How to Make a Leader

T. Rowe Price doesn't do one-off training programs. They engineer leadership.
Ryan Smith leads Global Leadership and Career Development at T. Rowe Price, where he's spent nearly four years building a company-wide learning system that reaches leaders at every level, from the C-suite to frontline associates. The foundation: a belief that everyone, regardless of title, has the capacity to lead.
He shares how they built their leadership academies, why co-creation was non-negotiable at every level, foolproof tactics to get buy-in from the C-suite, and how they turn a learning event into lasting behavior change.
Things to listen for:
(00:00) Introducing Ryan Smith
(01:13) The “everyone is a leader” mantra
(02:39) The difference between leaders and managers
(05:51) Why systems of learning became a priority
(09:33) Defining a system of learning
(10:28) Leadership academies and behavior frameworks
(12:27) Insights from the Executive Leadership Academy
(13:37) Building manager capability
(15:16) Building communities of practice
(17:10) Driving adoption and executive buy-in
(19:56) Connecting learning systems to organizational metrics
(23:02) Measuring engagement and performance
(24:30) First steps for leadership development strategy
(25:53) Best leadership advice Ryan has received
About Ryan Smith:
Ryan Smith is the Head of Global Leadership and Career Development at T. Rowe Price, where he focuses on career mobility and building scalable leadership systems that develop leaders at every level of the organization.

Before joining T. Rowe Price, Ryan spent 15 years at Truist, leading leadership and professional development for more than 45,000 employees. His work centers on creating equitable access to leadership development and aligning learning with real business outcomes.
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn.

We’re back with a Quick Question: one big question, one expert answer, in five minutes. 

Mike Taylor explains why learning teams often underestimate the role of attention, and how ideas from cognitive and marketing psychology can improve the way training is designed. He shares six simple attention triggers that make learning more relevant, tangible and memorable, and shows how L&D teams can move from one-off courses to campaign-style learning.
About Mike: 

With over two decades of experience as a learning consultant, Mike has been a driving force behind transformative instructional design and organizational performance. He is a Learning Consultant at Nationwide, a faculty member in Franklin University's Graduate Instructional Design and Technology program, and co-author of the book, Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro. His work bridges the gap between academic theory and real-world practice, equipping future learning professionals with the skills to excel in today's dynamic landscape. 

Connect with Mike here. Check out his book and his newsletter.

Building a manager development program from scratch is hard. But scaling it is harder.

Sarah Bright leads Learning & Development at Darktrace. She built a tiered manager development program from scratch, training 75% of all managers across 20 learning cohorts in two years.

She shares how her team designed a program that adapts to a fast-moving business, the core competencies that define great managers, and how to measure the real impact of leadership development.

Things to listen for:
(00:00) Welcome to How to Make A Leader
(01:13) Building the L&D function from scratch
(02:33) Getting buy-in for manager development
(03:49) The first version of Darktrace’s manager program
(05:10) Tiered manager development curriculum
(06:39) Core competencies for developing leaders
(08:31) Measuring the success of L&D initiatives
(12:20) Creating a thriving manager community
(15:26) What's next for L&D at Darktrace
(19:19) One piece of leadership advice

About Sarah Bright:
Sarah Bright is the Head of Learning and Development at Darktrace, where she leads global initiatives that support more than 2,500 employees, including scalable learning pathways, clear career progression frameworks and manager development programmes. She started at Darktrace as a Sales Operations Analyst, where identifying trends and patterns contributed to her evidence-based approach to people development.  

This analytical mindset influences how she creates systems that help people feel clearer, more engaged, and able to progress in their careers. Sarah is passionate about combining data, storytelling, and emerging learning technologies to create development experiences that empower employees to grow with confidence and purpose.
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn. Learn more about Darktrace.

Introducing Quick Questions: one big question, one expert answer, in five minutes.

Giving constructive feedback is uncomfortable for most leaders. Amy Gallo is a best-selling author and contributing editor at Harvard Business Review who has written extensively about communication, conflict, and feedback. She explains why intention matters just as much as wording, and shares a straightforward framework that makes difficult conversations feel more grounded and productive. She also explains how L&D teams can help leaders practice feedback before the stakes are high.
About Amy: 

Amy Gallo is a workplace expert who writes and speaks about effective communication, interpersonal dynamics, gender, difficult conversations, and feedback. She is the best-selling author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict, as well as hundreds of articles for Harvard Business Review. 

https://www.amyegallo.com/

Jonny Thomson isn’t an L&D professional. He’s someone who’s spent years figuring out how to earn learners’ attention. 

After teaching philosophy in Oxford, Jonny shifted to short-form educational content, building an audience of over two million people across social platforms. He’s spent years capturing attention, encouraging curiosity, and making learning content that resonates with his audience and followers of Mini Philosophy. 

In this conversation, he talks about microlearning as less of a format, and more of an activation tool. A tool that can capture attention and curiosity, and points learners toward deeper exploration.

If you’re responsible for designing, enabling, or influencing learning at scale, this episode will provide practical ways to use microlearning more deliberately.
Things to listen for:
(00:00) Introducing Jonny Thomson
(03:04) How to capture attention in 90 seconds
(05:31) Why learning remains human
(06:56) How to make microlearning feel natural and not forced
(07:49) Everyday moments that create authentic learning
(08:19) Three things to make microlearning succeed
(12:15) The three virtues of a successful leader

About Jonny Thomson:
Jonny Thomson taught philosophy in Oxford for more than a decade before turning to writing full-time. He’s a columnist at Big Think and is the award-winning, bestselling author of three books that have been translated into 22 languages.

Jonny is also the founder of Mini Philosophy, a social network of around two million curious, intelligent minds. He's known all over the world for making philosophy accessible, relatable, and fun.
To learn more about Jonny, check out Mini Philosophy on Substack or Instagram.
YouTube Content ID: MV0ZLFAMVUI3WWRB