In Memoriam: Jay Cross

Jay Cross, called by many “the Johnny Appleseed of informallearning,” passed away on November 6, 2015.

Jay Cross (on the right) at DevLearn 2010, with John SeelyBrown

Jay has been credited as the person who came up with theterm “eLearning,” or at least as the first person to use the word on the Web. A graduateof Princeton (social science) and Harvard (MBA), for many years his workinvolved marketing to banks. He designed the first business degree programoffered by the University of Phoenix.

In 1998, Jay founded the Internet Time Alliance. In additionto being the CEO, he called himself the Chief Unlearning Officer. Jay is theauthor ofReal Learning (2015), Informal Learning: Rediscovering the NaturalPathways that Inspire Innovation and Performance (Pfeiffer, 2006), Working Smarter Fieldbook (2011), and Implementing eLearning (ASTD, 2006). Beyondhis books, Jay wrote hundreds of blog posts and articles, and deliveredmany keynotes, talks, and sessions at professional conferences for educators,trainers, managers, and others around the world, concerned with improving humanperformance in organizations.

In mid-2015, Jay launched the Real Learning Project; at thetime of his death he was developing a community around that project.

An advocate of experiential learning andsystems thinking, Jay said that his calling was to create happier, moreproductive workplaces. In the service of that mission, he was a tirelessnetworker and champion of “bottom-up” learning. Jay has been a driving forcefor the emergence of informal learning as a valid area of interest in ourfield. Today, many who do not know his name have nonetheless been influenced byhis thought and his work.

Herewith are reflections on Jay, his work, and what he hasmeant to our field from some of the people who knew him best.

Tributes, reminiscences, and praise for Jay Cross

David Holcombe(CEO and co-founder, The eLearning Guild): Itwas my good fortune to know Jay Cross for more than 20 years. During thattime he was consistently one of the leading thinkers in the learning technologyindustry. He was always “thinking outside the box” and thus he was often in aposition where he was challenging conventional assumptions about how we shouldbe doing things. It was his perpetually curious nature that enabled him to lookat every facet of what we do. And then to re-look at them. To explore. To ask,“What if?”

I remember an event about 10years ago in Orlando where he showed up wearing big fluffy Eeyore ears. When Iasked him why he was wearing them he responded, “I’m trying to push people outof their comfort zones. I’m tired of all the Eeyores who don’t want to dothings differently.” That was Jay. Always pushing himself, and others, out oftheir comfort zone. I’m not sure who in our industry will do this now. Weneed it. I hope others will rise to the challenge. Jay will be missed.

Clark Quinn (executivedirector, Quinnovation): I had the great fortune to get to know Jay overthe past 12 or so years. He possessed a truly impressive intellect, aninfectious humor, a generous spirit, and a zest for life. He could be a forceof nature, in a positive way, and had a big impact on the field of eLearning,not least via his industry-changing book, InformalLearning. He mentored many (including myself), inspired more, and served asgadfly to others. Jay was a wide traveler, voracious reader, engagingraconteur, bon vivant, and friend. He will be sorely missed.

Allison Rossett (professoremerita of educational technology at San Diego State University: A fewyears ago, Jay and I participated in a debate at the Oxford Union. It wasthrilling to occupy the same debate stage once occupied by Malcolm X, WinstonChurchill, Dalai Lama, Hamid Karzai, Dennis Prager, Judi Dench, Burt Bacharach,and Andrew Sullivan. It was obvious to me from the first moment I saw theframing that my team would lose certainly and resoundingly. The question wassomething like, THIS HOUSE BELIEVES THAT TECHNOLOGY-BASED INFORMAL LEARNING ISMORE STYLE THAN SUBSTANCE. Jay, and two others, spoke in opposition. Theyfavored informal learning. I, Nancy Lewis from ITT and IBM, and Deutsch Bank’sMark Doughty were given the hopeless task of speaking against technology-basedinformal learning. We fought nobly, but there was no way to argue for thisextreme measure. Jay and his team brought us to our knees and then graciouslyhonored us in the tradition of the Oxford Union.

Because we were there for several days, I got to be with Jayin ways I hadn’t before. Whip smart, he was curious and piquant. He liked foodand we soon found ourselves some delicious morsels in the nooks and crannies ofOxford.

Too soon. We are always saying it’s too soon. But it’s so truefor Jay. He was still writing, provoking, traveling, and tippling. It is hardto imagine an online world without him, hard to imagine conferences where wedon’t grab a bite somewhere, somehow.

Marc Rosenberg (managementconsultant in the learning space and author): Jay Cross saw trends in ourfield long before anyone else did. He had the drive and the conviction to saywhat needed to be said, and, refreshingly, not always in the most politicallycorrect way. He was fearless, a thorn in the side of mediocrity, a champion ofchange, and a true pioneer. I knew Jay for many years and I remember him forhis sharp mind, his brilliant writing, his happy warrior smile, and, of course,his Hawaiian shirts. We are diminished by his loss, but his insights, reflectedin his work, will carry on.

Harold Jarche (principal,Jarche Consulting): I first got to know Jay Cross through his blog (it wasbefore we even used the term) in the late 1990s. I was one of the few people tocomment on his posts and that was the beginning of our friendship. Our firstventure together was the “Informal Learning Unworkshop” series, where we used adifferent web conference platform each time, sometimes changing in mid-coursewhen the technology broke. I learned to fly by the seat of my pants with Jay.Working with Jay Cross was always an adventure. Jay was a deep thinker and aman of many talents, never resting on his past accomplishments. I learned a lotfrom Jay. Most of all, he taught me to seize the day, and I will.

Jane Hart (speaker,writer, and independent workplace learning and collaboration adviser): I’ve known Jay sincearound 2000. What he was saying back then about workplace learning might havebeen revolutionary or oddball to others, but made absolute sense to me. Hebecame my guru. I owned the E-Learning Centre back then, and I put his blog atthe top of my list of Top 10 E-Learning sites. He picked up on this and realizingI appreciated and understood his thinking and work, connected with me and wenever looked back. But not only did he became a great colleague (as he broughtin other like-minded folk, Clark and Harold and Charles [Jennings] to form theInternet Time Alliance) but also a good friend—to both me and my husband,Philip. They got on so well because they both had such a zest for life, art,and good food. In fact, a few years ago Jay flew from California to the southof France specifically to taste the bug menu that Philip had discovered! Jaywas always in our thoughts, and whenever we found a unique place, we’d say “Jaywould like this!”

CharlesJennings (senior director, enterprise strategy, Internet Time Alliance): Itseems as if I have known Jay for a lifetime. In fact, I think we met just 15years or so ago. I had heard him share his insights and wisdom at a conferencein London. When everyone else was obsessing about the “new wave” of eLearning—convertingboring classroom courses into boring electronic versions of the same—Jay wasout on his own and encouraging people to break out of the shackles of formallearning and exploit the opportunities of informal—riding our own bicyclesrather than riding the bus, as he described it. I was immediately impressed andinvited him to come and speak to my colleague at Reuters. 

Jaywas smart, incisive, and a wonderfully creative thinker. Never happier thanputting the world to rights over a good meal and a drink or five, or mappingout his many ideas in one of the ubiquitous notebooks he stocked up on from KaDeWein Berlin every year. 

Likemany, I will miss him terribly. He made his mark and has left the world abetter place.

Condolences

At Learning SolutionsMagazine and The eLearning Guild, we extend our condolences to Jay’s familyand to his many friends and colleagues around the world. Jay will be longremembered and honored for his spirit, his insights, and his contributions. Ifyou knew Jay, please add your memories of him to the Comments.