Source: Fortune
Summary
LinkedIn’s chief business officer Mark Lobosco discussed the challenges of AI adoption in companies, citing a “workforce blind spot” where executives are uncertain about the roles and skills needed for the future. A LinkedIn survey found that 50% of C-suite leaders acknowledge this blind spot, and 78% say they are moving faster on AI than they can effectively measure. Lobosco emphasized the need for leaders to be proficient in using AI tools and to lead from the front, rather than delegating the task to others.
Our Reading
The numbers tell one story. The announcement sounds familiar. The strategy enters a familiar phase.
LinkedIn’s survey reveals a “workforce blind spot” among C-suite leaders, with 50% uncertain about future roles and skills. Lobosco notes that executives must be proficient in AI tools and lead from the front. The survey also found that 78% of C-suite leaders are moving faster on AI than they can effectively measure. Lobosco’s approach is to build a “cockpit” that removes friction and automates preparatory work, freeing his team to focus on customers.
The blind spot isn’t just about uncertainty, it’s about structure. Executives who built careers on executing reliable playbooks may be the hardest to reach. Lobosco concedes that the people who most need to change may be the most resistant. The concession has backing from Carolyn Dewar, who wrote that the execution discipline markets rewarded for the last decade is now a liability.
Leaders must be genuinely fluent, empowering teams from a position of real knowledge, with clear end goals in sight beyond just “adopt AI.” By his own account, most companies are not there yet.
The hardest part of AI transformation isn’t the technology, it’s the managers. Companies are in collective denial about redesigning work itself. Asking executives to learn in public, improvise with unproven tools, and redesign organizational structures simultaneously, while meeting the quarter, is a lot.
Lobosco’s read is most companies are still in the early stages of what will ultimately be a long redesign—the electricity problem. Factories bolted electricity onto steam engines for years before anyone thought to redesign the factory floor.
The blind spot isn’t simply that leaders don’t know what they need. It’s that admitting it, publicly, to their teams, is its own kind of risk.
Author: Evan Null
