Changes at Learning Pool

Next week I hand the CEO baton at Learning Pool on to Benoit de la Tour .?It's a part of a strategic succession plan that sees a few of the older guard stepping back, allowing the next generation of leadership at Learning Pool to step forward.

I apologise in advance for this article, which is all a bit soppy and self-occupied. But I've got people to thank...

Back in 2019, when Alan Betts and I sold HT2 Labs to Learning Pool, we wondered how long we’d last.

First week? First month?

We felt confident in our decision to sell, and we felt confident in Learning Pool as a destination, but we had no idea how life would be in a bigger company. And no real concept of where the journey would take us.?

In my first few days I met with Duncan Shores who talked to me about the sense of collective responsibility that was shared between the Senior Management Team at Learning Pool. That collective lifted a huge weight from my shoulders and supported my growth as a leader and as a person over an unbelievable 5 year run.?

Under the leadership of Paul McElvaney , I got exposed to the world of Private Equity, of M&A and of what it took to run a big(ger) company. I have learned so much from watching the way Paul operates. To this day, I'm still aspiring to reach his standards of coaching, mentoring and unerring habit of doing the right thing. I never will.?

My partner in crime became Daire McCaughley , who I worked with on late nights and long trips to source and close M&A deals around the world. Our work brought us hundreds of new colleagues, each of whom went through the same thoughts and feelings I had in 2019. It's wonderful to watch people realise just how brilliant the culture at Learning Pool is over the course of their first few months. We always tell them in advance and they never believe it. But once they get here, they get ‘it’.?

As my role evolved from product to CEO at Learning Pool, I handed the baton on to Mark Lynch - the number 1 rated sales person at Learning Pool, 16 years in a row… If you believe him. I kinda do!

I once spent weeks trying to explain something to a board member without any success. I put Mark in the room with him for 5 minutes and he got it. I’ve no idea why I don’t just put Mark in every room.?As part of these changes, Mark has now successfully completed his succession plan, first moving Anna Lloyd into the CPO role, and now James Mullaney to CTO. Congratulations Mark!

As our world grew, so grew the opportunities to bring new people into the business. We welcomed Brandon McAllister as our first CRO. It's nerve wracking bringing in sales leadership; I've been down this road too many times, the big, expensive, sales hire that talks a good game but never actually grows anything or anyone. Well, we lucked out on Brandon. Whilst he built a global sales team, he also found time to pull off some of the biggest deals of Learning Pool’s history. A true revenue leader.?

Not everyone in the SMT was new. Some, like Louise McElvaney , had been at the company a decade and with her support we managed to evolve LP to higher and higher levels of achievement in employee engagement, equality and opportunities. We promoted massively from within, we hired well and we became an accredited B Corp (which nearly killed us at the time). Others, like Anna Lloyd , had been with me before at HT2 Labs and grew into big jobs with ease. I always knew one of my ideas was probably brilliant when Anna acknowledged it was ‘OK’. High praise, hard earned. And much needed, when you have someone who can truly speak truth to the boss.?

So many of my team from HT2 stayed and their journeys have been remarkable. Alan and I employed James Mullaney as our only developer after he came back from his gap year following university. He never left. James pretty much single handedly built the first versions of the software that today ranks amongst the best learning systems in the world. And from starting his first proper job with me, James is now Learning Pool’s CTO. His team has stayed incredibly loyal to him through that time, and each person has grown tremendously within the company, which is a complete credit to James’s inspirational style and inclusive approach.??

Five years on and so many people stayed over from HT2 and grew their careers with Learning Pool. Pete Thorne , Josh Wilkinson , Ryan S. , Nicole Kastner , Jon Brydges , Chloe, Zach, Leiden, Lydia, David and… well, now i’ve made a list i’ve put myself under huge pressure. I think that’s the lot… I think!

But I must also mention customers.. Because whilst we’ve got a lot, some of them believed in our products when there was precious little to believe in…? Villeroy & Boch, Xerox, Jisc, Next Learning Valley B.V. , Amazon, Yum Brands and more. 10 years is a long time to remain loyal to a supplier and it's been amazing to watch the accounts, and those use cases, grow over time.?

There are more people and more promotions than I can mention. More mentors and more friends than I will ever have space to write about. But I must save the last thanks for Siún Heaney , my Executive Business Partner. Siun has worked tirelessly to not only learn the business, but my habits and needs, anticipating what I need before I know it and becoming my go-to person for comms, strategy and critical feedback. If I’ve said anything of use to anyone in the last 3 years, it's because Siun probably said it first.

Now’s a good time to move on. The business is strong, but it's at a pivotal point in growth. What got us here won’t get us there. In Benoit, Marlin has found a leader with just that experience. I wish both him and the team every piece of luck in the world as they move forward together.

I’ll be handing over to Benoit over the coming month, so if you need to nag me about anything, now is the time! I’ll finish up properly at the end of September, but will remain an investor and supporter of Learning Pool from the outside.