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The steam engine in the 19th century, the microprocessor chip in the 20thcompanies that figured out how to use them thrived; those that didnt declined. And now the race to embrace AI is on. McKinsey estimates the potential for corporates to grow their productivity through this transformative technology at $4.4 trillion. Todays corporate leaders are acutely aware of thisonly 1% call their companies mature on the deployment spectrumand they certainly want to do something about this: 92% plan to increase their AI investments over the next three years. However, in the rush to embed AI, these leaders are missing, and even contributing to, a far greater issue than slow AI uptake: a disconnect between leadership and their workforce, leading to the erosion of alignment and trust inside organizations. This cultural disconnect is a far more urgent risk to business performance than technical lag. Heres how to tackle this mounting challenge. The problems with a disconnected workforce Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workforce revealed that global employee engagement declined to 21% in 2024, only the second decline in engagement in the past 12 years. This ought to alarm business leaders. Disengaged employees are a huge threat in multiple ways. They do the bare minimum work: studies show disengaged employees are 18% less productive on average. Next consider the impact on the customer experience. Disengagement isnt contained, it leaks, and disengaged employees are likely to lower service quality, slow response times, and diminish brand loyalty. Disengaged employees also kill innovation, problem-solving, and transformation. They dont speak up, challenge ideas, or contribute proactively. They dont resist loudly. They comply quietly via passive resistance. You lose not just output, but the critical energy that drives adaptation and progress. Then they leave. Disengaged employees are 2.6 times more likely to actively seek a new job, creating costly churn. Gallup estimates the cost of replacing an employee is 150% of their salary. But before they go, many poison the culture from within, turning previously engaged employees into disengaged ones. “Disengaged workforce” is a term that gets thrown around a lot by people functions, and too often its dismissed by leadership as HR fluff. But when you connect it to hard facts, it really is like death by a thousand invisible cuts. AI: the disconnection accelerator While this disconnect silently eats away at the corporate world, execs blindly plow on with AI implementation, and in doing so are making the issue far worse. A study of 2,500 workers from the U.S., U.K., and Australia revealed that for 77% of employees AI has increased their workload, with one in three full-time employees saying they will likely quit their jobs in the next six months. Theyre not imagining the increased workload: 81% of global C-suite leaders acknowledge they have increased demands on their workers in the past year. With AI there is just more pressure to deliver more, faster, in less amount of time, and the relationship between employees and employers is eroding. As one commentator recently put it: Companies are announcing layoffs alongside record-breaking financial results. You work hard, focus on impactful projects, and receive praise from your leadonly to find yourself let go by someone who likely doesnt even know you exist. It feels as though the trust between companies and employees is now broken. Companies, it seems, are either unaware of this shift or unwilling to address it. And frankly, Im not sure how they could fix it. Slow down and listen They can fix this. But first, leadership needs to take its foot off the gas. Because if you want AI transformation to succeed, your people need to come with you. And that starts by returning to the roots of effective employee engagement: human insight, gained the human way. Its about spending real time understanding the lived, felt, experienced reality of your workforceironically, the kind of research AI cant replicate. Because while technology can summarize patterns, it cant observe culture in motion. It cant pick up on tension in a room. It cant notice whos talking, who isnt, and why. It cant notice your tiny invisible cuts forming. Consider the approach of Dell which in 2024, imposed rigid return-to-office mandates, introduced employee monitoring, and fast-tracked GenAI, all with minimal listening to its employees. The result? Internal backlash, tanking morale, and public employer brand damage. Contrast it with Toyota which has built its leadership philosophy around Genchi Genbutsu”go and see. Leaders embed, observe, and critically, understand before deciding. Its a major reason why it remains the worlds leading car brand. Connection and understanding From there its about rebuilding connection. Be authentic: own the challenges, and remember that people respect honesty over perfection. Surface and elevate the true human insights that come from the front lines. Then close the loop: when people see changes made from their input, trust grows. Crucially, leaders need to recognise that while AI can help scale tasks, only they, the leaders, can scale trust. And theyll build it by realising that people still come first, AI second. The organizations that win in the AI era wont be the ones that move the fastest. Theyll be the ones that stay closest to the ground. This isn’t a nostalgic plea for pre-AI leadership. Its a call on leaders to simply do better, by showing through actions, not words, that they are something AI can never be: human.
