Your Board Wants AI. Your Team Fears It. They’re Both Right

InnovationYour Board Wants AI. Your Team Fears It. They’re Both RightByJason Kurtz,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 05, 2026, 10:15am EDTJason Kurtz, CEO, Basware. gettyI recently met with the digital transformation officer at a large company who has spent around a million euros on internal AI-related projects over the past year. He told me he couldn't point to a single penny they have spent that has helped the business in any way, and that he was tired of experimenting with AI to check a box for the board.​​Here's the uncomfortable truth that most boards don't want to hear: Top-down AI mandates without bottom-up buy-in create resistance, not results. The question isn't "How do we adopt AI?" but "How do we make our teams excited to adopt it?" ​​The Disconnect​AI brings worry and excitement to boards, and they want to ensure their companies are innovating and leveraging it. This creates a cascading flow, where pressure starts with the board and moves through the CEO to the executive team, and then to managers and employees.Every level asks: "What are we doing with AI?" but the message changes as it moves down the organizational chart.What the top intends: "Let's explore AI to improve our business." What the bottom hears: "AI is coming to replace my job." And, the natural response is: "Why would I help adopt something that eliminates me?"Without clear communication about intent, teams can slow down adoption—not out of resistance, but out of self-preservation. This creates an unintended conflict that stalls AI initiatives before they even start.Leadership sees AI as an opportunity. Teams see it as an existential threat. Neither perspective is wrong, but both are operating from incomplete information. The gap between excit...