September gave us plenty to chew on. Here are ten pieces from The Times of Talent worth a spot in your next team meeting — or at least your next coffee break.
1. Take the training wheels off slowly
Students with a standard chatbot jumped 48 percent in practice. Once the bot was gone, they scored 17 percent below peers who never had it. A good question for all of us before the next AI rollout: what happens on the day the tool disappears?
The AI Tutor That Left Students Worse Off
2. Feedback can bite back
Feedback usually helps. In more than a third of the cases studied, people performed worse afterward. Worth a read before the next review season.
The Feedback That Makes People Worse
3. AI has an edge — find it
Consultants using AI got 40 percent better, right up to the point where the task left the model's comfort zone. There, they got more answers wrong. Knowing where that line runs is a skill worth training.
AI Made Consultants 40% Better — Until It Made Them Wrong
4. The rookies won
Give newer support agents an AI assistant, and they get faster and better. The veterans barely moved. Good news for onboarding — and a hint about where to aim the budget.
The AI Boost Went to the Rookies
5. Coaching, meet leaderboard
Managers who coach lift performance, and the relationship does the lifting. Put the same coaching inside a competitive climate, and the lift fades. Maybe the scoreboard can take a break.
Coaching Works Until You Add a Leaderboard
6. Let the junior go first
McKinsey's recipe for learning when AI does the grunt work: attempt first, compare second, talk third. Three steps, easy to try this week.
7. Visual learner? Prove it.
Millions of people have taken a learning-style quiz. Very few have checked whether teaching to the result pays off. Here is what the research says.
Visual Learner? Show Me the Evidence.
8. The master who funds his rival
In southeast Nigeria, a master trader trains an apprentice for years — and then sets him up in business. Try pitching that at your next talent review.
The Apprenticeship That Ends With the Master Funding a Rival
9. Eighteen voices, one map
From a Maasai bush camp to Botswana's kgotla and the majlis of the Gulf: eighteen stories from Africa, Arabia, Asia, Oceania and South America on how people grow. Tap the map and pick a place.
10. For the other side of the table
Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen train the person receiving feedback — which is often where the conversation stalls. Our pick for the nightstand.
See you in October. Until then — let the junior go first.
