What Companies That Win Understand About AI

McKinsey's latest State of AI report confirms exactly what I've been seeing on the ground. AI has hit a turning point amongst businesses. It’s no longer about whether they’re using AI—most companies are 88% adoption) —it’s about whether they're using it to transform their enterprise or just tinker on the edges. There's a big, persistent gap between the majority of companies running pilot projects and a small, elite cohort that's fundamentally rewiring their entire operating model to capture exponential, enterprise-level value.

The AI Scale Paradox: Why Adoption Isn't Profitable Yet

AI is mainstream. Tools like Gen AI have taken off rapidly, with one-third of organizations already using it regularly. However this swift adoption hasn’t translated into profits for most. McKinsey highlights the AI Scale Paradox: most companies are stalled in the pilot phase. Only 39% report any noticeable bump in profit from AI. Why? Because simply adopting a tool isn’t enough. Actual sustained value requires complex shifts in governance, infrastructure, and operating models. If you're not seeing the profit impact, you haven't made the necessary commitment to those deep structural changes.

The Agentic Divide

The next big shift isn't just Gen AI, it is the rise of AI Agents. These autonomous systems can perform multi-step tasks, make decisions, and execute workflows without constant human hand-holding. They turn AI from a support tool into a task owner.

This capability is creating a clear "Agentic Divide." A small, but crucial, group—just 6% of organizations—is already pulling ahead by treating these agents as the new core operating system. They're not just saving a few hours; they're redesigning entire workflows so agents own measurable outcomes. They are learning and innovating at a pace the others can't match, which is changing the very metrics of success.

What Separates the High Performers?

If you want high performance, you need to focus on two things:

1. Growth Over Efficiency

Most companies focus on efficiency and cost reduction (around 80% have this goal). But the real AI High Performers—the ones seeing the biggest financial impact—are different. They prioritize growth, innovation, and creating new revenue streams. The potential here is massive, estimated at $4.4 trillion. If your AI is only cutting costs, you’re missing bigger opportunities.

2. Enterprise Rewiring: Redesigning Workflows

This is the single most correlated factor with seeing a significant profit impact. You can't just bolt AI onto an old, linear process. To successfully scale, you must fundamentally reconstruct roles, team structures, and processes. We're talking about embedding AI into the core of how decisions are made, so humans, agents, and systems operate as one unified force. This is enterprise rewiring, and it’s non-negotiable for success.

The Governance Gap

As deployment speeds up, so does risk. Awareness of issues like inaccuracy, cybersecurity, and IP infringement is high. But there's a serious Governance Gap. Fewer than half of organizations are taking concrete steps to mitigate these urgent threats. Key aspects of responsible AI, like explainability and transparency, often get sidelined. Many models remain "black boxes," making effective auditing nearly impossible.This is why we're seeing a clear trend toward centralized control for risk, compliance, and data governance. You need consistent policy enforcement and ethical oversight to manage this explosion of AI usage safely.

The Urgency of AI Fluency

There's now an explosive of demand for AI fluency—the skill of using, supervising, and guiding intelligent tools effectively. As systems handle execution, the human role shifts to oversight, critical thinking, and contextual judgment. Companies expect major reskilling efforts, with many anticipating the need to retrain over one-fifth of their employees within three years.

Takeaways

Competitive advantage is no longer determined by if an org use AI, but how they use it. The challenge is to move decisively from shallow experimentation to deep, enterprise-level transformation. You must be brave enough to seek growth, and disciplined enough to implement workflow redesign and robust governance. If you don't, the Agentic Divide will leave you behind.

Reach out to me to walk through how to implement winning strategies at your org.