Where Senior Leaders Are Struggling with AI Adoption, According to Research

by Jazz Croft, Sumer Vaid, Lily Cheng and Ashley Whillans

February 26, 2026

Illustration by Patrick Léger

Summary.

As AI becomes embedded across organizations, senior leaders are navigating large-scale change and are under pressure to demonstrate impact. AI is no longer confined to pilots; it is shaping everyday decisions, workflows, and client delivery.

Jazz Croft , Ph. D., is a behavioural scientist and communications expert specialising in leadership and organisational performance. She is currently Senior Science Communications and Research Manager at The Positive Group (https://www.positivegroup.org/).

Sumer Vaid , Ph.D., is a human-centered AI researcher and computational social scientist. He is currently a Research Associate at the Harvard Business School, where his research is situated at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and social psychology.

Lily Cheng , M.Eng., is a senior corporate advisor and technologist specializing in applied AI and digital strategy. She is the founder of Hubel Labs, where her work bridges the gap between AI research and board-level governance, strategy, and execution. She serves on the boards of several multinational corporations across the aviation, consumer, and professional services sectors.

Ashley Whillans , Ph.D is the Volpert Family Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School, where she teaches the Motivation and Incentives course to 2^nd year MBA students. She researches individual and organizational strategies to improve health and happiness, with a focus on studying how time use at work and outside of it play a role in mental health. She serves as an advisor at Walking on Earth.

Read more on Generative AI or related topics AI and machine learning, Strategy execution, Managing uncertainty, Risk management, Decision making and problem solving, Change management, Leadership and managing people, Leadership, Experimentation and Innovation

Where Senior Leaders Are Struggling with AI Adoption, According to Research

Summary.

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