By Garth Andrus, Leader of Digital/AI, Organizational and Talent Transformation, Andersen Consulting
70–80% of AI and analytics projects fail to deliver business value. (Gartner, MIT Sloan, IDC)
That stat should stop every leader in their tracks.
Not because the technology doesn’t work. Not because the data isn’t there. But because AI is being deployed inside organizational models that were never designed for it — resulting in isolated gains, rather than real transformation.
While leaders continue to invest in AI, the vast majority of projects underdeliver. The real issue isn’t the tech.
It’s the design of work. Governance & decision rights. Incentives. Performance Management. Leadership behaviors. Cultural norms. And more.
This is the big miss.
Most companies are running AI on top of legacy operating models that actively resist its success. And no amount of investment in technology can overcome the friction caused by static roles, cumbersome decision rights, misaligned incentives, and leadership mindsets and expectations optimized for control—not complexity and agility.
Why the Time to Rewire Is Now
Even early AI adopters can’t afford to wait to redesign.
Every quarter that passes with outdated roles, slow-moving structures, and legacy workflows is another quarter where AI’s potential is being capped. And the longer those structures stay in place, the harder they are to unwind.
Delay doesn’t just slow progress—it locks in inefficiency and builds resistance just as change becomes critical.
Intel’s story is a cautionary one. A once-undisputed leader in chipmaking, Intel lost ground in the AI and semiconductor race due in part to slow adaptation and organizational inertia. Now under new leadership, they’re urgently rewiring—but the cost of catching up is steep.
Rewiring the organization now isn’t just about seeing around corners—it’s about evolving with intention instead of reacting in crisis to change that will soon become unavoidable.
Can You Design for a Future That Hasn’t Fully Arrived?
Absolutely. And you should.
We’ve seen this story before.
The hard lessons of digital transformation taught us that waiting until we are forced to change is often waiting too long.
AI is already reshaping how decisions are made, who makes them, and how work flows across the enterprise. There are organizational adjustments that need to be made to align to those changes—and a myriad of others resulting from the unique nature of AI.
From democratized decision-making to accelerated learning loops, the future is already signaling what it needs.
Now is the time to design intentionally for it.
You don’t need a new org chart today—but you do need to begin rewiring your operating model—deliberately and progressively—to support how AI is already shaping or will reshape work.
Three Things Leaders Are Overlooking
- AI is organizationally isolated. AI is still being deployed as a technology initiative rather than an operating shift. Most leaders overlook how deeply AI depends on the broader system around it—structure, roles, workflows, incentives, and behaviors.
Until it’s embedded into how the organization needs to run with AI, it may remain a powerful tool—but likely with limited or isolated impact.
- Roles and work haven’t changed. Most roles are still built around predictable, repeatable tasks—precisely the kind of work AI now does more efficiently. Too much of it remains linear, manual, and fragmented — built for a pre-AI world. This mismatch leads to underutilized and costly talent, reduced innovation velocity, and disappointing returns on AI investments.
- Leadership behaviors haven’t evolved. The new generation of leadership must operate without perfect clarity, mobilize cross-functional teams quickly, be agile, and foster human-AI collaboration rooted in trust and adaptability. Slow moving decisions and command-and-control leadership models are not compatible with AI.
Read the full article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-miss-c-suite-chasing-ai-without-changing-org-garth-andrus-s58ec/