The Steam Engine Mistake Companies Are Repeating with AI — Harvard Professor Joseph Fuller Explains

"There are no executives alive on the planet today that have ever overseen the implementation of a general purpose technology to their organisations." — Joseph Fuller, Harvard Business School

Most companies are making the same mistake with AI that factory owners made when electricity arrived in the 1880s — bolting the new technology onto old processes and calling it transformation.

Around 60% of companies are treating AI as a technology problem and handing it to the CTO. It is a management problem. In this episode, Joseph Fuller of Harvard Business School explains what to do instead — and why the companies that get this right may not be the ones you expect.

About Joseph Fuller

Joseph Fuller is Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School and co-head of the Managing the Future of Work project, which he founded. A former CEO of global strategy firm Monitor Group, he advises leading organisations on AI adoption, workforce transformation, and organisational design.

Joseph Fuller

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephbfuller/
American Enterprise Institute: https://www.aei.org/profile/joseph-b-fuller/

HBS Managing the Future of Work:

Project: https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Pages/default.aspx
Newsletter: https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/newsletter/Pages/default.aspx Podcast: https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hbs-managing-the-future-of-work/id1395603706
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zUxYNebA2rrEuH0IJcrJ2
Amazon Podcasts: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJJPGGPX
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-on-managing-the-future-of-work/

Related Arkaro Insights episodes:

Stephen Wunker on AI and the Octopus Organisation: https://arkaro.com/ai-octopus-organization-stephen-wunker/

Charlene Li on Why AI Transformation Fails: https://arkaro.com/why-ai-transformation-fails-leaders-90-days-charlene-li/ 

Niels van Hove on AI and Decision-Centric Planning: https://arkaro.com/niels-van-hove-ai-sop-ibp-decision-centric-planning/ 

Marco Ryan on Rewire or Retire: https://arkaro.com/rewire-retire-ai-leadership-marco-ryan/

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