The "Why-are-execs-not-yet-there" Edition

Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and a reference in the area of AI, said recently on a Linkedin post:

"After talking to many firms, I have come to believe a key factor in successful AI adoption is whether the executive team actually experiments with AI to try to get work done themselves. Most C-level folks (the vast majority of executives I talk to) still haven't even tried LLMs. Changing that should be the highest priority of anyone who wants their company to succeed at AI."

Now I have been saying this for a while... but when someone incredibly more important than me says it, we should pay attention.

But why is it that C-level folks are not learning about AI? Instead of seeing them as this " backward, slow" execs, maybe we should all reflect on why is that.

Early in the morning, these execs read about all of these incredible developments, how AI will change their workforces, their go-to-market, everything.

And then they go back to their day-to-day. It's about closing "the quarter", aligning stakeholders, replying to emails, making sure their boss and teams are happy, juggling their personal lives.... uff! They are pressured into short-term goals, so they don't have the time for long-term thinking.

They try one AI tool once, which saves them a tiny bit of time. But then they go back to their day to day.

Now, even if you're not an exec, is it different for you? Truly? So why should we blame them?

How do I know that? Well I've been one of those execs. And I believe that instead of demonizing them, we should rather understand them, help them.

What is the solution then? My experience of working with more than 1000 execs over the last 2 years on AI tells me that it's as simple as this: GET A ROOM.

Get them all in a room, for 4 hours of focus time. Show them how things are changing, get them to use the tools, address the risks and pitfalls AND get them to work on ideas they could implement the NEXT day.

4 hours of their time, hands-on. Not videos or articles. Not little 30 min tick-in-the-box corporate trainings. Just 4, slow hours will allow your organization to go at the speed of light.

Don't know where to start?

I believe this is so CRITICAL that I'll even send you an agenda FOR FREE, so you can start doing it. Just DM me.

"But what's the outcome? How can I measure it Marco?"

I'll tell you - leaders start thinking 'AI-first'. They take on a task and the first reflex is - can I use AI to save me time, so I can do more meaningful work?

When hey start thinking this for themselves, they do it for their people.

And just watch the magic happening. Trust me.

See you next week.

Hey, I’m Marco. I write, speak, train and advise on #marketing and #ai

Enjoyed reading this??? Connect, follow me Marco Andre ??