The rapid rise of gen AI highlights a workplace reality: Front lines often embrace new tech much faster than managers do. Here’s how to overcome organizational blocks to transformative ideas. The dizzying speed at which AI technology is evolving makes it nearly impossible to keep up with the many new ways that it could transform how people work. Yet for most organizations, the gap between what’s possible and what’s implemented is steadily widening. A 2024 McKinsey Global Survey found that nine in ten employees used gen AI for their work, and 21 percent of them were heavy users.1 But while employee enthusiasm was high, the formal adoption of AI tools across most organizations lagged behind: Only 13 percent of surveyed employees considered their organization to be an early adopter.
