$400 billion spent on training. And leaders still say it’s not working.
That’s not a content problem.
It’s a performance problem.
My mom just forwarded me a recent (4/24/2026) Inc. article highlighting what many organizations are starting to realize:
Corporate training videos don’t work.
Completion rates are low. Retention drops off almost immediately. Engagement is minimal.
So naturally, the next wave is here: AI-powered, interactive training.
Videos that can engage with you. Agents that answer questions. “Interaction density” instead of click-through completion rates.
And to be fair, this is better. But it misses the bigger issue.
Josh Bersin said it directly, “This isn’t a training problem. It’s an operating model crisis.”
He’s right. But most organizations haven’t actually changed the model.
They’ve just upgraded the format.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: We are still trying to fix performance with content.
Better videos. Smarter platforms. More engaging experiences.
But performance doesn’t come from content. It comes from clarity and system alignment.
At Exemplary Performance, we see this EVERY. DAY.
Organizations invest heavily in training, traditional or AI-enabled, without first answering a more fundamental question:
👉 What does great actually look like in this role, in this environment?
Not in theory. Not in a competency model. Not in a generic best practice. Not benchmarked opposite industry peers. Not in a video, AI, or otherwise.
But in the observable behaviors of their top performers.
Recommended by LinkedIn AI Learning The Hooters Way: Owlbert's Path to Guest… Cole Bastian, MSIOP 1 year ago R | Require Practice Tiffany Cheeseboro 3 months ago The Fridge Temperature Moment: Why L&D Professionals… Luke McGrahan 2 months ago Small shifts, big impact.
Because until that’s clear:
Training teaches the wrong things (and 30% more of it). Managers coach inconsistently. New hires take longer to ramp. And performance remains unpredictable, impacting revenue.
No matter how engaging the content.
This is why we focus on what we call internal performance science.
We study YOUR top performers to understand:
How they make decisions and trade-offs. How they navigate complexity and know when they're winning. How they execute when it matters most - under pressure and with limited resources.
Then we align your systems: hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, tools, feedback around those patterns.
And here’s what happens:
Performance improves in weeks, not months.
Not because people learned more, but because the organization finally became clear on what drives performance and built the system to support it.
AI is absolutely changing learning. But it won’t fix performance on its own.
Because the problem was never the video. It was the assumption behind it.
Performance isn’t something you deliver. It’s something you observe, design, and scale.
Curious how others are thinking about this shift. Are you seeing more investment in content… or more focus on performance systems? (And, SIGH, I already know your answer 😔).