Episode 176

full

Published on:

10th Mar 2026

Why Learning Habits Will Decide Your Company’s Future with Annabelle Vultee

This episode is sponsored by Deel – hire, manage, and pay anyone, anywhere: https://www.deel.com/nickdayhr/

AI is transforming the workplace faster than most organizations can adapt. But according to Annabelle Vultee, CEO of GoodHabitz, the real competitive advantage in the AI era isn’t technology.

It’s human skills.

In this conversation with Nick Day on the HR L&D Podcast, Annabelle explains why the global workforce is facing a growing skills crisis and why traditional training programs are no longer enough. As AI lowers the barrier to entry for technical work, capabilities like curiosity, adaptability, critical thinking, and communication are becoming the skills that truly set people apart.

Annabelle shares why learning must move beyond one-off training sessions and become a continuous habit inside organizations. She also explores how AI is democratizing access to technology, why leaders should approach it with opportunity rather than fear, and what companies must do now to build future-ready teams in a world where skills are evolving faster than ever.

Nick Day’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickday/

Find your ideal candidate with our job vacancy system: https://jgarecruitment.ck.page/919cf6b9ea

Sign up to the HR L&D Newsletter - https://jgarecruitment.ck.page/23e7b153e7

Enjoyed this? Check out our sister podcast @thepayrollpodcast for more great content!

Annabelle’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabellevultee/

GoodHabitz Website: https://www.goodhabitz.com/

(00:00) Setting The AI Context

(01:20) The Case For Continuous Upskilling

(01:24) Welcome And Guest Introduction

(03:00) Defining Modern HR’s Strategic Role

(04:05) Leading Globally And Culturally

(08:10) The Global Skills Crisis Explained

(12:05) Human Skills As Competitive Advantage

(16:20) Habit-Building That Makes Learning Stick

(20:35) Designing Joyful Micro-Learning Journeys

(25:20) From Swiss Army Knives To Skills Maps

(28:40) Five Timeless Human Skills

(33:45) Democratising Learning: Role Of Leaders

(39:10) Diversity As A Performance Engine

(44:00) A CEO’s Own Learning Path

(49:00) Embracing GenAI: From Fear To Utility

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About the Podcast

The HR L&D Podcast

Leadership, recruitment, culture. Conversations with HR's best

HR gets handed the problems nobody else wants to own. The restructure, the grievance, the engagement survey that came back badly. And then gets asked why people are leaving.

I'm Nick Day. I run an HR recruitment agency, which means I spend most of my week on the phone to HR directors, HR leaders and people leaders talking about what the job is actually like rather than what's written on the job spec. This HR Podcast came out of those calls. I kept hearing things worth repeating, and nobody was repeating them.

Every week I sit down with HR leaders, chief people officers, L&D specialists and the occasional academic who has changed how I think about work and people engagement. We get into leadership, and what happens when someone brilliant at the technical side gets promoted into managing humans.

Employee engagement past the survey score. Diversity, equity and inclusion in a climate where saying those words out loud has become a decision in itself. Pay transparency, talent management, reducing bias in hiring, HR digital transformation and the HCM systems everyone is being sold. And of course we cannot forget HR AI tools and platforms that are flooding the landscape as AI in HR becomes a hot topic every people leader is keen to understand and leverage.

Wellbeing comes up constantly, and it usually turns into the same question. Who looks after the HR team.

I'm not an HR practitioner and I don't pretend to be. I'm the person who hires them, which puts me in a useful position. I get to ask the obvious question that everyone in the room already knows the answer to and nobody says.

No script and no polite version. Mostly it's the conversation you'd have with someone doing your job at a different company, if you ever got the chance to sit down with them.

If you work in HR, people management or L&D, or you're building a career in it, start by subscribing to The HR L&D Podcast. We have had guests including Stephen Covey, Alan Stein Jnr, Andrea Wareham and Dr. Thom Mayer among other HR Leaders who are shaping the future of work and leadership.

Need HR staff? I run JGA Recruitment, an HR and payroll recruitment agency. www.jgarecruitment.com or info@jgarecruitment.com

Want to be on the show? Nick@jgadigital.com

If payroll is closer to your world, I also host The Payroll Podcast, the most listened to payroll show in the world.

Topics include HR leadership, workplace culture, retention, people management, employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI strategy, AI for HR, AI recruitment tools, talent management, HR digital transformation, HCM, staff wellbeing, pay transparency, reducing bias, L&D and HR recruitment.

About your host

Nick Day