mckinsey -规模化落地人工智能的人员管理实战经验 Rewired takes Practical people lessons for scaling AI adoption

July2026

McKinsey

&Company

Rewiredtakes:Practical

peoplelessonsforscaling

AIadoption

McKinseySeniorPartnerBrookeWeddleexploreshowcompaniesaresuccessfullyscalingtheirAlprograms.

byBrookeWeddle

ManyorganizationshavemovedquicklyfromexperimentingwithAItodeployingusecases

acrosstheenterprise.Butwhileproductivitygainsarebeginningtoemerge,farfewer

companieshavesuccessfullyscaledadoptionorcapturedmeaningfulvalue.Increasingly,

leadersarerealizingthatthechallengeislessaboutthetechnologyitselfandmoreabout

workflowredesign,operatingmodels,leadership,andculture.ThoseAItransformationthemesarecentraltoRewired.

Inthis“Rewiredtake”—partofaseriesexploringhowthethemesfromthebookareplayingoutatcompanies—BrookeWeddle,aseniorpartneratMcKinseyandaleadingcontributorto

Rewired,exploresthesethemesbasedonwhatsheisseeingincompaniesacrossadvancedindustries,technology,consumer,andhealthcaresectors.

TheAItrap:Lotsofactivitybutnovalue

MostcompanieshavealreadydonesomethingwithAI.They’veexperimentedwithproductivity

enhancement,they’vedeployedasetofusecases,andthey’vegeneratedexcitement.Butmanyarestuckintheexperimentationphase.

That’swhereRewiredisparticularlyhelpfulbecauseitsharpenstherealitythatnotallAIimpactisequal.Companiesneedamuchclearerunderstandingofwherevalueistrulycreated,whichdomainsmattermost,andhowtodrivescaleinawaythatcapturesvalue.

Forexample,aCEOataprofessional-servicesplayerrecentlytoldmehewasproudofthe

progressthecompanyhadmadeusingAIinbusinessdevelopment.Theyweredeployingagentstoanalyzepriorwinsandlossesandincreasetheprobabilityofwinningfuturework.

Butwhatstruckhimmostwastheopportunitytheywereleavingonthetable.Theydidn’thaveadomainmaptoguidethemtothegreatestopportunitiesforvalue.Theyhadnoclearwayto

measureprogress.Andtheyweretryingtodotoomanythingsatonce.

Thisisbecomingacommonrealization.Organizationsareexploringhowtointegratedata,

technology,andtalentsimultaneously,buttheyoftenneedtohomeinonthefewdomains

whereAIcantrulytransformperformance.Atsomepoint,experimentationreachesdiminishingreturns.OurRewiredresearchisclearthatthemostsuccessfultransformersfocusonjustonetothreedomains.

Thatfocusondomainsneedstoincludetheelementstoallowforscalefromtheverybeginning,somethingthatisoftennotwellappreciated,whichiswhyCFOsarebecomingdeeplyinvolvedinthesetransformations.Theinitialcostofadoptionisoftenmanageable.Thebiggerissueis

maintenanceandscalingovertime.ThebestcompaniesarenowbuildingtoolkitsandoperatingmodelsthatallowthemtofocusonandsustainAIadoptioninareaswherevalueiscreated

ratherthantreatingitasaseriesofisolatedexperiments.

Rewiredtakes:PracticalpeoplelessonsforscalingAIadoption2

Rewiredtakes:PracticalpeoplelessonsforscalingAIadoption3

‘Organizationsareexploringhowto

integratedata,technology,andtalentsimultaneously,buttheyoftenneedtohomeinonthefewdomainswhereAIcantrulytransformperformance.’

Buildingthe‘nervecenter’forscale

Oneofthemorecounterintuitivefindingsisthatmostorganizationsdonotwantaheavilytop-downanswertoAIadoption.AIisinherentlydecentralized.Peopledon’twanttolose

empowerment.Theydon’twantleadersdictatingexactlyhowtheyshouldusethesetools.Theorganizationsmakingprogressarebuildingbusiness-ledroadmapsinstead.

AIfluencybecomescriticalinthatenvironment.We’reseeingenormousgrowthindemandforAI-relatedskills.Butadoptionhastofeelpersonallyvaluabletoemployees.Peopleneedto

experiencethebenefitdirectlyintheirday-to-daywork.

Adoptionatthegroundlevel,however,needstobesupportedanddirected,oryougetchaos.Ioftenusetheanalogyofanervecenter.Inthehumanbody,thenervecenterdoesn’tperform

everyactionitself.Instead,itgatherssignalsfromacrossthesystem,processesinformation,

coordinatesresponses,andhelpstheentireorganismlearnandadapt.Thesameprinciple

appliestoAItransformation.TheteamsclosesttotheworkaretheonesapplyingAIintheirdailyactivities,buttheyneedamechanismthatconnectslearningacrosstheorganizationandhelpssuccessfulapproachesscale.

