In this month’s CLO magazine:

It’s nice to be needed. There’s been an uptick recently in coaching and executive education engagements in South Africa, India, France, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and, ever so gradually, the United States. Organizations are rethinking their business strategies after the financial collapse.

However, ambiguity abounds. There is an obvious tension — as if “nervous” is the new “strategic.” Management wants results quickly, with a heightened financial vigilance and intensified ROI expectations. We’ve watched participants text reviews of our performance during the sessions. One bad day in class and summary dismissal looms. Read full article here.

We’re seeing greater demands on executive education, but the good news is, businesses that are rebounding seem to acknowledge the role of learning.

Our friends at Chief Learning Officer magazine announce that their Chief Learning Officer Symposium is sold out. Let’s hear it for investments in learning.

From their press release:

Chicago, Sept. 17 — Chief Learning Officer magazine has announced that the Fall 2009 CLO Symposium, to be held Sept. 28-30 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., is sold out.

“At a time when many conferences and trade shows are experiencing large declines in attendance, it is particularly rewarding to see so many enterprise learning leaders turn out for the CLO Symposium,” said Norm Kamikow, president and editor in chief of Chief Learning Officer magazine. “With the economy on the upswing,” added Kamikow, “our near record attendance is a clear sign learning leaders are back to business and fully engaged.”

Excellent!

So is “learning” a leading or lagging indicator?