Good morning leaders!
Today Jonathan and I dived into a great 49 page report by SmarterX understanding whats actually happening in AI.
Here are 5 teasers from our chat and report:
The 2026 State of AI for Business Report presents findings from a survey of over 2,100 professionals regarding the integration of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
It highlights a significant governance gap, revealing that while individuals are rapidly adopting AI tools, many organisations lack the formal roadmaps and ethics policies necessary for scaling.
A primary theme is the disconnection in job security perceptions, as most workers expect AI to cause widespread layoffs but do not believe their own roles are at risk.
The report also identifies human barriers, such as a lack of education and time, as greater obstacles to adoption than technical or budgetary constraints.
Furthermore, it notes a divergence in tool preference, with smaller firms favouring ChatGPT while large enterprises increasingly standardise on Microsoft Copilot.
The Exec Summary
The 2026 SmarterX State of AI for Business Report reveals a profound disconnect in the corporate world. While leaders and professionals are highly enthusiastic about AI, we are witnessing a widening execution gap. Organisations are treating AI as a mere technical roll-out rather than a fundamental business transformation, stalling progress at the scaling phase.
LISTEN TO THE POD NOW → Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Amazon Music // Pocketcasts // YouTube Podcasts
Soundbite to listen out for:- Timestamp: [00:08:28] - [00:09:11]
“I always say that you should think five years ahead, plan three years ahead, and act one year ahead so you’re never behind. Technology change will change, so technology change accelerates, right? It always accelerates. But one thing that you should have is a clear view, a clear articulation of where you need to go as a business. So whether that is tech-driven or whether that’s something else. So yeah, it’s a cultural change, but also you have to have a point of view, a goal, and a North Star, if you like North Stars as a business metric for people to follow. And in this world where AI is disrupting a lot of businesses, if you don’t have a strong point of view of who you are, what you’re doing, how you’re gonna do it, when you’re gonna do it by, some of your team will probably leave and go somewhere else.” — Danny Denhard
The Key 6 Points Discussed
The Job Security Paradox: A staggering 71% of respondents expect AI to eliminate more jobs than it creates, yet only 20% worry about their own roles. This highlights a psychological gap where managers feel safe whilst assuming middle and junior roles are at risk.
The Vision Vacuum: Business leaders are throwing AI tools at employees without communicating a clear vision for the future of work. Without a defined route to an end goal, organisations cannot embed or scale the technology effectively.
The IT and Legal Bottleneck: Too many enterprise companies treat AI as a technical issue, handing it over to IT and legal departments. Because the primary function of these departments is to reduce risk rather than drive innovation, transformation is stifled.
The Market Asymmetry: A distinct tool split has emerged based on company size. Large enterprises turning over more than a billion dollars heavily favour Microsoft Copilot (73%), while 73% of small businesses rely on ChatGPT.
The Governance Correlation: Only 13% of organisations have implemented the four critical pillars of AI governance: a council, a roadmap, a generative AI policy, and an ethics policy. Those that do possess all four show massive organizational momentum.
The Trap of Tactical Productivity: Most businesses are still focusing their AI efforts entirely on short-term productivity and efficiency gains. They are failing to think big enough about the truly transformative and innovative capabilities of the technology.
The AI Tools Mentioned
Microsoft Copilot: The dominant enterprise tool, heavily integrated via Office 365 and Azure roll-outs.
ChatGPT: The preferred choice for small to medium-sized businesses, capturing a massive share of the smaller market.
Claude & Gemini: Secondary large language models holding steady at roughly a 40% use-case rate.
Shareable Insights
“Enthusiasm is not execution. We must stop confusing a CEO’s personal excitement for AI with actual organisational readiness.”
“If you hand your AI strategy entirely to IT and legal, you will get risk reduction, not innovation. AI is a whole-organisation transformation project, not a software update.”
“The savvy AI users aren’t typing shorter prompts; they are buying lapel mics and talking directly to their machines to feed them rich, deep context.”
The Core Takeaway for Leaders
To survive the AI era, leaders must think five years ahead, plan three years ahead, and act one year ahead. True competitive advantage will not come from simply giving your staff ChatGPT licenses; it will come from establishing rigorous governance, defining a distinct cultural vision, and actively building an AI-ready company.
Have a great few days and we will land in your inbox on Friday!
Thanks
Danny & Jonathan
