Curiosity: The Critical Skill for Learning Leaders in
Talent Development with Josiah Owens of INPO
The learning and development profession is experiencing a meaningful shift. As technology expands access to information and accelerates content creation, the role of L&D is moving beyond building courses and delivering training.
In this episode of Learning Leader Spotlight, Josiah Owens, Program Manager of Employee Development at Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), shares his perspective on how learning professionals can increase their impact by becoming stronger business partners, strategic collaborators, and performance consultants. Throughout the conversation with Leigh Anne Lankford, Josiah reflects on his own career journey, discusses the evolving expectations of L&D leaders, highlights the growing importance of curiosity, and shares lessons from the mentors who shaped his approach to learning and leadership.
Josiah is an Atlanta-area learning and development leader and the president-elect of the ATD Greater Atlanta chapter. His career has evolved from early work in video production and instructional design to learning strategy and workforce development across multiple industries, including manufacturing and the nuclear sector.
Josiah describes himself as an “impact chaser,” someone motivated by helping organizations unlock the potential of their people. His experience spans content development, learning strategy, and organizational capability building, giving him a broad perspective on where the profession is headed.
Learning Resources Have Become More Accessible Than Ever
One of the most significant changes Josiah has observed is the democratization of learning and development tools. Historically, specialized knowledge often resided with a relatively small group of learning professionals who understood learning theory, authoring tools, and learning management systems. Today, access to resources has expanded dramatically.
According to Josiah, modern technology has opened opportunities for a much broader group of people to create learning experiences and contribute to development initiatives. As a result, learning is no longer confined to a single department or a specialized role. Organizations now have far more ways to support employee growth, and employees have unprecedented access to information and learning opportunities.
This shift creates both opportunities and challenges for L&D teams. If content creation becomes easier and more widely available, learning professionals must find new ways to demonstrate value beyond producing learning assets.
The Future of L&D Is Strategic Partnership
A central theme of the discussion is the belief that L&D must evolve from a primarily development-focused function into a strategic business partner. Josiah argues that learning leaders need a deeper understanding of organizational priorities and cross-functional stakeholder needs.
Rather than focusing exclusively on development expertise, future L&D leaders will need to understand what matters to senior leaders across functions such as finance, marketing, information technology, and operations. Building credibility will increasingly depend on the ability to connect learning initiatives directly to business outcomes.
Josiah envisions a future where learning professionals serve as consultants and advisors, helping organizations identify the most effective solution for a performance challenge. In some cases, training may be appropriate. In others, the solution may involve process improvements, experiential opportunities, operational changes, or entirely different approaches. The key is understanding the problem before recommending the intervention.
This perspective reflects a broader movement toward business alignment and away from viewing training as the default response to every organizational challenge.
The Return of Performance Consulting
The conversation highlights the renewed relevance of performance consulting, a discipline that focuses on identifying root causes of organizational performance gaps before prescribing solutions. Leigh Anne notes that performance consulting once played a prominent role in large organizations before attention shifted heavily toward content development.
Both speakers suggest that changing technologies, especially AI-enabled content creation, are helping bring performance consulting back into focus. As content becomes easier and faster to create, organizations have an opportunity to spend more time understanding business challenges and evaluating broader performance solutions.
For Josiah, this renewed emphasis represents an important opportunity. He sees enormous untapped potential in relationship-building, collaboration, and impact-focused consulting. Rather than measuring success solely by completed training programs, L&D can deliver greater organizational value by helping leaders solve meaningful business problems.
Performance Consulting Models:
Human Connection Still Matters
While technology continues to transform learning, the discussion emphasizes that human connection remains essential. As president-elect of the ATD Greater Atlanta chapter, Josiah shared his vision for strengthening community engagement and creating meaningful opportunities for professionals to connect in person.
He acknowledges the advantages of virtual engagement but also recognizes the unique energy generated when people gather face-to-face for productive interactions. The chapter’s focus has shifted toward creating experiences that encourage networking, offer practical takeaways, and foster stronger professional relationships.
The conversation also explores the role of local professional communities. Unlike larger national organizations, local chapters can facilitate lasting relationships, create career opportunities, and provide valuable connections to colleagues, employers, clients, and mentors.
