Insights

One of my clients—a manufacturing CEO—recently shared a thought with me: “We’re investing in AI, but I’m not sure we’re using it where it can actually make a difference.” I think many leaders can relate. AI is moving quickly, and there is a lot to figure out—from where it can create real value to how roles and skills may change. The good news is that this is also an opportunity. I think it is exciting to see the switch from “We use AI” to “AI solves this business challenge for us.” Recent research from McKinsey and Hacking HR offers some practical ideas for thinking about AI, talent, and the future of work. Here are a few actions C-suite leaders can consider as they navigate the next stage.

Build the Skills AI Can’t Replace

As AI takes on more routine work, companies need to rethink how employees build experience and judgment. In Building Expertise in the Age of AI: Who Trains the Next Generation? McKinsey notes: “The question is no longer how many entry-level roles to hire, but what those roles are designed to do.”

The key point is that AI is changing how people build expertise, so companies need to intentionally redesign early-career roles, learning, and coaching.

Actions to try:

• Review entry-level roles. Identify tasks AI may eliminate and decide how those employees will still build judgment and experience.
• Capture institutional knowledge. Document how your best people make decisions, solve problems, and handle exceptions.
• Build learning into the work. Give employees opportunities to try, compare their work with AI output, and learn from the difference.
• Strengthen manager coaching. Train managers to coach judgment, communication, and business context—not just task completion.

The real question here is: are we using AI to develop our next generation of leaders—or accidentally removing their path to learn? For manufacturers, this matters at every level. As technology handles more routine tasks, people need more opportunities to learn how to make decisions, solve problems, and lead. Don’t just automate the work. Build the judgment, communication, and problem-solving skills your people will need to manage what comes next.

AI Readiness Starts with Your People

Many companies are moving quickly to adopt AI. But are their leaders and employees ready? In AI Skills Are Becoming the New Workforce Baseline, Hacking HR reports that 75% of organizations expect AI proficiency to become a standard requirement for most non-technical roles within the next two years. Yet only 36% say their managers are highly prepared to upskill their teams in AI.

Priorities that help:

• Assess your AI skills gap. Identify which roles will need AI skills and what those skills entail.
• Create a common AI skills framework. Define what “AI proficient” means for different roles.
• Prepare managers first. Make sure leaders know how to coach and develop AI skills before expecting employees to build them.
• Connect AI skills to career growth. Consider how AI capability should influence hiring, development, performance, and promotion.

The goal now is to prioritize training managers so they can both understand the business strategy behind an AI rollout and help their team become AI-ready.

Move From AI Adoption to Business Impact

Our second resource from McKinsey, From Adoption to Impact: Three Horizons of AI Transformation,  makes perhaps the most important point for the C-suite: AI adoption does not automatically create business value. The organizations seeing greater impact are redesigning workflows, roles, decision-making, and operating models around AI to make sure a business goal is being achieved.

Strategic Approaches:

• Identify where AI can create real value. Focus on a few important business problems instead of launching dozens of pilots.
• Redesign the workflow. Don’t simply add AI to an existing process. Ask what the process should look like if AI is built into it from the start.
• Build AI fluency at the leadership level. Your leadership team needs enough understanding to make good business decisions about AI.
• Measure business impact. Tie AI initiatives to specific outcomes such as cost, quality, speed, customer experience, or revenue.

It’s easy to measure how many employees are using AI. The harder question is whether it is improving the business. This quote wraps up the idea neatly: “AI does not create enterprise value simply because more people use it.” McKinsey identifies three stages: enablement, automation, and reinvention. Only 11% of leaders surveyed said their organizations had reached the reinvention stage, where companies redesign roles, workflows, and operating models around AI. The goal isn’t simply more AI adoption. It’s using AI to rethink how the business works and create measurable value.

Wrap-Up: Your AI Strategy Is a Talent Strategy

Since AI skills are becoming part of the workforce baseline, developing those skills needs to become part of your talent strategy. AI may be changing the technology inside your business, but the bigger change is happening in your workforce.

The companies that get ahead will be the ones that develop the right skills, prepare managers to lead through change, and rethink roles around what people and technology can do together.

Before your next AI investment, ask: Do we have the talent and leadership needed to make it work? CB and Associates, Inc. can act as a valuable partner in finding, recruiting, and seating leaders who can help deliver transformative change and results. Message me today and let’s get started!

Want to stay in touch? Sign up for my twice-monthly newsletter. I share recruiting practices, professional and leadership development tips, and our latest opportunities. Are you (or someone you know) ready to take the next step in your career? Take a look at our complete listing of available opportunities.