Inorganizations,thatnervecenteristhecombinationofbusiness,finance,HR,technology,andoperationsleaderswhohelpcreatelightweightbutconsistentwaysofscalinginnovation.Theyprovide,forexample,commonmetricsforadoptionandclearwaystodefinemeasurable

outcomesforeveryAIinitiative.Everydomainandeveryexperimentshouldhaveaclearunderstandingofwhatsuccesslookslike,includingtheunderpinningeconomics.

Theleadingorganizationsarealsobecomingmuchmorerigorousaboutworkflowredesign.They’reaskingwhichrolesarecriticalinthenewworkflow,howshouldworkbereimagined,whereshouldhumansstaydeeplyinvolved,andhowdowebecomemoreimaginativeaboutwhatworkcouldlooklike.

Rewiredtakes:PracticalpeoplelessonsforscalingAIadoption4

Theleadershipimperative:Buildingspaceforlearning

We’relivingthroughoneofthelargestcyclesofinnovationinbusinesshistory.Companiesneedtoactivelytapintothatenergywhilealsoprovidingstructuretochannelthatenergyeffectively.That’saleadershipchallenge.

There’saconstanthumofstressrightnow.Peoplearebalancingthatoptimismagainststressaroundupskillingandreskillingandabroadersenseofinstabilityintheexternalenvironment.LeadershavetoacknowledgetheanxietydirectlywhilealsohelpingemployeesseehowAIcanunlockhumanpotentialandcreatenewwaysofworking.

I’mworkingwithaleadingservicesproviderwherealargeportionofthetransformationagendaisnowAI-driven.Leadersaretalkingaboutmoonshotsandwhat’spossible,andemployees

respondverypositivelytothataspiration.

Similarly,oneofthemostpowerfulthingsleaderscandoiscreatespaceforlearning.They’recapturingexperimentsinsmartwaysandcelebratingbothwhatworkedandwhatdidn’t.

Theemphasisisnotonlyontechnicalcapability.It’sonbehaviors.Leadersarereinforcingtheimportanceofhealthyfrictionindebatebecauseorganizationshavetoinvitefrictioninordertolearn.They’reemphasizingcourage,continuouslearning,andselflessleadershipascore

leadershipbehaviors.

ThegoalisnottotellpeoplehowtouseAI.It’stocreateenoughstructuresothatinnovators

acrosstheorganizationremainconnected,canlearnfromoneanother,andcanscalewhat

works.OneleaderataconsumercompanywhoisdrivingAItransformationacrossthe

organizationdescribedhowthey’recreatingstoriesforeverymajorexperiment—documenting

whatwaslearnedandconnectingthoselessonsbacktotheircultureofinnovationandcustomerfocus.That’spowerfulbecauseitnormalizeslearning.

Agreatdealoforganizationallearningisultimatelybehavioral.Theleaderswhosucceedaretheonescreatingtheconditionswherepeoplefeelsafeexperimenting,apprenticingothers,and

learninginpublic.

Cultureasacompetitiveadvantage

BookslikeTheGeekWay(LittleBrown,2023)describeorganizationsthatweredesignedaroundacultureofexperimentation,speed,andconstantiteration.Thosecompaniesarecontinuingtoevolvetheirculturesevenfurther.

ButthebroaderpointisthatspeeditselfisnolongerjustanAIphenomenon.It’sbecomingadefiningorganizationalcapability.Ifyoudefinecultureasthevaluesofthecompany—andthebehaviorsandmindsetsthatsupportemployeesandleaders—thenAItransformationbecomesdeeplyculturalandpersonal.Thatlastpartisparticularlyimportant.

IsawthisfirsthandwithanindustrialclienttransformingschedulingthroughAI.Thesewere

Rewiredtakes:PracticalpeoplelessonsforscalingAIadoption5

‘We’relivingthroughoneofthelargestcyclesofinnovationinbusiness

history.Companiesneedtoactivelytapintothatenergywhilealsoproviding

structuretochannelthatenergyeffectively.’

frontlineworkerswhohadbeenworkinginthesectorfordecades.Theyhaddeeplyentrenchedroutinesandenormousprideintheirwork.Thetransformationrequiredhighlyspecificworkatthepersonalevel.Whatdoestheforeman,forexample,dodifferentlynow?Historically,maybethatpersoncalledasupervisorbecausetheyneededhelpsolvingaproblem.NowtheAIsystemcangeneratemultipleoptionsandhelpcreatetheplan.Thechallengewasn’tjustprovingthat

thetoolworked.LeadersalsohadtobuildtrustwithAIsystemsbutalsocreatespaceforsocialinteractionbetweenpeople.

It’saboutpeople

WeoftensaythatanAItransformationisreallyapeopletransformation.Manyorganizationsarefocusedonadoptiontoday.Buteventuallythewinnerswillbetheorganizationsthatarethe

fastesttounderstandhowhumansreachtheirfullpotentialinanAI-enabledenvironment.

That’saverydifferentframing.TheleadingorganizationsarepositioningAIassomethingthatenhancespeople.Theyacknowledgethatsomejobswillgoaway,buttheyalsobelievemanymoreopportunitieswillemerge.

That’stheabundanc