The Human Side of AI: Wisdom Tomorrow CEO on Why Human Readiness Determines Success 

Most CEOs treat AI transformation as a technology and investment problem. Find the funds, buy the tools, deploy the systems, and watch productivity climb.

Ajay Manissery Konchery has spent enough time in Fortune 500 boardrooms, leading business units, and coaching CEOs to know this thinking is backwards. 

“The value that comes out of AI is not just because of the technology, but in how that technology is adopted and amplified by the humans in an organization,” says Konchery, CEO of Wisdom Tomorrow and former Asia Pacific CHRO and Board Member at Colgate-Palmolive. “Like any other transformation, it is as much about technology as it is about people. Perhaps even more so, due to the multiplier effect of human-AI dynamics. But this is often forgotten.” 

The data supports his observation. According to a World Economic Forum report, only 2% of firms are prepared for AI across all five dimensions: strategy, governance, talent, data, and technology. Research shows talent and data are the biggest derailers. Companies expect productivity gains of up to 40%, yet the readiness gap remains enormous. A Harvard Business Review Analytic Services study found that while 91% of respondents agreed having the right talent is essential to AI success, 72% said their focus on AI had exposed skill gaps they had not anticipated. 

HR’s Exclusion from Strategy Conversations

One challenge is that the people responsible for workforce readiness are often missing from the room where decisions around AI strategy or investments get made. Gartner research found that AI deployment decisions are frequently made without any involvement from the CHRO, which leads to poor workforce adoption, misaligned expectations between employees and executives, and organizations failing to realize business value from their AI investments. 

The HBR Analytic Services study puts a number on it: just 21% of respondents said HR leadership is closely involved in their organization’s AI decision-making. 

This exclusion isn’t theoretical. It creates real consequences. Konchery identifies three reasons this situation persists:  

1. Leaders see AI primarily as a technology initiative rather than a people initiative 

2. The fact that human factors are the number one derailer of AI transformation is not well internalized 

3. Many CHROs themselves lack sufficient understanding of what AI can do for business operations through its interface with people 

Many of the HR folks I speak to still have not taken the initiative, or may not have had the opportunity, to develop those AI-relevant human skills,” he says. “And therefore, many CEOs tell me they don’t bring in their CHRO because he or she doesn’t really add value to the conversation.

The Skills That Matter Now

When Konchery talks about the capabilities companies need for AI transformation, his list aligns closely with what the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 identifies as core skills for the coming years. 

Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after skill, with seven out of ten companies considering it essential. This is followed by resilience, flexibility, and agility, then leadership and social influence. Creative thinking and AI literacy round out the top priorities. 

But Konchery takes a different view on what resilience actually means. “I see resilience as the capacity to enjoy ambiguity,” he explains. “The seed of resilience is enjoying the unexpected, enjoying adversity as a way of growing rather than being beaten down. That makes it less of a fight and more play.” 

The reasoning connects directly to what AI does well and what it does not. As AI handles more linear, routine tasks, human value comes from nonlinear thinking and emotional intelligence. “Nonlinear is nothing but creativity, crudely put,” Konchery says. ” It is the ability to combine things that don’t obviously belong together.” As an award-winning poet, a Senior Fellow of the Transform and Innovate Institute, and a judge of the prestigious Asian Exhibition of Inventions and Innovations, he knows a thing or two about the practice of creativity and innovation. 

These are not skills that come from a two-day training program, or even a management development program at an Ivy-league business school. A McKinsey report found that in many transformations, employees are often the ones ready for change while leadership lags behind. The biggest barrier to AI success is not workforce resistance but rather rushed implementations with insufficient consideration of workforce implications. 

The Perception Gap Between Leaders and Employees

Executives assume their employees are excited about AI. They are often wrong. A BCG survey of 1,400 U.S.-based employees found that 76% of executives reported that their employees feel enthusiastic about AI adoption. But just 31% of individual contributors expressed the same enthusiasm. Leaders are more than two times off the mark. 

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey adds texture to this picture. Only 14% of workers say they use GenAI daily in a meaningful way. Fewer than half expect technology change to significantly affect their jobs over the next three years. Meanwhile, 55% of the workforce experiences financial strain, and those under financial pressure are less trusting, motivated, or candid. Without trust, employees are less likely to believe leaders’ narratives about AI or feel supported through disruption. 

Konchery believes trust must come first. “If your workforce or your customers inherently distrust the AI in whatever way it manifests, you will have friction points between humans and the technology. And you will get turbulence in a company, or compromised brand experience.” 

Building trust requires something many executives are reluctant to discuss: honesty about job displacement. “There is the elephant in the room. Nobody wants to talk about it,” Konchery says. “Every calculation I have done with people who know this far better than I do, people who are building AI technology, tells me there will be a net job loss in most industries, most societies. Recent organizational restructuring work I have advised on suggests the same. Let’s not pretend AI won’t replace people.” 

His prescription is uncomfortable but direct: sometimes holding back deployment of AI until the workforce is ready produces better business results than rushing ahead. Short-term financial efficiency may not be good for the brand or employee experience in this case. 

What Separates Companies That Succeed

The organizations that manage AI transformation well have something in common: awareness of where humans and AI need to work together, and where friction might develop. 

