Most founders say they want a smarter team, but they keep handing their people training that makes them dumb.
In this episode of Founder Talk, I sit down with Erin Huizenga, founder of Desk Light and author of Learning in the Wild, to break down how to build a team of relentless learners and why that is one of the fastest ways to grow a business.
Erin shares why most workplace learning fails. It is punitive, boring, and designed like compliance instead of a real product. She argues that if your learning experience is not something employees want to come back to, you are not training a team, you are burning time. We talk about how to make learning craveable, human-centered, and designed for how adults actually learn.
We also explore the real business upside. Better learning is not a “nice to have.” It is a growth engine. It drives retention, sharper execution, faster upskilling, and a culture where people keep improving even when you are not in the room. Erin outlines what a real learning ecosystem looks like, not a one-off course, but a system that links onboarding, micro-learning, mentorship, reflection, and real-world practice.
Erin also explains how AI fits into this future. Not as a replacement for thinking, but as a “dance partner” that supports creativity and recall. The companies that win will be the ones who help their teams learn how to learn, not the ones who dump more content into a portal.
You’ll learn:
✅ Why most employee training does not work
✅ How to design learning people actually want
✅ What makes adults learn faster and retain more
✅ How learning culture drives retention and business scale
✅ How to build a learning ecosystem, not a checkbox program
✅ Where AI helps teams grow, and where it hurts
✅ Why “craveable learning” beats compliance every time
If you want to scale without becoming the bottleneck, this episode is your blueprint. Building a team of relentless learners is not just about education. It is about building a company that keeps getting better on purpose.
Connect with Erin Huezinga:
Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinhuizenga/
Guest Website: https://desklightlearning.com/
If you are a B2B company that wants to build your own in-house content team instead of outsourcing your content to a marketing agency, we may be a fit for you! Everything you see in our podcast and content is a result of a scrappy, nimble, internal content team along with an AI-powered content systems and process. Check out pricing and services here: https://impaxs.com
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Timecodes
00:00 Introduction and Background
00:13 Recognition and Achievements
01:05 Mission and Approach to Learning
02:32 Cognitive Science and Learning Retention
04:03 Pedagogy vs. Andragogy
06:22 Challenges in the Education System
12:22 Corporate Learning and Development
15:40 Effective Learning Strategies
26:57 The Importance of Curiosity
29:58 The Struggle of Reading Too Many Books
30:11 Curiosity and Asking Questions
31:02 The Art of Genuine Conversations
33:18 Creating a Learning Plan with No Budget
36:27 Maximizing Learning with a Big Budget
38:32 The Impact of AI on Learning
46:39 Writing a Book: Process and Reflections
51:44 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