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E-Commerce
When it comes to the future of urban mobility, its not the sci-fi fantasies that will shape our cities. Its functional solutions for the everyday. While tech visionaries promote high-speed concepts like ET3s vacuum-sealed capsules, true transformation will come from transportation solutions that are accessible, reliable, and affordablelike modernizing existing transit infrastructure, digitizing bus routes, and reducing traffic congestion. Sexy, futuristic modes of transportation like autonomous vehicles may dominate the headlines, but what Americans really crave are reliable, inexpensive options to get them from point A to point Bnot a self-driving car. Public frustration around the future of transit is mounting. Waymos are crashing in Los Angeles, congestion pricing is contentious in New York City, and the U.S. lacks a reliable high-speed rail network. These realities make it clear that companies should rethink what the city of the future looks like and reprioritize achievable solutions to real needs. New data from Censuswide, commissioned by Diffusion, offers a closer look at the evolving sentiment on mobility in Americas biggest citiesand the findings highlight a pressing need for better solutions. Alarmingly, fewer than 18% of Americans describe their citys transit as highly efficient and nearly as many say its struggling. With American people driving around twice as much annually compared to their European counterparts, the overreliance on personal vehicles underscores the urgency for investments in reliable public transit that can reduce congestion, cut emissions and improve quality of life. While exciting, the novelty of new mobility tech, like the 2,000 new food delivery bots roaming around Los Angeles, wears off quickly when residents can depend more on their takeout delivery than the bus they take to work. In fact, bus delays are collectively costing L.A. residents more than a cumulative decade on the average weekday. Despite the ability to ask ChatGPT nearly any question and get the answer in seconds, Americans are understandably frustrated that they cant seem to get an accurate transit schedule. Back to the basics The top three priorities for Americans when it comes to urban mobility are affordability (50.8%), reliable public transit (47%), and accessibility (39.3%) demonstrating a need for options that reduce traffic congestion, provide economical alternatives, and are available to all. Visionaries in the urban mobility space need to focus on these core components before setting their sights on mass adoption. Without demonstrating a positive potential impact on cost, convenience, reliability, and ease of use, companies innovating in the space will only continue to be met with skepticism and resistance. Fears around AV Sentiment around automated vehicles (AVs), for example, perfectly illustrates the increasing skepticism and resistance to adapt. Despite AVs being at the forefront of the future and modern urban transit conversation, the public isnt on board, with over half (50.5%) of respondents disagreeing that AVs are the future. Furthermore, 74.5% of Americans said they dont trust the safety of AVs and 66% said that the technology isnt ready. Yet just this month, Waymo announced they are expanding to New York City. This move suggests that companies in the urban mobility space may be out of touch with what American commuters are ready to embrace. AVs still dont feel normal or comfortable to most, so now is the time to build trust. Rolling them out at scale without addressing fundamental mobility concerns risks missing the mark entirely, since commuters need confidence in the safety and reliability of the technology before theyll consider taking the risk themselves. Beyond issues of trust and comfort, however, concerns extend to the broader economic impact of AVs. Nearly 60% said theyre concerned about AVs impact on jobs, a sentiment that isnt surprising given growing fears about AIs effects on the American workforce and the disappearance of certain roles. While businesses race to advance AV technology, assuming widespread excitement for futuristic transportation options, they often overlook how these developments will directly affect everyday people. Job loss is not the only aspect of new technology that concerns Americansprivacy remains at the forefront of conversation, with over 60% of people reporting a concern for their digital safety. Many of these futuristic transport options require a certain amount of data about oneself, location, etc. which can be scary to the everyday commuter. Companies modernizing urban mobility should focus on transparency when it comes to data collection, to help ease users minds, and highlight the ways in which their technology will tangibly improve day-to-day lives. Otherwise, theyll face resistance in the pursuit of mass acceptance. The real ‘City of the Future’ Since what Americans truly want isnt flying cars or futuristic cities, efforts should focus on enhancing existing infrastructure through smart technology instead of pursuing a complete overhaul. Innovations that fail to get someone to their destination quickly and affordably are far less transformative than companies believe. The real future of urban mobility isnt about who has the flashiest new system, its about who solves the real problems. Progress is about improving upon how people live, work and move within cities, not making headlines for futuristic features that dont have real-world impact. Before we prioritize the city of the future, lets strengthen our cities in the present.
