Making a new type of baby

Babies are special aren’t they?  I just took a cab back to my hotel in Mumbai and came very close side by side to a rickshaw with a mother holding this cute baby.  Our eyes connected and we both smiled so hard our faces lit up.  It was a special moment.  And somewhere it made me laugh because it got me thinking.  I have a new baby which makes my face light up – my start-up company, The Experience Accelerator.  We’re in the business of helping leaders learn new skills and behaviours faster and more effectively.

If the Experience Accelerator was a baby, I would describe her as a beautiful blend.  She’s edgy because we are using some of the very latest and best cognitive research applied to learning – and yet dependable because we incorporate practice and feedback through a wonderful network of coaching professionals  – both tried and tested methods for making learning stick.  She’s democratic and ambitious, because our avatar solution aims to deliver leadership development at scale globally for so many more managers than have access today.  And she’s creative because we really are living at the intersection of tech, learning and film making – a heady combo as I’m finding out.  A case in point, I’m in the heart of the Indian film industry this week, shooting motion capture with proper, bona fide Bollywood actors!

And we’re moving fast….

• we’re close to releasing the beta version of our avatar solution – check it out here:  cool video about avatars
• we ran an amazing VR Experience in London a couple of weeks ago with PipsLab.  Our 7 leaders, passionate about learning, came up with over 30 corporate applications for the type of VR experience we ran.  The influential leadership guru, Josh Bersin, echoes our findings and this great quote from one of our participants does a perfect job of capturing the mood:

“The adventure of learning takes a new and exciting path!  Immersed in a virtual reality experience, I’m challenged visually, audibly, emotionally…and from all sides.  I spent the best part of 35 years, in various leadership roles in the insurance industry, training people to handle the emotions and challenges that go along with some very tough and challenging future changing moments for families and businesses.  If only I’d had VR…and Sarah Schwab as partners, I know that I could have done so much more, so much more quickly to get the learning in, embedded and making a difference.  This is an adventure not to be missed.” – Tim Culling, Retired Insurance Company Executive

We’re also a member of EPFL’s Edtech Collider – home to positively charged entrepreneurs transforming education.  We number over 50 early-stage to established startups.

Please get in touch if you are serious about pushing the boundaries of your learning strategy.  We’re on a fantastic journey.  If anyone is keen to help, we have 10 places for L&D professionals to beta test the avatar product for free in late September.  Approx 1-1.5 hours commitment.  Please share your details via the contact us link at the top right of this page to join the adventure!