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The return-to-office debate sees no end in sight. Workers still want flexible workand drag their feet complying with RTO, it was reported this week. Some workers have suspected such policies have been a way of companies saying: Dont like it? Quit. Turns out, maybe they are. A recent Fortune article, citing a 2024 survey of more than 1,500 U.S. managers, found that a quarter of C-suite executives hoped for some voluntary turnover after introducing an RTO policy. One in five HR leaders went further, admitting their stricter office requirements were designed to push staff out. So when the article started making the rounds on Reddit last week, the general lack of surprise was telling, and renewed discussion around worker suspicion that RTO goes beyond fostering collaboration. This belongs on the no shit sherlock subreddit, one user wrote. This should have been pretty obvious to any person with the ability to think objectively, another added. One suggested, The rest just arent admitting it yet. Their skepticism isnt misplaced. In fact, business leaders across the U.S. told the Federal Reserves Beige Book theyre banking on in-office requirements to quietly and cheaply trim headcount, all without having to play the bad guy. More than half of Fortune 100 companies now have a full-time office requirement, and research shows nearly 3 in 10 companies will demand five days a week in the office by the end of 2025. Thats despite almost half of workers warning theyd quit if remote work disappeared. To some, the ability to work from home is a perk equivalent to 8% of their salary, and not something they are prepared to give up without a fight. But those threatening to quit may have less bargaining power than they believe. A mass exodus triggered by RTO might seem like it wouldnt be in companies best interests, yet in fact, the opposite may be true. Forcing disgruntled employees to quit provides companies looking to reduce their workforce with an easy out, all without the need to foot the severance packages and bad press tied to layoffs. Rather than cleverly killing two birds with one stone, however, RTO mandates, as a workforce reduction tactic, often simply drains talent along with morale among remaining employees. At a time where employees are already disengaged at work, theres something to be said for a business strategy thats all stickand no carrot.
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E-Commerce
AI fluency is quickly becoming the new leadership divide: Some executives are already embedding it into strategy, while others are still asking what it means. The gap is wideningand its shaping who gets hired to lead. Thats why AI fluency is becoming a top priority in leadership searches. Not deep technical mastery, but a practical understanding of how these tools work and where they apply. Companies want leaders who arent just talking about transformation but are actively engaged in it. People whove run pilots, evaluated risks, collaborated with product and tech, or led adoption efforts in their function. They dont need to be engineers. But they do need to know what these tools can (and cant) doand how to help others use them responsibly. How executives are actually using AI Executives at the forefront are already putting AI to work in meaningful, strategic ways. According to Salesforce, top-tier leaders are leveraging AI for critical tasks: running high-stakes market analysis, stress testing new business ideas before launch, and anticipating market shifts before they happen. A recent TechRadar piece reports that 74% of executives now trust AIs input more than that of colleagues, with 44% willing to let it override their own decisions. AI has become more than a dashboardits a boardroom copilot. Behind the scenes, back-office leaders are increasing AI spending: 92% of executives surveyed plan to ramp up investments in AI over the next three years, and 55% expect a boost of at least 10%. Yet execution is uneven. A recent IBM study found that while CEOs expect AI investment growth to more than double in the next two years, only 25% of AI initiatives have delivered expected ROIand just 16% have scaled enterprise-wide. Similarly, PwC found that while 79% of senior executives are adopting AI agents, many see success only when implementations are tied directly to measurable productivity gains in targeted areas. But high adoption doesnt always mean high impact. MIT researchers recently found that 95% of generative AI pilots fail to deliver measurable ROI, often because theyre launched without clear objectives or integration into core workflows. Meanwhile, another study warns of workslopa proliferation of low-quality output from poorly managed AI usage. These findings underscore a growing reality: AI fluency among leaders isnt just a nice-to-haveits the difference between pilots that fizzle and initiatives that scale. Leaders who understand both the capabilities and constraints of these tools are far better equipped to unlock value while avoiding the hidden costs of misuse. What leaders who use AI well do differently Heres what separates AI-fluent executives from the rest: Hands-on experimentationThese leaders gain firsthand experience with generative AIunderstanding not just the techs capabilities, but its limitations. Visible, scalable fluencyHarvard Business Publishings new study shows that employees with fluency arent just dabblingthey integrate AI into daily workflows. In “best-in-class” organizations, 98% of AI-fluent users are confident in using tools and report significant team performance gains. Strategic, not siloed, useAI isn’t just owned by the CTO. Leaders from across the organizationfrom chief human resources officers (CHROs) to CFOsare embedding AI literacy into their domains, turning it from a technical specialty into leadership capability. Intentional oversightEven when AI is applied, responsible use is rare: Infosys found that 95% of executives experienced AI mishaps, and only 2% of firms meet responsible-use standards. Dont just hire fasterhire toward the future Most companies today arent ignoring AItheyre trying to figure out how to keep up. They know they cant afford to fall behind, especially when competitors are investing aggressively in AI across operations. The challenge is finding people who can lead that shiftnot just within their function, but across the business. Thats the conversation Im having with clients right now. Not how do we hire someone fast? but how do we hire someone who can take us where we want to go? Takeaways for talent teams and leaders Screen for real fluency. Ask candidates to share where theyve deployed tools, navigated roadblocks, coled adoption, and managed both opportunity and risk. Favor handson experience, not academic abstraction. AI fluency is demonstrated, not talked aboutfrom pilot artifacts to team processes. Insist on governance and oversight. Pair fluency with accountability. Use AI, yesbut responsibly. Prioritize curiosity and adaptability. Leaders dont need to master every tool, but they do need to stay agile, ask questions, and foster a culture of experimentation. AI will keep evolving, and so must the people leading its adoption. Leaders arent expected to be coders. But they must know how to marshal AI, translate insight, and guide adoptionbalanced with judgment. The future of leadership is not running from change. Its defining it.
