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Shelley Osborne
L&D Leader | Author of the Upskilling Imperative
Professional Background
Shelley Osborne is a renowned figure in the field of corporate learning and development, with an impressive career that spans over 15 years across the education, consulting, and corporate sectors. Her passion for fostering corporate learning cultures is evident in her role as Vice President of Learning at Udemy. In this capacity, she spearheaded the company's learning strategy focused on continuous skills development and employee engagement on a global scale. Shelley has a keen interest in leveraging innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and gamification, to enhance learning experiences and create impactful learning environments.
Prior to joining Udemy, Shelley held the position of Vice President of Learning & Development at Farside HR Solutions. There, she guided both early- and late-stage companies in developing effective learning and talent strategies, soft skills development, and leadership programs. Her extensive knowledge and experience in learning and development are complemented by her prior successful career as a classroom teacher in Canada, where she dedicated nearly a decade to shaping young minds.
In addition to her corporate roles, Shelley is also an educator on the Udemy platform, where she has successfully enrolled over 260,000 students in her courses. These courses cover a wide range of essential skills, including effective feedback techniques and managerial growth. Shelley's dedication to education is not only reflected in her teaching but also in her influential voice in industry discussions.
Education and Achievements
Shelley Osborne boasts a robust academic background, having completed several advanced studies at the University of Calgary that contribute to her expertise in education and instructional leadership. She holds a Master of Education (M.Ed.) and a Graduate Diploma in Instructional Leadership, alongside a Graduate Certificate in Language and Diversity, all from the University of Calgary. Additionally, Shelley expanded her linguistic skills with studies in Spanish Language Teacher Education and Culture at the prestigious Universidad de Salamanca, showcasing her commitment to diverse educational approaches.
Throughout her career, Shelley has made significant contributions to the corporate learning landscape. She has spoken at prominent industry events such as TEDWomen, the ATD International Conference, DevLearn, and Unleash, sharing her insights on creating thriving learning cultures. Shelley's thought leadership extends to written works as well, including her notable publication with McGraw Hill, titled The Upskilling Imperative: Five Ways to Make Learning Core to the Way We Work. This work emphasizes strategies for organizations to develop and sustain effective learning environments that nurture continuous development among employees.
Her contributions to industry publications are also noteworthy. Shelley has provided expert commentary and articles for reputable outlets, including Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Her perspectives and insights have been sought after by media giants such as The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Cheddar TV, illustrating her status as a thought leader in the field of employee development and learning.
Achievements
Shelley Osborne's career is marked by numerous achievements, including her influential roles in various organizations that have shaped corporate learning initiatives. She held a pivotal position as the Director of Tech Learning and Leadership Development at Airbnb, where she implemented innovative learning frameworks. Additionally, she was a member of the Fast Company Executive Board, participating in high-level discussions on education and leadership.
As a former author for McGraw Hill, Shelley has contributed significantly to the literature in the learning and development space, impacting how organizations approach continuous learning. Her tenure as both Head of Learning and Head of People at Modal underscored her dual focus on nurturing talent and aligning organizational goals with employee growth.
Her previous roles, including Interim Head of HR at Udemy, allowed her to deeply understand the intricacies of human resources and its impact on employee engagement and organizational culture. Shelley's strategic vision and knack for innovation have not only benefitted the organizations she has worked for but have also inspired countless professionals through her classes and workshops.
tags':['Corporate Learning','Employee Engagement','Continuous Skills Development','Learning Culture','Virtual Reality in Learning','Gamification','Workplace Learning','Professional Development','Sheldon Osborne Courses','Instructional Leadership','Education Technology','Upskilling','Leadership Programs'],
questions':['How did Shelley Osborne develop her expertise in creating corporate learning cultures?','What innovative technologies has Shelley Osborne successful
Highlights
I’m hiring!
We’re looking for a Staff Program Manager focusing on Team Effectiveness to join our growing team. (Link to job posting is in the comments below.)
The person who takes this role on is a builder, comfortable with iteration, and dead set on connecting learning outcomes with business outcomes. They also need to have an exceptional understanding of learning science and learning experience design - it's core to all we do.
I’ve been a bit of a broken record on this, but I have absolutely loved my time at Airbnb. My team and I are focused on excellence and innovation, and we have the rare kind of executive sponsorship we learning folks dream of. Sound like something you want to be a part of? Come join us!
🙏 L&D network, please share this post with your networks!
(Note: I won't be able to connect with folks directly outside of our hiring process, but if this sounds like a great fit for you, please apply!)
I’m hiring!
We’re looking for a Staff Program Manager focusing on Manager Development to join our growing team. (Link to job posting is in the comments below.)
I am so excited about this role! The person who takes this on is a builder, focused on business impact and achieving learning outcomes through innovation, experimentation and creativity. They also have an exceptional understanding of learning science and learning experience design.
I've said before how much I am enjoying my time at Airbnb, and I want to double down - I am having the best time of my career here. We have tremendous executive sponsorship, an exciting vision tied to excellence and innovation and exceptional colleagues all around. Sound appealing? Come join us!
#hiring #managerdevelopment
🙏 L&D network, please share this post with your networks!
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.