A “Jagged Frontier”: Leading AI From Pilots to Scaling Across Organizations

Last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, we co-hosted a highly energetic, informative panel, Leading with Humanity in the Age of AI with Harvard Business Review (HBR). The session featured six top global leaders and was moderated by HBR’s Adi Ignaius. A central theme was clear: AI is expected to transform the world, but thoughtful, humane leadership will be vital to the direction and impact of that transformation. 

What is less clear is the extent of workforce displacement that the next few years of integrating AI will bring. We are still in the early days of this journey. The vexing questions of how AI will change work and what it means for jobs are still highly contested. One leader claimed, “We are on the cusp and the precipice of things that are going to change humanity.” Others envision the future differently; while there will surely be displacement, leveraging AI for more repetitive and entry-level tasks will continue to create more opportunities for people to go broader and become more creative. 

The debate is getting louder as organizations gradually become increasingly proficient in their understanding and usage of AI. Organizational restructuring and reskilling is, and will continue to be, essential. As one leader in the room said, “There is no question that it is a very jagged frontier, and that it will be for long time. There are things that people do better…and machines and humans together can do something that a machine alone can’t do.”

As leaders advance from piloting AI to scaling it across their organizations, questions still remain but several themes have emerged: 

Leaders will be the real catalysts for transformation. Their impact starts by creating an environment where people have the motivation and the psychological safety to experiment. It takes leaders who are willing to drive experimentation and to think out of the box. Importantly, it also means leaders must recognize that failure is possible, that the road to success will require trial and error. For years we have been espousing the idea that the best leaders are authentic, brave, and foster cultures that allow for trial and error. One panelist asserted, “Sometimes it’s not all about ROI, but sometimes about doing things that may not work, and thinking about the broader vision of what we are trying to achieve…” 

Our panelists also stressed the importance of trust. At Davos, the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer was debuted and finds that global society has shifted from polarization and grievance into insularity—a widespread reluctance to trust people, institutions, or information sources perceived as “different.” This inward turn is now the defining crisis of trust worldwide. [edelman.com], Edelman argues that institutions—especially employers and CEOs—must act as “trust brokers,” actively bridging divides by listening without judgment, engaging across differences, and translating shared interests rather than amplifying conflict.

Accordingly, if employees feel that their institution is using AI in a responsible manner, they are often much more receptive to its adoption. Leaders recognize that a major barrier to scaling up is trust. Instilling employees with support and knowledge is vital. They feel more confident about AI when leaders reach out and communicate forthrightly—so that they are not just providing people with a tool, they are offering tips about how to use the tool, encouraging them to experiment and to share what they are learning (which is often rewarded). One panelist shared that every Wednesday he now sends out an email to 2,000 people explaining the Copilot tip of the week. The key is to demystify AI and empower people, so that they become more willing and confident, their fears are lessened, and trust is gained.

The tenacious dilemma surrounding AI is still about figuring out where machines stop and humans take over and vice versa. The boundaries of this new partnership remain unclear and mysterious. Some leaders at Davos believe it is unquestionable that AI “is vastly superior to us on so many different levels.” But how do we want to use and evaluate this powerful tool? As the tools become more powerful, the ability to ask the right questions will increasingly become the key differentiator. A panelist suggested, “The folks that are using technology to augment what they are doing seem to do better than the people who are looking purely to replace what they are doing.” 

Amid all the uncertainty and the prospects of such vast change, especially in a world that is so geopolitically fragmented, our panel agreed that CEOs and top leaders have a major responsibility today to “keep purpose first,” both for employees and society at large. How do they create greater opportunities that serve customers better? How do they reskill their workforces? How do they continue to help societies develop and grow? 

As CEOs move into the arduous work of scaling AI across their organizations and meeting the potential upheaval that could come with that, holding these questions and the larger purpose behind them in concert with the clear benefits of AI will become the foundation for future transformation and all the changes it brings.