What sparked a “massive sentiment change” within his company is a new approach to training. Along with communicating that AI is a priority and a plus, Eschenbach greenlit an “everyday AI” training program about six months ago that forced everyone on staff to confront their fears. “At the end of it, each of our employees had to write down their own AI training roadmap,” he said. “So now every manager has a roadmap and an AI plan for every employee to make sure they’re embracing it and they’re learning about it and they’re leveraging it.”
Surveys following that exercise showed higher levels of trust and engagement around AI, which points to a simple lesson for leaders: “We need to embrace the technology and make sure our employees know it’s safe. It’s safe to lean in, it’s safe to engage and it is what’s going to drive a massive change for them in their careers if they embrace it.”
“It’s all about making sure the human remains in the center of everything we’re doing, that AI is just a technology,” said Eschenbach, who is also rolling out new AI agents and developer tools for customers. “We’re not talking about that enough: that this is about how to change your career. It’s about how to go work on things that you’re excited about, as opposed to doing mundane tasks. This is all about opportunity. Employees today believe they’re competing against AI. They’re not. They’re competing against their peers who are using AI.”
