Are you investing in training and still not seeing people change how they work?

Most organizations don't have a content problem. They have a follow-through problem. The course gets built, the completions get logged, and then people drift back into their old habits because nothing in their daily work holds the new behavior in place.

In this episode of The Perfect Route, I sit down with Stephanie Crowe: career chief learning officer, learning technology CEO, and leadership transformation advisor with 10x Leader. Steph has shifted culture for tens of thousands of people at a time, and her focus is closing the gap between what people know and what they actually do.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why the learning function needs a seat at the strategy table, ideally on the executive team
• How a one-minute daily challenge helped bank tellers save customers more than $1 million from fraud in six months
• The "long tail" of reinforcement that most L&D teams aren't structured to deliver
• A balanced scorecard of leading, adoption, and trailing indicators that goes beyond completions and hours
• Why motivation fails at scale and how to "hook" habits into daily behavior
• Reframing mandatory training so the learner is the hero and compliance isn't the dragon
• Why the future of L&D flips the learning triangle, and what Steph would do if she could blow up corporate training

Whether you lead an L&D team, run an HR function, or manage a team that needs to change how it works, this episode gives you a practical lens for making learning stick.

Listen on your favorite platform:

YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | n3ed.com/podcast

#LearningAndDevelopment #CorporateTraining #ChiefLearningOfficer #BehaviorChange #Microlearning #LeadershipDevelopment #ThePerfectRoute #BillSodeman #PodcastForLeaders

What does it take to lead an idea the market isn't ready for yet?

Most leaders I work with can spot a problem in seconds. Fewer can see the opportunity sitting inside it, and fewer still have the patience to sell that opportunity through a long, skeptical buying cycle.

In this episode of The Perfect Route, I sit down with Jonathan Jakubowski, co-founder and CEO of SmartSolve, the Bowling Green, Ohio company behind PureNil 0, a 100% bio-based, water-soluble packaging material. Jonathan shares how a business plan written after a failure became a conviction, why he prefers innovation to mandates, and what it really takes to lead at the front of the adoption curve.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why problems and opportunities are two sides of the same coin
• How innovation, not regulation, has solved some of history's messiest problems
• What long sales cycles teach you about patience and qualifying risk
• Why respecting the old solution makes you better at building the new one
• The case for multiple bottom lines, chosen rather than mandated
• Why the best step you can take is the next step

Whether you're leading a team through change or trying to win buy-in for a new idea, this conversation offers a practical lens on conviction, patience, and stewardship.

Listen on your favorite platform:

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | n3ed.com/podcast

#ThePerfectRoute #BillSodeman #Leadership #Innovation #Stewardship #Sustainability #PurposeDrivenBusiness #LeadershipDevelopment #PodcastForLeaders

Why does your personal brand sound like everyone else's?

Scroll LinkedIn for five minutes and you'll see it: different faces, different industries, same story, same buzzwords. Most professionals don't have a talent problem. They have a visibility problem, and the shortcut they're reaching for is making it worse.

In this episode of The Perfect Route, I sit down with Tiyon L. Simpson, a London-born personal branding and brand positioning consultant now based in Bulgaria, where he and his wife run three businesses. Tiyon spent nearly ten years in corporate financial services before he asked himself why he wasn't on the other side of the table.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why every brand starts with "the why underneath the why"
• How AI-generated branding produces forgettable, cookie-cutter profiles
• Why brand building works like dating, with milestones instead of instant results
• What a beginner with $20 can learn from Emma Grede's approach to showing up
• Why executives already have a personal brand, whether or not they manage it
• Where branding is headed: back to real, human storytelling

Whether you're a rising executive, a new business owner, or a coach building a practice, this episode will change how you think about your reputation.

Listen on your favorite platform:
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | n3ed.com/podcast

#PersonalBranding #BrandPositioning #Leadership #ExecutivePresence #Entrepreneurship #Storytelling #AIandBusiness #ThePerfectRoute #BillSodeman