Over the last few months, I’ve been working with clients across industries: financial services, tech, big pharma and even the federal government on their AI strategy rollouts and the stories they’re telling to get their teams on board. Right now is when culture counts most. Here’s something I wish more leaders understood:
Corporate culture isn’t built through policies, training sessions, or software rollouts.
It’s built through stories.
The stories people tell each other in the hallway. The stories they share after meetings. The stories they tell themselves when they’re deciding whether to try something new, actively dump on it, or quietly avoid it.
It’s the quintessential Fight, Flight or Freeze.
And right now, whether you realize it or not, your employees are telling stories about AI. Some of those stories sound like:
· “AI is going to replace me.”
· “I’m doing everything with AI; it’s gamechanger for me.”
· “AI is just an overhyped toy that confidently gives wrong answers.”
· I’m an amazing writer, designer, analyst, leader. I’ve done it well for years, why change now?
None of these stories are particularly helpful, but they’re all the buzz in the break rooms.
The question is: Are you shaping those stories, or are they shaping you?
Have You Seen This?
And it’s not just you or your department. One team is enthusiastically experimenting with AI. Another team barely touches it. One manager is finding new efficiencies every week. Another is quietly resisting, hoping it will pass. The technology is exactly the same.
The stories are different.
As an anthropologist, I’ve learned that people rarely adopt change because of logic alone. They adopt change when they can see themselves in the story of what’s possible.
That’s why AI adoption is ultimately a storytelling challenge.