We’re learning that plugging AI into a business is easy. Re-wiring people, workflows, and ambition is the hard part.
Mckinsey’s State of AI 2025 report and global survey from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey reads like a mirror for the corporate world: everyone’s using AI but few are changing because of it. That resonates when I speak with people. I’m sure it des with you.
Here’s what I took from the report. not the numbers, but what they reveal about ambition, leadership, and design::
(1) 88% adoption, little real change.
Almost every company now utilises AI in some capacity. Two-thirds are still in pilots. The numbers appear to be good until you ask what has actually changed. Tools spread fast, habits don’t. Until AI changes how work happens, it’s not transformation. It’s just messing about. Maybe real change happens later?
(2) Agents are hype without habit
Only one in ten firms has scaled an AI agent in any function. Everyone is talking about them. Almost no one is using them properly. The hard part isn’t building agents. It’s rebuilding the work around them. Agent bubble?
(3) The 6% club.
Just six per cent of companies are seeing real profit. This is all about reinvention. They redesign systems, invest hard, and set growth and innovation goals instead of cutting costs.
(4) Leadership is the multiplier.
The top performers have leaders who get involved. They don’t delegate the future to a task force. They own it. When leaders take responsibility, AI becomes strategy, not a side project. How AI is your CEO? If not, take them and their exec team on that journey, so they’re not just talking about it, they’re living it.
(5) Humans are the edge. YAY!
The best results come when machines work with people, not instead of them. Speed needs judgment. Data needs context. The smartest companies treat people as co-pilots, not costs. Part of my SuperSkills premise.
Check out the key findings and get the report: https://lnkd.in/edU_id-u
Every company is chasing efficiency. The next advantage will come from courage – the will to redesign how work actually happens, not just tweaking the status quo.
#FutureOfWork #AI #Leadership #HumanSkills #SuperSkills #WorkTransformation
