review and Josh Bersin’s research can offer high quality insights about learning strategy, skills, and the future of work.
Books Every Emerging L&D Leader Should Read
When Leigh Anne asks what book he would recommend to someone moving into L&D leadership, Yusuf reaches for a classic. He suggests The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, the book that helped popularize systems thinking and the idea of the learning organization.
He sees it as essential reading for anyone who wants to understand training not just as an event, but as part of an interconnected system of people, processes, and feedback loops. For him, it reframes the role of L&D from content provider to strategic actor in organizational life.
He also keeps the ATD Talent Development Body of Knowledge guide close at hand as a reference. The structure and breadth of that resource, he notes, helps him ground his practice in established standards while still leaving room for creativity and innovation.
For leaders building development libraries for their own teams, pairing foundational books like The Fifth Discipline with practical guides, case studies, and L&D glossaries can give practitioners both depth and day to day tools.
Creating the Future of Leadership Development
What Yusuf’s Perspective Means for Learning Leaders
Across the conversation, a few themes repeat. First, respect for the learner’s time. When Yusuf says training is “just a little blip in that person’s life,” he is not minimizing learning. He is reminding designers and leaders that every hour of training competes with dozens of other priorities. That reality should raise the bar on relevance, usefulness, and design quality.
Second, a relentless focus on performance. Whether it is a sales associate on a busy floor or a manager trying to coach their team, Yusuf wants learning to show up where work happens, not only in standalone events. That might mean building performance support apps, designing job aids, or rethinking how the LMS structures journeys instead of courses.
Third, a belief in people. From the teachers he mentors into L&D, to his own investment in coaching, to the colleagues he meets at ATD events, Yusuf approaches the field with humility and curiosity. He looks for what others are doing, tests ideas, and uses what works to serve his learners better. It is a mindset that aligns strongly with how TrainingPros positions itself as a partner to clients, always asking how learning can drive real impact while honoring the people at the center.
Listen to the full interview here.
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