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Chris Taylor: From Devil Sticks at 12 to Disrupting a $300B Industry — a Story of Delusional Optimism
Manage episode 496412480 series 3614645
Chris Taylor built his first business at 12, selling homemade "devil sticks" at school fairs. Since then, he’s been on a wild ride, from selling knives to crashing hard as a young leader, to rebuilding from his parents' basement and becoming a trailblazer in behavior change and impact measurement.
In this conversation, Chris shares the real behind-the-scenes story: the failure that humbled him, the habits that changed everything, and why he believes L&D must evolve from content delivery to driving measurable behavior change.
He also opens up about building Actionable (a tech platform now used in 7,000+ programs) and Catalyst (his community for early-stage consultants). Plus, we talk about the power of choosing yourself, building social capital before asking for anything in return, and how living nomadically reshaped his view on success.
If you’re in learning, leadership, consulting—or dreaming about what’s next—this episode is full of gems.
🎧 Topics we cover:
- Early entrepreneurial roots
- Failing hard as a young leader (and what turned it around)
- Building tech from a basement with $600
- How to prove the impact of your work
- Why you should create value before asking to be valued
Get to know Chris:
Chris founded Actionable.co in 2008 for the express purpose of helping corporate learners apply
what they learned; consistently and measurably. Since then, Chris – and his team at Actionable
– have supported the deployment of over 3000+ programs leveraging the Impact Certainty
model for driving change.
Described once by a client as “a curious blend of Boomer and Gen-Y”, Chris is often called
upon to act as a bridge and translator between generations at work, our new state of constant
change and impact technology has on team dynamics. He brings a self-deprecating sense of
humour and grounded-ness to his keynotes and workshops, ensuring attendees leave inspired
and well equipped to drive real change back in the workplace.
Chris is a regular speaker and writer on Learning Impact Measurement, Behavior Change and
how to overcome the challenges of eLearning.
Connect with Chris:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjrtaylor/
Website: www.actionable.co
The Behavior Change Toolkit(TM): https://actionable.scoreapp.com/
Your host, Candice Mitchell, can be found online at:
Website: https://talentdevelopmentnerds.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicemitchelltdnerd/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talent_development_nerd/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@candicemitchell.TDNerd
Talent Development Academy: https://talentdevelopmentnerds.com/tda
Original music composed by: Paul DeHaven
80 episodes
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