From Learning To Measurable Enablement in the Age of AI with Rob Rosenthal, Udemy Business

The Future of Learning: Turning Training into Performance with Rob Rosenthal, President of Udemy BusinessThe ground is shifting under every team — and the biggest winners are the ones treating learning not as a checkbox, but as a performance system that fuels growth, agility, and innovation.In this in-depth episode of the HRchat Podcast, host Bill Banham sits down with Rob Rosenthal, President of Udemy Business, to explore how learning and development is being redefined in an era shaped by AI, hybrid work, and rapid skills transformation.Together, Bill and Rob unpack how AI, executive sponsorship, and measurable enablement can dramatically shorten ramp times, sharpen skills, and deliver business outcomes that leaders can trust. Rob shares what he’s seeing across industries and regions: a growing expectation for L&D to partner directly with technical teams to lead AI readiness while also proving ROI to the C-suite.Listeners will discover a practical framework for building what Rob calls a “skills operating system” — one that starts with clear assessments and gap discovery, moves through curated learning paths, and lands on deliberate practice powered by AI. Rob explains how AI-based role play and virtual coaching can help new skills take hold faster, and how Udemy implemented this internally to reduce new-hire ramp time by 30% for account executives through structured enablement, not just new tools.The conversation also explores what skills truly outlast the hype. Rob highlights the continued importance of communication, change management, resilience, and leadership, especially as automation accelerates and teams face constant reinvention. Finally, Rob describes how private LLM integrations can deliver targeted, role-specific content at the exact moment of need — whether an engineer is debugging code or a manager is preparing for a tough conversation — turning learning from an occasional event into an everyday habit.Support the showFeature Your Brand on the HRchat PodcastThe HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score. Want to share the story of how your business is helping to shape the world of work? We offer sponsored episodes, audio adverts, email campaigns, and a host of other options. Check out packages here.Follow us on LinkedInSubscribe to our newsletterCheck out our in-person events