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Hidden Value: How to Reveal the Impact of Organizational Learning
Are You Ready to Stop Defending Learning—And Start Amplifying Its Value?
For too long, Learning & Development (L&D) has struggled to be recognized as a strategic driver of business success. Despite launching powerful programs, L&D teams often find themselves justifying their worth, fighting for resources, and defending their budgets instead of being seen as key contributors to growth, innovation, and competitive advantage.
But what if the problem isn’t that learning lacks value—but that we haven’t learned how to amplify its value?
In Hidden Value, Dr. Keith Keating—author of The Trusted Learning Advisor—flips the script on traditional L&D thinking and presents a bold new roadmap for making learning’s impact undeniable. This book isn’t just about measurement; it’s about transforming L&D into a value powerhouse by seeking, creating, measuring, and communicating impact in a way that business leaders understand.
Whether you’re an L&D leader, HR professional, or business executive, this book will equip you with the strategies, tools, and insights to move beyond training metrics and start speaking the language of business.
If you’ve ever struggled to prove L&D’s value, felt frustrated by stakeholder resistance, or wondered how to amplify learning’s impact, Hidden Value is the book you need.
What You’ll Learn in Hidden Value
✅ How to become a Value Seeker, Creator, and Amplifier
Shift from order-taker to strategic enabler by proactively shaping learning solutions that solve real business challenges and elevate human potential. You’ll learn how to seek out hidden opportunities for impact, create learning experiences that drive measurable value, and amplify your contributions across the organization.
✅ How to reposition L&D as a value driver, not a cost center
Executives invest in business outcomes. Learn how to link L&D to business strategy directly, positioning learning as an indispensable asset that drives performance, retention, and competitive advantage.
✅ How to measure what truly matters—beyond ROI
Move beyond outdated ROI metrics that fail to capture learning’s full impact. You’ll learn how to use the Value Creation Compass—a clear, business-aligned framework that helps you identify, measure, and communicate both tangible and intangible outcomes. By mastering this approach, you’ll ensure that L&D is recognized as a vital contributor to business success, not just an expense.
✅ How to communicate L&D’s value in a way executives respect
Stakeholders don’t invest in what they don’t understand. Discover how to translate learning outcomes into business metrics that matter and use compelling, data-driven storytelling to capture leadership’s attention with insights they can’t ignore.
✅ How to create a culture where learning fuels growth and innovation
One-off training events don’t drive transformation—learning cultures do. Discover how to embed learning into the fabric of your organization, making it a driver of innovation, performance, and long-term success.
Who Should Read Hidden Value?
✔ Anyone in Corporate Learning ready to transform how L&D is perceived, measured, and leveraged.
✔ L&D Leaders who want to elevate their role and demonstrate learning’s strategic impact.
For too long, Learning & Development (L&D) has struggled to be recognized as a strategic driver of business success. Despite launching powerful programs, L&D teams often find themselves justifying their worth, fighting for resources, and defending their budgets instead of being seen as key contributors to growth, innovation, and competitive advantage.
But what if the problem isn’t that learning lacks value—but that we haven’t learned how to amplify its value?
In Hidden Value, Dr. Keith Keating—author of The Trusted Learning Advisor—flips the script on traditional L&D thinking and presents a bold new roadmap for making learning’s impact undeniable. This book isn’t just about measurement; it’s about transforming L&D into a value powerhouse by seeking, creating, measuring, and communicating impact in a way that business leaders understand.
Whether you’re an L&D leader, HR professional, or business executive, this book will equip you with the strategies, tools, and insights to move beyond training metrics and start speaking the language of business.
If you’ve ever struggled to prove L&D’s value, felt frustrated by stakeholder resistance, or wondered how to amplify learning’s impact, Hidden Value is the book you need.
What You’ll Learn in Hidden Value
✅ How to become a Value Seeker, Creator, and Amplifier
Shift from order-taker to strategic enabler by proactively shaping learning solutions that solve real business challenges and elevate human potential. You’ll learn how to seek out hidden opportunities for impact, create learning experiences that drive measurable value, and amplify your contributions across the organization.
✅ How to reposition L&D as a value driver, not a cost center
Executives invest in business outcomes. Learn how to link L&D to business strategy directly, positioning learning as an indispensable asset that drives performance, retention, and competitive advantage.
✅ How to measure what truly matters—beyond ROI
Move beyond outdated ROI metrics that fail to capture learning’s full impact. You’ll learn how to use the Value Creation Compass—a clear, business-aligned framework that helps you identify, measure, and communicate both tangible and intangible outcomes. By mastering this approach, you’ll ensure that L&D is recognized as a vital contributor to business success, not just an expense.
