From CLO Magazine, Sept 2005, “Aligning Education with Business Strategies”

“Instead of regarding education dollars as a tiresome drain on profits—the first expense to be cut back in hard times—smart CEOs increasingly see education as a strategic asset, an asset that enhances the long-term value of the business.”

I talk to clients, colleagues, and prospects every day that live in the world of corporate training. This authoritative statement in CLO magazine doesn't match up with what I see as reality. Most of what I have witnessed is a continual eroding of senior executive support for investment in employee training.

This seems to me to be blue-sky magazine talk. Wishful thinking. Polyanna. Good for selling magazines, but if the author and editors believe it, they must be smoking something.

I have clients that are on the Training Magazine Top 100 list every year. Their training budgets have been cut by several hundred percent in the last 5 years. And those cuts came at a time of growth and prosperity. Several hundred million dollars of profit and increasing employees by thousands. How could that possibly be seeing education as a strategic asset?