Only 6% of companies are AI high performers despite 80% of workers gaining productivity
craigmullins · x · 2026-10-26
A CIO.com opinion piece by Allan Tate and Irving Wladawsky-Berger lays out ten guidelines for scaling AI across the enterprise, drawing on McKinsey's "The state of AI in 2026" survey.
Key data:
- 4 in 5 respondents say AI improved individual productivity, but only 37% report a positive EBIT contribution, and the share of "high performers" (attributing ≥5% of EBIT to AI) is flat at 6% year over year.
- Among companies with $1B+ revenue, 40% are scaling AI agents and 31% scaling coding agents; smaller firms lag at 22% and 17%.
The authors argue the gap is a leadership problem, not a technology one. Guidelines include prioritizing learning-by-experimenting, encouraging individual experimentation and sharing outcomes instead of restrictive policies, plus strategic alignment, workflow redesign, metrics, and talent development.
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