“You need to visualize all the different touchpoints between humans and AI, and this is really the role of HR,” Konchery explains. “Where can humans increase or reduce the capacity of AI? And on the other hand, in what ways can AI put strain on, or get the best out of, the humans in your system?” 

This goes beyond simply mapping discrete workflows for HR processes. “It includes understanding skills, mindsets, organizational structures, communication patterns, and readiness across planning, design, deployment, training, and monitoring. Tools and frameworks exist to guide this work, but woefully, awareness of them among CHROs and CIOs tends to be limited,” he says. The WEF’s analysis suggests the challenge is structural: 92% of C-suite executives reported up to 20% workforce overcapacity from automation, while 94% face AI-critical skill shortages. Nearly half anticipate gaps of 20-40% in critical roles by 2028. 

Companies that treat reskilling as a core investment rather than a side project deal with this better. The WEF study found that 52% of leaders rank job redesign as their top workforce priority, recognizing that work is moving from execution to orchestration. Humans need to become designers, verifiers, and supervisors of intelligent agents, and “as a leader you need to facilitate human to AI, and human to human collaboration in an AI-rich context,” Konchery says. 

Repositioning HR as a Human-AI Enabler

For HR to add value in AI transformation, Konchery argues the function needs to change how it sees itself. “For too long, HR leaders have been talking about becoming strategic business partners with a seat at the table. And then came the notion of a three-legged HR operating model. We need to move forward beyond these, which CEOs take for granted nowadays,” he says. 

A lot of HR people still see themselves primarily, or solely, as HR specialists,” he observes. “Only a small percentage see themselves as business leaders who happen to be in HR. If you see yourself as a business leader who happens to manage HR, you will find yourself compelled to understand this new force called AI that is changing the customer experience, and consequently the top line and bottom line of your company.

This repositioning requires curiosity and intellectual investment. “Doing HR well requires a serious investment in strengthening the intellect and learning agility of HR professionals. This rarely gets discussed. Many organizations assume, subconsciously, that HR is not a cerebral job.” 

The credibility needed to influence AI strategy comes from problem-solving ability. “Credibility does not come from transacting. Repositioning requires becoming a problem solver and influencer. You need to understand the problem, understand the business opportunity, and design solutions.” 

And courage. “You have to take some risk. You have to set the agenda. Sometimes you have to be the first person to push your business colleagues, your board, and your management team. And this could mean being ready for discomfort. Security is not a value you want your HR leaders to internalize.” 

Leadership Qualities for the AI Age

Looking ahead, the qualities that matter for executives steering AI transformation connect back to fundamental human capabilities. The WEF’s research points to leadership and social influence, resilience, and systems thinking as areas expected to increase in importance through 2030. 

Konchery frames it around what AI cannot replicate: “Emotions and feelings, and skills built around emotions and feelings: empathy, creativity, and connecting dots in a synthesizing, inspired way.” 

He challenges the assumption that corporate learning departments can develop these capabilities through traditional training methods. “These are embodied skills. Scientific evidence is emerging on how to induce neuroplasticity, offering clues on how to change habits. Creativity, empathy: these are skills that can be developed, but not in the same way you teach an MBA.” 

Most executive development, he argues, happens on the job through working with managers who care about growth, who reflect on how someone is developing, and who can coach. Opening oneself to new experiences and stimuli is crucial too. That equation becomes more important, not less, as AI takes over routine tasks. 

The obvious starting question for every leader is personal: “Are you cultivating your own creativity, empathy, and ability to connect the dots? How invested are you? Are you aggressively pursuing this learning track yourself?” 

AI transformation succeeds or fails based on human factors. The technology is moving fast. Whether organizations can move their people and customers along with it determines if AI becomes an enabler or a destructive force. 

About the Authors

Victor Filamor is a Partner at Stanton Chase Greater China, serving as the Regional Sector Leader for Consumer Products and Services in Asia Pacific. With 25 years of corporate experience across the Asia Pacific region and over 15 years as a retained executive search consultant, Victor has successfully placed numerous senior management and C-suite executives throughout Asia. A certified professional coach specializing in leadership and career transitions, Victor holds an MBA in Marketing from Greenwich University in Hawaii and graduated cum laude with a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines, where he topped the National Chemistry Licensure Board Examinations.     

Ajay Manissery Konchery is CEO of Wisdom Tomorrow, a consultancy focused on radical organizational transformations, and serves as Asia Pacific Co-lead  at AI for Human Flourishing, a think tank hosted by Harvard University’s Flourishing Program network. A multiple startup founder, investor and mentor, he is also an Advisor to the Thriving Workers, Thriving Workplaces Program at the Harvard Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing. A former Chief Human Resources Officer and Asia Pacific Board member with over 25 years of experience at multinational corporations including Colgate-Palmolive, Ajay combines his HR leadership background with the hunger of a startup founder and the sensibility of a behavioral scientist. He holds an MBA in Human Resources from XLRI Jamshedpur, a PG Diploma in Applied Neuroscience from Kings College London and an MA in Psychology. He is a certified teacher of Compassion Based Resilience Training at the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, New York and an award winning poet, fiction writer and literary curator.