The warning came early

In December 2024, Greg Satell, Nicole Radziwill, and Todd McClees warned in the Harvard Business Review that most enterprises were poorly positioned to benefit from AI technology.

The evidence is now in

Study after study finds that despite the hype, AI adoption is not having a meaningful impact on productivity. The problem isn't the technology itself but how it's being deployed.

Innovation needs collaboration

Innovation isn't about technology or ideas. It's about finding novel solutions to important problems by having people who understand technologies collaborate with people who understand real-world problems.

The rush to adopt ChatGPT

After OpenAI made ChatGPT available for enterprise integration in March 2023, leaders rushed to get everyone in their organizations on board with the technology.

Speed creates problems

Moving new ideas too fast triggers resistance or encourages poorly thought-out projects that fail, undermining credibility and creating change fatigue across the organization.

What actually happened

Most people adopted AI for individual tasks at the lowest level of the value creation pyramid, such as writing emails or summarizing meetings, rather than collaborative work.

AI busywork damaged productivity

Much of the adoption led to AI busywork that damaged productivity and work quality instead of creating greater value for customers or driving business model evolution.

Start with a small majority

You don't need to bring everyone in at once. Start with a small local majority of like-minded people where supporters outnumber detractors and move forward deliberately.

“It might be a small, local majority of, say, three people in a room of five.”

Why new ideas need protection

Every new idea starts out weak and vulnerable. It needs to be protected from being rushed along too fast, which would either trigger resistance or encourage self-promoters to launch poorly thought-out projects.

The path to meaningful impact

Organizations can scale AI ideas into meaningful impact by starting with a small majority of supporters, protecting the idea from premature expansion, and moving forward in a deliberate, thoughtful way.