Melissa Williams is the CEO of Learning Dimensions Network (LDN), an award-winning Australian corporate training organisation specialising in leadership, safety and cultural change learning solutions. With over 20 years of experience in adult learning and instructional design, Melissa is a passionate advocate for creating engaging and impactful training programs that drive workplace transformation.
Under Melissa’s leadership, LDN has become a leader in the Asia Pacific corporate training landscape, achieving a 95% client retention rate and helping 89% of participants achieve their learning goals. LDN is the only Australian provider of nationally recognised qualifications in creating Safety Leadership and one of the largest corporate RTOs specialising in leadership and safety, with over 23,000 enrolments since its inception.
Melissa is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on topics such as adult learning, leadership development, workplace safety, and collaborative culture. She is passionate about empowering individuals and organisations to achieve their full potential through facilitated learning and leadership development.
Company: Learning Dimensions Network
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Melissa Williams: Melissa Williams is the CEO of Learning Dimensions Network (LDN), an award-winning Australian corporate training organisation specialising in leadership, safety and cultural change learning solutions. With over 20 years of experience in adult learning and instructional design, Melissa is a passionate advocate for creating engaging and impactful training programs that drive workplace transformation.
Under Melissa’s leadership, LDN has become a leader in the Asia Pacific corporate training landscape, achieving a 95% client retention rate and helping 89% of participants achieve their learning goals. LDN is the only Australian provider of nationally recognised qualifications in creating Safety Leadership and one of the largest corporate RTOs specialising in leadership and safety, with over 23,000 enrolments since its inception.
Melissa is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on topics such as adult learning, leadership development, workplace safety, and collaborative culture. She is passionate about empowering individuals and organisations to achieve their full potential through facilitated learning and leadership development.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffett, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Melissa Williams: We create lasting value for our clients by ultimately shifting workplace behaviour through personalised training. Our greatest strength is in our expertise in learning and human behaviour, taking complex concepts and making them simple to understand and apply.
While many training providers rely on generic, off-the-shelf programs, every LDN program is built from the ground up and tailored to the client’s specific needs, challenges, and industry – we don’t do “tick-and-flick”. We are also one of the largest corporate RTOs specialising in leadership and safety, a very unusual combination that sets us apart within our industry.
Driving all of this is my own story of overcoming learning struggles to build a company that helps others succeed. This commitment to a people-first culture is evident in our average staff tenure of 11.5 years and our recognition as one of “Australia’s Most Loved Companies to Work For”.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, is an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Melissa Williams: We genuinely care about our culture at LDN, and we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built together as a team. With an average employee tenure of over 11.5 years and being named one of the “Most Loved Companies to Work For” in 2025, we know we’re on the right track.
But culture isn’t something I can define on my own. It’s created by the actions and attitudes of our individual team members and how we all show up for each other every day.
So, I put the question to the team. Our National Operations Manager, Harai Clark, summed up everyone’s responses in a way that really stuck with me:
“A culture where it’s recognised that what I bring to LDN is my unique and authentic self, and what I bring matters.”
That’s exactly what I hope for. I want every person on our team to feel they belong to something where they can thrive, not just tick off tasks and get through the day. We want people’s unique strengths, quirks, and talents to be valued and respected.
Our culture shows up in small, daily actions. We celebrate wins, we thank each other for contributions, and we’re quick to offer help when someone is having a tough day. If a team member messages me to say, “I’m struggling,” I will always make time. That’s just how we work.
Mistakes are part of the process. What matters is that people feel safe to own them, learn from them, and keep growing. We also support the whole person, not just the employee. Need to pick up the kids or get to an appointment? Go, we’ll figure out the rest. Mental health is just as important to us as physical wellbeing.
When I asked the team how they want to feel about their work, the answers were consistent:
Valued
Supported
Proud of what they achieve
Empowered to speak up and contribute
That’s the kind of workplace we aim to be, and it’s built on simple things done often, not grand gestures a few times a year for the sake of it. People who thrive here are curious, adaptable, and open to learning. Most of our team members come through referrals from people who already know what it’s like to work here. Some even come back years later. We’ve had several “boomerang” team members return because they missed the way we work.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Melissa Williams: Online business is certainly surging, but the key for us is figuring out how to build genuine connection, community, and culture within the online space, especially with the rise of AI creating a false sense of connection. I believe the next year will be all about exploring how to use this wave while still enabling true human learning and evolution.
We’ve always rejected the “one-size-fits-all” approach, even with online learning. What a lot of people don’t realise is that just because you’re not in a physical classroom ,it doesn’t mean that learning can’t be customised for each client and situation. So for us, it’s more about continuing to do what we know we do well, while using AI and online tools to create more personalised learning experiences for our clients.
Our customised training programs are co-designed to align with our clients’ specific goals, challenges, and context. We know that active learning, grounded in real-world application and peer connection, delivers the strongest outcomes.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Melissa Williams: I see the real challenge right now as overcoming the perception of “tick and flick” compliance-based training and uninspiring online learning. I recently conducted 44 focus groups with 480 people across various job roles, and the message was clear: nobody wants self-paced e-learning. People told me it’s just another task to cram into an already busy day, a cheap way for organisations to say they’ve trained people, and that it’s too generic to be useful.
What they want instead is face-to-face learning, not because it’s easy, but because it gives them permission to focus on one thing, signals that their organisation sees them as worth investing in, and enables real conversation, shared insight, and deep learning. And to be honest, this surprised me. But maybe it shouldn’t have.
My biggest challenge is helping decision-makers understand that humans are wired to learn together and that connection matters. Compliance-based “tick and flick” learning has only increased in the last few years, even though we know it’s uninspiring and ineffective. We can provide online modules, but they simply won’t shift behaviours or cultures. The easy and cheap way is not always the path to the best outcome, and I see it as my challenge to push back against that status quo.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Melissa Williams: One thing that often gets overlooked in business is how hard it is to balance being a leader and a manager at the same time.
Managers focus on KPIs, deadlines, and keeping everything on track. Leaders focus on people – listening, guiding, and helping them grow. You need both, but switching between the two isn’t always easy.
I had a day where this really hit me. My schedule was packed with back-to-back client meetings and non-negotiable deadlines. On top of that were parenting commitments and everything that comes with daily life. I was stressed and just trying to get through it.
In the middle of all that, a team member tried to Zoom me. I declined. I didn’t have the capacity to take on another problem. But then an email came through. It just said: “Mel, I need help.”
That changed everything. I stopped what I was doing and spent the next two hours with them on Zoom, working through their issue. In that moment, I wasn’t a manager focused on tasks. I was a leader, making sure they felt heard, supported, and helping them find a solution. Ultimately, this was more important than any deadline, and it was a good reminder that running a company and being a leader requires both.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Melissa Williams: If I could choose any business superpower, it would be to have a constant flow of creative and meaningful projects that generate steady revenue without having to stress about cash flow, metrics, or marketing.
Imagine being able to focus all your time and energy on the work itself. No chasing leads, no worrying about numbers. Just doing great projects that make a real difference for your clients.
That’s how I’d use it. I’d spend my days working closely with our team, pushing creative boundaries, and making sure every program we deliver is the best it can be. No distractions, just pure focus on the work and the impact we’re creating.
It would be a game-changer.
