Hi I’m Spencer,

Hi I’m Spencer, I am a voracious learner, creative thinker, and determined problem solver.

• April 2025 | Graduated with PhD

• March 2025 | Defended Doctoral Dissertation “Leaders Learning Levinasian Humility”

• January 2023 | Organizational Program Manager, Vivint/NRG

• December 2021 | Graduated Master’s in Instructional Psychology and Technology

• January 2020 | Head of Product and Learning, Merit Leadership

• April 2019 | Co-Founder, Janus Development

How to create meaningful learning and impactful development

Here is a list rules of thumb that I have developed to drive learning and change.

1. It starts with good analysis. The key to innovation is understand the pain points. This takes listening, empathy and rigorous investigation. The analysis must be based in real data as well as intuition.
2. Learning should be joyful. Learning is fun. If you look around we read the newspaper, watch the news, engage with learning on the internet, and read books; all for fun! If we create learning experiences that resonate with our interests and needs it will stick.
3. Make clear objectives. Picking good learning objectives is half the battle. Good objectives come from understanding the learners, understanding the needs, and understanding the limitations.
4. Test, evaluate, and collect feedback. Sometimes the most important step is to try it out and see how it goes. Treat learning like a new product about to hit the market. Your learners are customers for your information.
5. Integrate learning with work. One of the most common mistakes is to assume that teaching the big idea will change the way people work but this rarely works. Learners want to know how they can work better and faster, focus on their needs and implementation will follow.
6. Learning and development is a people process. People are not computers you can download information or procedures into. They have emotions, feelings, and can be unpredictable. They are never dumb, but they may reject dumb learning experiences.
7. Align people needs and business needs. The goal of any learning or development program should be to drive the success of the organization. Good analysis will tie what the people need and what the business needs.
8. Learning should drive technology. There is a lot of amazing technology and digital learning options available. The key is to focus on what learning should happen then choose the technology solution to meet the needs. Cool technology should not dictate what is taught.
9. Culture is in relationships. Culture is the glue that lets people work together. Managing culture will come to how relationships are cultivated and monitored. Traditional culture management is tied to the values of individuals, but it only matters when those values impact how people work together.