Learning at the Speed of Big Tech with TikTok’s Nelson James

In this episode of The Unforgettable Learning Podcast, Josh sits down with Nelson James, Creator Marketing and Learning Design Lead at TikTok, to explore the three core principles for creating brilliant learning in the world of big tech: moving fast, iterating constantly, and testing with real audiences.

Nelson reveals how TikTok's learning team has adopted the same design philosophy as their product teams: shipping quickly, gathering data, and adjusting based on what truly resonates. He challenges the traditional L&D obsession with high-fidelity, perfectly polished solutions, arguing that "your solution has to be good enough to learn from, but if it's perfect, it's going to be too late."

Drawing on his experience supporting one of the world's most trend-driven platforms, Nelson shares how learning professionals can build audience feedback loops that rival those of content creators. He explains why tracking engagement, building community, and understanding what makes people feel seen matters more than lengthy development cycles. The conversation takes a strategic turn as Nelson introduces his powerful reframe: if you can't tie your learning programme to a business metric, you're not under-resourced; you're under-aligned.

Listeners will gain practical strategies for moving beyond order-taking, including how to communicate about learning without using the word "learning," and why getting outside your team to understand business unit KPIs is essential for building impact narratives that leadership understands.

For learning leaders ready to trade perfection for speed, engagement for completion rates, and alignment for endless requests, this episode offers a masterclass in building learning cultures that keep pace with business innovation.