I drew this cartoon thinking about how much panic and FOMO has been setting the pace and tenor of AI adoption. No one wants to be left behind.
And that’s led to some of the most disjointed decisions we’ve seen, like banking on business growth by laying off staff and assuming AI will “automagically” fill the gap. CNBC reported that 32% of hiring managers have eliminated roles primarily due to AI, only to later rehire for the exact same roles (losing the institutional memory along the way).
BCG released their most recent AI at Work study and it includes this takeaway that could be painted on every C-suite wall:
“Strategic clarity beats tools.”
BCG found that employees with “strong strategic clarity and limited access to tools” outperformed (by 20 percentage points) those with “limited strategic clarity and strong access to tools.”
Northeastern professor David De Cremer wrote a piece in the HBR recently on the risks of the “urgency bias” in setting AI strategy. I like this observation:
“It will be patience rather than speed that will turn AI adoption into new and holistic value creation. When speed is prioritized above all else, organizations cut corners. They underinvest in change management, neglect skill development, and treat AI as a plug-and-play solution.”
Not having an AI strategy is still a form of AI strategy.
Here are few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
