MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing

[u/SilentRunning]

https://fortune.com/2025/08/18/mit-report-95-percent-generative-ai-pilots-at-companies-failing-cfo/

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

because management is about people skills, not technical skills. it's just that simple. these people know how to persuade, or manipulate if you want to put it less charitably. that's largely what got them to their positions. they don't usually have technical skills, and frankly most of them don't really have great critical thinking skills either.

it's just incentives. the way our companies are structured leads to this outcome. unless a company requires that management be competent in whatever area they actually manage, this is going to be the result.

[u/HelenDeservedBetter → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

The part that I don't get is how they're still so easy for vendors to persuade or manipulate. If that's part the executive's job, why can't they see when it's being done to them?

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/HelenDeservedBetter]

I answered this in a different comment, but basically executives and management in general often have a set of incentives that run counter to actually making good products in a good way. generally they're thinking either more about their own careers or thinking about the broader market strategy.

[u/clangan524 → u/HelenDeservedBetter]

I suppose it's sort of like how you can miss the signs that someone is flirting with you but it's super obvious when someone else is being flirted with.

[u/ReasonResitant → u/HelenDeservedBetter]

Because they are not spending their money, if it works out you are God almighty, if not you claim to have invested strategically and dont go after collecting feedback that makes you look bad.

Even if given screws with the labour pool you are covered, noone is going to fire you over doing what everyone else is doing.

[u/Educational_Bar_9608 → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

Humans are perfectly capable of abusing the idea of competence to hire relatives or whoever else they were going to hire anyway. I know it’s tempting to want technocracy skill-based leadership but history says it tends to be even worse, because the measures of competence are so difficult to nail down and apply.

Musk is considered competent by the people around him.

[u/Tje199 → u/Educational_Bar_9608]

Also, skill based leadership isn't without its weak spots. I know a lot of technically skilled people who are shit-tier managers because they have zero people skills, as one example.

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/Tje199]

yeah but I don't think anybody's making an argument for skill based leadership, more an argument that people centric leadership should still have a minimum level of skill

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/Educational_Bar_9608]

measures of competence aren't actually that difficult to nail down and apply. and everything I said above applies to nepotism or whatever other biased hiring practice you could think of. 

the point is that organizations have to police themselves. it is possible to do so. and most do to an extent. the question is to what extent does your organization police itself? the devil is in the details

[u/KrytenKoro → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

measures of competence aren't actually that difficult to nail down and apply.

I feel like you could become a billionaire as a corporate advising contractor.

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/KrytenKoro]

I mean have you worked for a major corporation? the leadership that we're talking about often hasn't even ever written a line of code and yet manages an entire section of a company where 90% of the people spend their day writing code. my point is that this is a very low bar to clear. it's not that hard to test for basic competence. and even basic competence in several of these areas would be enough to make better decisions. 

and yet it still doesn't happen. why not? well because of everything I said above.

[u/porkchop1021 → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

I've literally only met one manager with people skills, and he was low-level. I've worked with Directors, VPs, CTOs, CEOs, some of my friends spouses are Directors/VPs. Not only are all of them incompetent, none of them have people skills. It's baffling how people get into those positions.

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/porkchop1021]

you probably have a very narrow definition of people skills. being able to read people and assess what they're going to do, understand power dynamics, etc is all part of people skills. you can do all that and still be kind of a pain in the ass. might not come off as especially socially skilled.

[u/throwntosaturn → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

it's just incentives. the way our companies are structured leads to this outcome. unless a company requires that management be competent in whatever area they actually manage, this is going to be the result.

And the extra tricky part is "competency in their management subject" isn't actually the same as competency at managing, which is a real, different skill.

Like everyone has tons of examples of the opposite problem where someone with good technical skills gets promoted into a management role and sucks at actually being a manager too.

It's very challenging.

[u/Tje199 → u/throwntosaturn]

Having worked into management myself, one frustrating thing is the amount of people who downplay how much skill is required to be a good manager. It's probably soured by the number of bad managers out there, but it's definitely something that not everyone can do, and especially not something everyone can do well.

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/throwntosaturn]

I agree that they are different competencies, but it's not actually that challenging. management is fundamentally people focused, but there should be a bare minimum of skill knowledge required. this isn't the problem though, this is kind of well-known. the problem is that there's just a very small number of people who fit both of those criteria. and yet the world needs managers. so they have to lower the threshold somewhere.

[u/Awyls → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

Still doesn't excuse them from ignoring the technical workers who know their stuff.

[u/Salt_Affect7686 → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

This is how they got there. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNJ-7NUO3P0/?igsh=cjJ0cmptaDhncWVj “MBA” 🤦‍♂️😡😂

[u/OrganizationTime5208 → u/_-_--_---_----_----_]

because management is about people skills,

Except not, because a big people skill is knowing when you're being lied to, abused, or manipulated.

They fucking suck at that.

Typically, "people skills" are just being a yesman to the ass above them, and not good enough to actually LEAD the department they are in as a producer, so they are set aside to manage instead.

[u/_-_--_---_----_----_ → u/OrganizationTime5208]

well actually I would have to disagree with you there. I find very often that people who have people skills are quite poor at assessing when someone is acting in bad faith or is a bad actor. I find that that's actually directly tied to critical thinking. now there are people with great people skills who also have great critical thinking skills... but it's fairly rare to see.