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E-Commerce
More and more senior executives are stepping out of high-powered roles and opting to work for multiple companies on an access pay-as-you-go basis as fractional leaders. This raises the question: Why are executives taking this step, and why is it booming now? Post-pandemic shifts have altered how senior leadership thinks about time, value, and work. The profound shift in how we worked allowed senior leaders to reflect on their lives. It also encouraged more reflection, which gave rise to a desire to have more meaningful and purposeful work. It fostered a sense of agencyto decide what work they do, when, and with whom. The rise of fractional leadership As leaders sought to regain more control over their working lives, many viewed fractional leadership as the logical next step to achieve this freedom in their careers. But what is fractional leadershipand why is it still gaining momentum? Fractional leaders work in part-time, high-impact roles across multiple companies. They are self-employed and operate on an access pay-as-you-go basis, often supporting a portfolio of organizations and adjusting their support based on each company’s needs at any given time. They frequently sit at the head of various functions, such as finance, marketing, or technology. Organizations often hire them to help grow the company during stages when it doesnt require a full-time leader in that area. Most fractional leaders have previously held full-time C-suite positions, but have transitioned into fractional roles while seeking more purpose and autonomy. For some, it’s the allure of a better work-life balance and no longer being tied to the nine-to-five. They want to work around family priorities and travel desires. For others, the variety offered by fractional work is appealing. Working with three to seven businesses at exciting stages of growth can provide more challenge and excitement than some full-time roles. Typically, fractional leaders have long careers in full-time C-suite roles, but fractional work offers them the chance to make a positive impact on growing small to medium-sized businesses. They feel like they can have a greater impact on a small organization than within the constraints of a large corporation. Why is the fractional boom in the C-suite happening now? The concept of the C-suite has remained largely unchanged since the 1980s. Many view it as a static structure. However, were now facing a seismic shift as global megatrends begin to reshape how we work. Adopting experienced, agile leaders may be essential for businesses navigating challenges like climate change, political and economic instability, demographic shifts, and energy scarcity. Fractional leadership allows businesses to be more agile by accessing the skills needed to address these megatrends. This includes bringing in leaders with experience in managing new technological changes, like AI implementation. Most fractional leaders also have access to a network of peers who can help inform decision-making when responding to global challenges. Fractional leadership has grown from the realization that full-time presence in an office isn’t always necessary to perform valuable and important work. A few years ago, many companies were reluctant to hire leaders who couldnt be physically present daily. Even with efforts to return-to-office mandates, the modern workplace has demonstrated that presence doesnt necessarily equate to impact. Fractional leaders will mirror the culture of each business they work with to build trust and rapport. That might mean being onsite regularly with those full-time back in the office, to matching a hybrid or remote work structure. For years, weve seen the rise of the independent contractor economy. Small businesses have tapped this model for services like design, marketing, and accounting. The idea isn’t new. Fractional leadership is the next evolution of this trend. It will enable businesses to access the right talent at the right time to support growth without the overhead of a full-time hire but through a committed relationship for as long as the business needs. This shift is also influenced by advancements in technology, which facilitate unbundling traditional job roles. Organizations are adopting more adaptive, problem-focused work models instead of conventional job-centric thinking. Fractional leadership provides the opportunity to outsource these unbundled roles, providing businesses with access to dynamic, fit-for-purpose skill sets. It will also allow senior leaders to integrate work with their personal lives. The future of work with fractional leaders? Right now, we are witnessing the rise of a blended workforce. Its no longer the norm to be a full-time employee working nine-to-five, five days a week in a physical office. Instead, the workforce comprises employees, fractional leaders, project freelancers, and gig economy workersall contributing valuable work. The onset of AI is only going to accelerate this trend of unbundling roles. Fractional leaders will be ahead of these trends, from working with multiple companies, theyll be able to help businesses prioritize the human skills needed to grow a business alongside this blended future. While businesses rely on fractional leaders, freelancers, and gig economy workers, the next question for businesses to tackle is how to shift their thinking from leading their employees to leading their whole blended workforce effectively. If they can learn to do this, business leaders can look forward to a more agile and nimble workforce to weather the future.
Category:
E-Commerce
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