AI: IS IT WORTH IT

Success with AI depends on how well the technology supports your people and advances your strategy.

In this five-part series, I am sharing how to use the ALIGN framework to help organizations integrate AI in ways that strengthen strategy, culture, and execution, and turn AI into a genuine strategic advantage.

In Absorb, leaders gather data to understand what is actually happening.
In Legitimize, leaders respond with a clear, prioritized roadmap that reflects what they heard from stakeholders, what the data reinforces, and what they observed firsthand.
In Integrate, leaders engage staff to translate the roadmap into practical, workable detail, aligning priorities, systems, and roles.
In Grow, leaders strengthen the organization’s capacity and confidence to carry the work forward.

Here, in Nurture, we focus on what allows the investment to pay off over time. Nurture is about sustained leadership attention, clear priorities, and ongoing stewardship that help AI mature into a reliable, effective part of how the organization operates.

Is It Worth It?

When leaders introduce new technology, the question underneath the launch is simple: is it worth it?

That question reflects the full cost of the investment. The cost of the tool itself. The cost to redesign workflows. The cost to integrate systems, train people, and support adoption over time. Leadership attention, organizational capacity, and opportunity cost all factor into the decision. The investment is financial, operational, human, and strategic, shaping how the organization competes and grows.

This series opened with research from McKinsey, The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation. That report shows a consistent pattern. While most organizations are using AI in some form, only a small group report meaningful enterprise-level value. McKinsey refers to these organizations as AI high performers.

What distinguishes AI high performers is sustained commitment. They redesign workflows to maximize human and AI strengths across the flow of work. Senior leaders demonstrate visible ownership and remain engaged well after implementation. Measurement continues beyond early milestones. Training and support remain in place. Over time, usage deepens and value compounds.

This is how the original question, “Is it worth it?”, is answered. AI becomes worth the investment when commitment extends beyond launch and meaningfully shapes how the organization operates day to day.

In the ALIGN framework, Nurture is the phase where leadership commitment to the goals is critical to realizing the intended outcomes.

Nurture as a Leadership Practice

Nurture is a leadership responsibility. Leaders ensure the organization maintains focus on AI implementation and creates the conditions for it to mature into a highly effective tool.

That focus is supported through feedback loops. The success criteria that made the investment worth pursuing in the first place are translated into ongoing milestones with clear objectives. Progress is reviewed at meaningful intervals. Leaders remain curious about what the data, lived experience, and results are showing. Learning guides adjustment as conditions evolve.

From Champion to Steward

Once an AI tool goes live, leadership involvement evolves from championing implementation to stewarding long-term use.

Ownership remains clear. Resources stay aligned. Measurement reflects real operating conditions. Leaders stay connected to how the system supports daily work and decision-making. This continuity protects the original investment and sustains momentum.

RebalancE Work to Reach Equilibrium

AI changes how work is distributed across the organization. Some tasks move into the system. New responsibilities emerge around oversight, judgment, and coordination.

The role of leadership is to keep priorities visible and viable so the organization can make decisions consistent with those priorities. When leaders are clear about what matters now, what can wait, and what can be set aside, managers realign work accordingly.

Managers translate that clarity into operational decisions. They adjust workloads, sequence work, and integrate AI into planning and delivery in ways that reflect stable priorities rather than constant change. Tradeoffs become explicit. Some work is set aside in favor of efforts that add the most value. AI begins to relieve pressure in practical, observable ways.

Learn Through Ongoing Dialogue

AI capabilities continue to evolve. Nurture depends on staying in conversation with the people closest to the work.

Leaders establish regular opportunities to surface insights, constraints, and opportunities. Patterns appear early. Adjustments remain manageable. Trust grows as people see their experience reflected in how the system evolves.

Reinforce Purpose Over Time

As AI becomes part of everyday operations, an ongoing sense of purpose provides continuity.

Leaders reinforce purpose by recognizing effort as well as outcomes. Milestones reached, lessons learned, and improvements made are acknowledged. This attention signals that the work remains visible and valued.

Positive recognition sustains energy. