Nelson Sivalingam is the Founder and CEO of HowNow, a learning platform that helps organisations onboard, upskill and enable their teams with the knowledge they need, everywhere they work.

Most traditional Learning & Development solutions involve pushing you to a clunky platform with preselected topics you don’t care about, making learning at work feel like a chore. By contrast, HowNow helps you learn in the flow of work by giving you the ability to access relevant information when you it need, whether that’s in a Slack conversation with colleagues or in a Google search.

In this episode we discuss:

- How Nelson learned film and video production by following his curiosity
- The mistakes most businesses are making with L&D and what HowNow is doing to correct them
- How to upskill by learning naturally in the flow of work

We also get into Nelson’s take on the skills people need to thrive in the 21st century, his favourite books and much more. So whether you’re a business owner or an employee working at a small business or a large one, this episode will give you some great insights into how you can learn more effectively on the job to improve your performance and jumpstart your team’s education.

Show Notes‍

• Introducing Nelson [00:39]
• What was school like for Nelson? [03:14]
• When did Nelson realise that he was good at something, particularly with academics? [03:51]
• What are the qualities that Nelson believes make a great teacher? [05:28]
• Is there value in studying business in theory? [06:48]
• What is the biggest challenge entrepreneurs face after business school? [09:02]
• What advantages does one gain from attending university? [10:25]
• How did Nelson’s passion for filmmaking start? What are the skills, tools, and qualities that he developed to further explore his passion? [12:28]
• What was Nelson’s experience starting his own production company? [14:50]
• What core lessons from building a production company does Nelson apply to his filmmaking journey at current? [16:54]
• What is the concept behind HowNow? How is HowNow approaching workplace learning and skills development differently?? [21:52]
• Why is learning in context a core principle of HowNow? How does skills reintegration drive better performance at work? [26:00]
• What are the skills that people need to thrive in the 21st century? [30:45]
• How does HowNow ensure their peer reviews are genuine? Why is intent essential to self-directed learning? [34:18]
• Why is there a culture of undervaluing learning and development in the workplace in organisations? [38:24]
• What areas of expertise is Nelson currently exploring? [41:01]
• What are some books that Nelson has found exceptional and mind-changing? [42:20]
• What has Nelson changed his mind about recently? [43:51]
• If he could make a short film that the whole world would see, what would Nelson make? [47:48] 
• Closing remarks [48:24]

Resources

🖥 HowNow Website

📖 Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire

🐦 @thatnelsondude