Learning Leaders Digest #108

Here's what's interesting this week.

Jun 08, 2026

Welcome back, Learning Leaders.

This week, I want to highlight my conversation with Betty Dannewitz, better known across the L&D world as If You Ask Betty.

We talked about burnout, psychological safety, boundaries, and the strange trap learning professionals fall into: we spend our careers helping other people grow, but we often ignore the same advice when it applies to us.

Betty said something in that conversation that stuck with me. Meaningful work can still drain you.

That is worth sitting with.

A lot of trainers push through because the work matters. We want to serve the learners. We want to help the organization. We want to support leaders, teams, and people trying to get better. But meaningful work does not cancel out fatigue. Purpose does not replace rest. Passion does not remove the need for boundaries.

In the episode, Betty also talks about creating real psychological safety in a room full of L&D professionals, giving up control for contribution, and helping people realize they were not the only ones carrying the weight.

Last week’s poll asked:

What stakeholder request makes your heart sink the fastest?

The top answer was:

“They just need awareness, not practice.”

That one tracks. Awareness has its place, but when the business needs different behavior, awareness alone is usually a way to say, “We want the appearance of action without making room for actual change.”

Two other answers tied close behind:

“We need to cover all of this in one hour.”
and
“Can you make it interactive, but we can’t cut anything?”

Those are the classics. Too much content, not enough time, and somehow the trainer is still supposed to make it engaging.

That leads to this week’s question.