This focus on community mirrors a broader workplace trend. Even in an increasingly digital environment, professionals continue to seek authentic opportunities for learning, collaboration, and relationship-building.
Curiosity Is the Defining Workplace Skill
When asked to identify the most important workplace skill, Josiah offered a simple and immediate answer: curiosity.
He argues that today’s environment rewards individuals who are willing to explore new ideas, seek information, and understand challenges from multiple perspectives. With information more accessible than ever before, curiosity becomes a differentiating capability that enables continuous learning and adaptation.
Importantly, Josiah expands the definition of curiosity beyond personal learning. He emphasizes curiosity about other people, their challenges, and their experiences. Understanding another person’s perspective creates opportunities for collaboration, problem-solving, and partnership.
In a world defined by rapid technological, organizational, and economic change, curiosity serves as both a learning skill and a leadership skill.
Leadership Begins with Personal Development
Another notable theme centers on self-leadership. When recommending a book for aspiring L&D leaders, Josiah selected Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People rather than a traditional learning and development title.
His reasoning reflects a belief that effective leadership starts with personal discipline and self-awareness. Before helping others learn, solve problems, or improve performance, leaders must understand their own habits, behaviors, and priorities.
The discussion extends into Covey’s concept of the Circle of Control, which became particularly relevant during the uncertainty of the pandemic. Both speakers note that learning professionals often work within constraints they cannot directly control, including technology decisions, acquisitions, hiring choices, and organizational structure. Rather than becoming distracted by those factors, successful leaders focus on areas where they can create influence and impact.
Practical Takeaways for L&D and Business Leaders
Develop Business Fluency
Learning leaders can strengthen their influence by becoming more knowledgeable about the priorities and challenges faced by other business functions. Understanding operational, financial, technological, and strategic goals can help position L&D as a valuable business partner rather than a service provider.
Start with the Problem, Not the Training
Organizations may benefit when learning professionals approach performance gaps with a consulting mindset. Training is one possible solution, but it should not automatically be the first recommendation. Performance issues may require process changes, experiential learning opportunities, or operational improvements.
Invest in Relationships and Collaboration
Many of the opportunities Josiah describes stem from stronger collaboration across teams and disciplines. Building relationships across HR, operations, technology, and business functions can help create more relevant and impactful learning solutions.
Create Excitement Around Learning
Learning initiatives often focus on content delivery and knowledge transfer. Josiah encourages learning leaders to also think about engagement, energy, and participation. Creating experiences that people genuinely want to attend can increase both connection and learning effectiveness.
Cultivate Curiosity as a Professional Habit
Curiosity supports adaptability, innovation, and lifelong learning. In a rapidly changing environment, organizations benefit from leaders and employees who actively seek new information, explore different perspectives, and remain open to learning from others.
Resources or Tools Mentioned
- ATD Greater Atlanta Chapter
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Closing Reflection
This conversation presents a compelling vision for the future of learning and development. As technology makes content creation easier and information more accessible, the greatest opportunity for L&D may lie in becoming a strategic partner that helps organizations solve business challenges and improve performance.
Through themes of curiosity, collaboration, mentorship, and business partnership, Josiah Owens paints a picture of a profession that is expanding its influence beyond training and into organizational strategy. The message is clear: the future belongs to learning leaders who combine development expertise with business understanding, relationship-building, and a relentless focus on impact.
Listen to the episode here.
Ready to Work with Us?
Does your L&D team have more projects than people? At TrainingPros, we match organizations with experienced consultants who lead with strategy, so you can connect learning decisions to real business goals. We support teams across compliance, customer service, leadership and supervisory development, product knowledge, and sales, as well as information technology, software, and learning platforms. Whether you’re rethinking onboarding, scaling a program, or upgrading the tools behind it, we help you move from reactive delivery to results-driven capability building.
TrainingPros has been named a Top 20 Staffing Company internationally by Training Industry, and recognized as a Champion of Learning by the Association for Talent Development (ATD)—an international honor that reflects our dedication to excellence in corporate learning. These accolades underscore TrainingPros’ unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality, tailored training solutions.
If your projects need instructional design consultants, eLearning developers, or other learning & development consultants for your custom content projects, reach out to one of our industry-expert relationship managers today.
When you have more projects than people™, let TrainingPros find the
right consultant to start your project with confidence.
