"Our 'why' is going to be about driving business value." — Teri Hart, Zurich North America.
Most AI adoption strategies start with the tools. The organizations actually moving the needle started with a different question.
That gap — between access and actual adoption — is the business problem senior talent leaders are sitting with right now. And the research is unambiguous about why it's happening: employees aren't resisting AI. They're quietly doing the math on their own relevance.
On March 13th, Teri Hart and Jason Gallo from Zurich North America brought their real-world AI capability model into the room — and reframed what "scaling AI" actually means for HR and talent leaders.
Managers are the leverage point. Most organizations haven't treated them that way.
During the lively discussion, peers were sharing what's actually working — not only best practices from a deck. Nick Allen (CNA Insurance) brought one of the most replicable moves in the room. His organization started spending 5–10 minutes in team meetings calling out individual AI wins — peer-showcased, locally celebrated, not handed down from corporate or IT:
"Leadership is intentionally calling out different people… showcasing what they've just recently discovered… and that's turning the dial." — Nick Allen, CNA Insurance
The shift from corporate mandate to something people are having fun doing together happened, in his words, in about two to three months. That's a replicable move — and it costs nothing to start.
"AI adoption isn't going to be about just pushing the tools… it's actually about old-fashioned change management and leading people through identity shifts." — Teri Hart, Zurich North America.
Most organizations have rolled out the tools. A small group of power users is running with them. Everyone else hasn't touched the button.
Identity is the stall point — not the skill gap
Research surfaced in the discussion found roughly half of employees perceive AI as a threat to their professional identity — their relevance, their value, how they create worth in their work. That's not a reskilling problem. It's a change management problem.
Marty Murrillo put it in the chat as Teri was still mid-thought: "That Identity shift is huge." It landed fast because everyone in the room was feeling the same pressure their employees are navigating.
As Teri highlights, this shift from content delivery to business impact is already underway. For L&D leaders, that's not an abstract statement. It's a line in the sand. The leaders anchoring their work to business outcomes — not program delivery or skill catalogs — are the ones building relevance right now.
The confidence gap runs in one direction
Teri opened with a data point that stopped the room: 76% of executives believe their employees are enthusiastic about AI adoption. Ask the individual contributors? It's 31%.
The more senior you are, the more confident you are that things are going well. That disconnect doesn't close with more content or more tools. It closes when leaders consistently model the why — and make it visible at the team level, not just the enterprise level.
"It's technically available, but in many companies, it's optional. It's behaviorally optional." — Teri Hart
That phrase — behaviorally optional — named something the room had been circling. Deployment isn't adoption. And the people who aren't engaging aren't confused about the technology. They're uncertain about what it means for them.
What to try next
Ask three frontline managers to explain the AI "why" in their own words — unprompted. If the answers vary significantly, you don't have a skill problem. You have a messaging alignment problem. That's the faster fix.
Put one AI win on the next team meeting agenda — peer-led, 5 minutes, no deck. Early evidence signal: does someone volunteer a story the following week without being asked?
If any of these insights reflect the business challenges you're navigating right now — bring them into the room. ELE builds its event experiences around the real problems members are wrestling with. Submit My Business Challenge Now
