The number — only 12% of leaders say their teams are truly ready for AI

Nearly every company is rolling out AI, and the comfort around readiness is the trap. 81% of leaders rate their teams as "fairly" or "mostly" ready; only 12% say they are truly ready. The tool goes live, but the people meant to use it are not equipped. Value does not leak in the technology: it leaks at the desk where no one was trained.

Before handing an AI tool to a team, measure whether that team is ready to use it (a simple test on a real case) and budget guided training and practice hours as part of the rollout, not as a catch-up afterwards.

Source: Grant Thornton, "AI Impact Survey," 2026 (~1,000 business leaders, United States).