Lisa Christensen

Lisa Christensen is a prominent figure in the field of learning and development, currently serving as the Director of McKinsey and Company's Learning Design Center of Excellence.1 In this role, she leads and develops a global team of design experts who are working to innovate the next generation of exceptional learning design for both McKinsey's colleagues and clients.1

Key Responsibilities and Achievements

Leadership and Innovation: Lisa founded and leads McKinsey's Learning Research and Innovation lab, which is a future-focused research and experimentation team.1 This lab translates academic research into best-practice applications that fuel learning for the firm.1

Strategic Initiatives: Under Lisa's leadership, her team has been involved in several important initiatives:

1. Developing holistic approaches to organization-wide people challenges, such as improving feedback culture.2
2. Leading the ethical and thoughtful use of emerging technologies, including generative AI, to enhance human intelligence and expedite learning.2
3. Studying and supporting middle managers and senior leaders to foster better people development practices.2

Expertise and Contributions: Lisa is known for her expertise in:

• Learning design and development
• Future-oriented learning strategies
• Building futurist mindsets and competencies in learning professionals2

She is also an accomplished facilitator and author.1

Background and Experience

Before joining McKinsey, Lisa was a senior leader at a boutique learning design firm, where she partnered with clients across various industries to address their most significant learning and leadership development challenges.1

Professional Insights

Lisa advocates for:

• Treating apprenticeship as a "way of life" rather than just a program4
• Embracing a broader definition of apprenticeship to unlock new growth opportunities4
• Making on-the-job learning a deliberate feature of organizational culture4
• Using learning design as a bridge to culture building, particularly in areas like feedback3

Through her work, Lisa continues to shape the future of learning and development at McKinsey and beyond, emphasizing the importance of innovative, science-based approaches to learning and people development.