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E-Commerce
In early 2023, a couple of months after ChatGPT launched and became the fastest-growing consumer application in history, I remember feeling both excited but also a bit overwhelmed by the rapid pace of AI. The barrage of news, product launches, and innovative use cases was relentless. We held an executive meeting at that time and decided to immediately reassign additional teams from other long-planned initiatives to double down on AI. We saw an opportunity to deliver even more value to our customers. My experience is not unique. Across the board, leaders have been aggressively implementing AI to improve productivity, lower costs, and improve communicationbut the results have been disappointing to date for many organizations. Only 34% of organizations say their AI projects have returned a positive ROI for most or all initiatives, according to Lucids AI readiness survey. Unlocking the tremendous value AI offers isnt a technology problem. Its an operational one. Leaders need to be more intentional about their workflows and practices to realize AIs vast potential. OPERATIONS ARE DRAGGING AI INITIATIVES DOWN In the race to keep pace with AI, businesses are moving quickly. But their emphasis on speed comes at a cost. About 61% of knowledge workers said in the survey that their firms AI strategy is only somewhat to not at all well aligned with operational capabilities. Most are glossing over foundational steps today that jeopardize their chances for success tomorrow. One notable example is documenting company processes and knowledge, a critical input for AI initiatives. The survey found that most organizations lack process documentation for their AI initiatives. Only 16% of survey respondents replied that their workflows are extremely well documented. The top obstacle to documenting knowledge at scale is a lack of time, according to 41% of respondents. Before implementing AI, leaders should ensure their teams understand the importance of documenting processes so that they always make time for it. Teams cant harness AI to its fullest without well-documented, clearly structured processes. If an organization is already well into its implementation but didnt prioritize this upfront, its never too late to course-correct. Its actually critical to do so. The next top barrier to knowledge documentation is the lack of tools (30%). Recently, I met with a Fortune 500 executive whose company is mandating AI to drive significant efficiency and productivity gains, yet relying on a legacy tool to collaborate that was never built for teams and centered on the individual user. If companies want AI to be adopted across the enterprise, they need a common space for brainstorming, decision making, planning, and collaborative documentation. Even with all of AIs transformative capabilities, the fundamentals of successfully integrating technology into a workplace still apply. Companies need the right tools that enable better collaboration and help them document current processes and best practices easily. FRICTION AROUND COLLABORATION LIMITS AIS IMPACT A while back, our executive team tackled a strategic challenge together. A product leader used AI to generate an impressive preparatory memo in a short timeframe, summarizing the challenge, benchmarking solutions, and offering recommendations. But the AI-generated memo was the starting point, not the end. We still needed to debate nuances specific to Lucid’s context, prioritize actions and assign ownership, and document takeaways and define next steps. Even with the amount of work that can be accelerated and automated with AI, collaboration is still critical. The survey found 23% of respondents say collaboration is often or always the bottleneck in complex work. Implementing AI is a major undertaking. Only by consistently engaging key stakeholders for in-depth discussions, clarifying decisions, and ensuring shared understanding can these bold initiatives succeed. THE NEW COMPETITIVE EDGE IN AI The success of a company’s AI strategy is only as strong as its execution, and a large perception gap proves this. The survey found that 61% of C-suite executives feel their AI approach is well considered, but a much smaller percentage of managers (49%) and entry-level employees (36%) agree. Closing this gap requires more than just a good plan; it requires operational readiness. Organizations must build stronger processes, improve documentation, and foster better collaboration to successfully implement AI. Harnessing the power of this revolutionary technology requires a level of rigor most organizations have yet to demonstrate. The new competitive advantage for AI adoption lies in the operational systems behind it. Dave Grow is CEO of Lucid Software.
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E-Commerce
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