Hidden Value

Learning and development (L&D) professionals empower individuals, transform societies, and help organizations to adapt and thrive.

After Keith Keating dropped out of high school and spent two years working at fast-food restaurants, he began training government workers in Microsoft Excel — which he had to learn on the job — and found new confidence in his ability to understand complex formulas and help others do the same. Discovering the transformative power of learning changed Keating’s view of his potential for growth, and led him to earn a doctorate in education from a top university.

When you solve problems instead of giving up, you develop self-efficacy: the belief that you can overcome additional challenges. Your confidence creates a ripple effect as you help others learn and grow. For example, Sal Khan made videos to help a relative with math. Eventually, he developed Khan Academy, a free online educational platform with more than 140 million users worldwide, including in areas with limited access to educational resources.

Software engineer Satya Nadella learned all he could about the cloud computing business, then led Microsoft to surpass competitors...