✅ How to communicate L&D’s value in a way executives respect
Stakeholders don’t invest in what they don’t understand. Discover how to translate learning outcomes into business metrics that matter and use compelling, data-driven storytelling to capture leadership’s attention with insights they can’t ignore.
✅ How to create a culture where learning fuels growth and innovation
One-off training events don’t drive transformation—learning cultures do. Discover how to embed learning into the fabric of your organization, making it a driver of innovation, performance, and long-term success.
Who Should Read Hidden Value?
✔ Anyone in Corporate Learning ready to transform how L&D is perceived, measured, and leveraged.
✔ L&D Leaders who want to elevate their role and demonstrate learning’s strategic impact.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 29, 2025
35 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 4, 2026
Hidden Value is not a book about chasing the latest trends or proving learning’s worth through abstract metrics. It’s a grounded, human exploration of what value actually means in learning and development and how often that value is hiding in plain sight.
What I appreciated most is that this book doesn’t position L&D as something that needs to defend its existence. Instead, it reframes the conversation entirely. Value is contextual. It’s subjective. And it only matters when it connects to the real problems people and organizations are trying to solve.
Keith Keating blends research, practical frameworks, and real-world stories to challenge some of the habits many of us fall into: activity over impact, best practices without context, measurement without meaning. The tone is thoughtful and reflective, not prescriptive, which makes the ideas easier to apply rather than simply agree with.
This is a book for practitioners who care deeply about their work and want to be more intentional about how they create, measure, and communicate value, not just to stakeholders, but to themselves.
If you work in L&D, HR, or leadership development and have ever felt that the true impact of your work wasn’t fully seen or understood, Hidden Value will resonate.
What I appreciated most is that this book doesn’t position L&D as something that needs to defend its existence. Instead, it reframes the conversation entirely. Value is contextual. It’s subjective. And it only matters when it connects to the real problems people and organizations are trying to solve.
Keith Keating blends research, practical frameworks, and real-world stories to challenge some of the habits many of us fall into: activity over impact, best practices without context, measurement without meaning. The tone is thoughtful and reflective, not prescriptive, which makes the ideas easier to apply rather than simply agree with.
This is a book for practitioners who care deeply about their work and want to be more intentional about how they create, measure, and communicate value, not just to stakeholders, but to themselves.
If you work in L&D, HR, or leadership development and have ever felt that the true impact of your work wasn’t fully seen or understood, Hidden Value will resonate.
January 4, 2026
Hidden Value is a thoughtful reminder that the impact of learning is often already there, but not always recognized or articulated well.
Rather than chasing trends or trying to justify L&D’s existence, the book reframes value as contextual, human, and deeply tied to real business needs. It encourages practitioners to slow down, get clearer on what matters, and focus on creating impact that others can truly see and understand.
A grounded and reflective read for anyone in L&D or HR who wants to do work that genuinely matters.
Rather than chasing trends or trying to justify L&D’s existence, the book reframes value as contextual, human, and deeply tied to real business needs. It encourages practitioners to slow down, get clearer on what matters, and focus on creating impact that others can truly see and understand.
A grounded and reflective read for anyone in L&D or HR who wants to do work that genuinely matters.
June 11, 2025
Unlocking the Potential of Learning for Organizational Success and Growth!
Hidden Value has completely reshaped my understanding of organizational learning! The concepts presented in this book helped me recognize the hidden potential within my team. I appreciated the real-world examples and actionable strategies that I could implement immediately. It's inspiring to see how fostering a learning culture can lead to greater success. I highly recommend it!
Hidden Value has completely reshaped my understanding of organizational learning! The concepts presented in this book helped me recognize the hidden potential within my team. I appreciated the real-world examples and actionable strategies that I could implement immediately. It's inspiring to see how fostering a learning culture can lead to greater success. I highly recommend it!
October 5, 2025
Great for a learning professional early in their career.
July 31, 2025
Inspiring, Practical, and Long Overdue
This book lit a fire under me. It’s rare to find something that is both inspiring and immediately actionable- but Hidden Value delivers. Keith’s shift from “order taker” to “value amplifier” is exactly what our field needs. I’ve shared this book with my entire team. It’s required reading for anyone in learning, HR, or talent development.
This book lit a fire under me. It’s rare to find something that is both inspiring and immediately actionable- but Hidden Value delivers. Keith’s shift from “order taker” to “value amplifier” is exactly what our field needs. I’ve shared this book with my entire team. It’s required reading for anyone in learning, HR, or talent development.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews