There’s a quiet revelation unfolding in organizations today - and it’s not just about technology. It’s about leadership, culture, and how ready we are to lead through ambiguity.
Recent McKinsey research revealed something surprising: most employees are more prepared for AI adoption than their leaders assumed or expected. That’s telling. It suggests the barrier isn’t the workforce it’s the operating model, the lack of clarity, and the fear of getting it wrong.
If you’re in leadership right now, you’re not alone. Many are trying to define a bold path forward with limited information. And let’s be honest AI doesn’t come with a clear playbook. It’s not just another tool to integrate. It’s redefining economics, productivity, and scale across every industry.
What scale looks like is changing crazy fast
Companies that used to take decades and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of employees to scale may now look a lot smaller and move a lot faster, as the talent stack condenses.
That’s disorienting, but it’s also clarifying. That opens up tremendous possibilities especially when you consider that the tools are the worst they're ever going to be right now.
Point being, this is not a time to sit still. This is a historical moment and the leaders who lean in will be the ones shaping what comes next.
So how do you lead through it?
The answer isn’t to bide time until you think you've figured things out. The answer is participation. Curiosity. Learning in public. That starts by giving your teams space to experiment, try tools like Agents, share what’s working, and reimagine how work gets done.
It means building a culture that embraces iteration and exploration. It means asking:
- Where can we automate intelligently?
- Where can AI remove friction from our workflows?
- And most importantly, where do we need to rewire how decisions are made?
Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, recently made a bold move: every employee is now expected to use AI in their role and performance evaluations will reflect how effectively they do. That’s not about hype. It’s about setting a cultural tone: adaptability is the new baseline.
Play the game - don’t watch from the sidelines
At Crema, we work with enterprise leaders at these exact inflection points. We help teams move from uncertainty to momentum by defining product strategies, building AI-powered tools, and unlocking scalable value across systems and workflows.
Because the companies that win with AI won’t be the ones who waited for the perfect plan. They’ll be the ones who chose to lead through change not around it.
