AI Learning Lab

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Welcome Check-In Ambition The Gap Adoption A Better Way The Lies AI-Native The Gaps Agility Gap Impact Gap Usage Gap Team Level What's Next Discussion
August · Learning Lab
August
AI Learning Lab #1

Beyond Tooling — the hidden barriers to absorption

Check-In
If you built your own personal AI assistant, what would you name it?

A quick round to start — no wrong answers.

The Ambition
Your big idea

August, the world’s leading partner for visionary leaders who want to transform the way they work

What We're Seeing
AI adoption is rising — both rapidly and unevenly
80%
of CEOs say AI will force major operational overhauls
Gartner
44%
of workers say their employer has no clear AI policy
Workplace Intelligence
94%
of companies report no significant value from AI yet
McKinsey
AdoptionAbsorption
A Better Way to Work
There's a better way to work

Organizing for Impact

Structure teams and work so the most important things actually get done.

Deciding in Uncertainty

Make good calls quickly, even when the ground keeps shifting.

Designing for Learning

Build the habits that turn every cycle into faster learning.

Partnering with AI

A new layer on top of work we already know how to do — in service of human outcomes, not the other way around.

The Real Problem
AI lies
we love
1 "We just need to get our AI strategy right."
2 "Best-in-class tools and skills will drive adoption."
3 "AI is best suited for efficiency gains."
Strategy, technology, and efficiency are essential, but they're not enough.

Our answer? AI-native teaming.

What Gets in the Way
Three
absorption gaps
1 The Agility Gap
2 The Impact Gap
3 The Usage Gap
Gap 01 · The Agility Gap
"We just need to get our AI strategy right."
People think the barrier is…
A clear strategy.
But the hidden barrier is…
The organizational agility to sense and respond to a rapidly changing ecosystem.
reversed course on AI cuts — re-mixed humans + agents
Our own pivot: → → Codex
Gap 02 · The Impact Gap
"AI is best suited for efficiency gains."
HARD quantifiable business outcomes (e.g. revenue, cost savings) SOFT often overlooked human impact (e.g. engagement, retention, and service quality)
People think the barrier is…
Proving hard ROI.
But the hidden barrier is…
Value is unseen and contextual — the biggest gains are soft and strategic, and our measures miss them.
Gap 03 · The Usage Gap
"Best-in-class tools and skills will drive adoption."
People think the barrier is…
Tools and skills.
But the hidden barrier is…
Trust, the way we already work, and no structured time to experiment.

Trust

People don't use what they don't trust.

Ways-of-working debt

"The way we already do things here."

No time to experiment

No structured space to learn by doing.

It's rarely resistance. Absorption means making the implicit explicit — and protecting time to learn. Our answer: frAIdays

Where It Lands
Absorption happens at the team level

Next session — June 18: Building your Team Intelligence and Knowledge Management.

Help Us Pick Session 3
What's next?
1 Team Intelligence & Knowledge Management — June 18
2 Customizing your AI co-pilot for your role
3 Redesigning a workflow with AI
4 Building your team's productivity system
5 Designing a team-based AI experiment
6 Hacking your AI Team Coach
Over to You
Where are you on the journey?

From adoption to absorption.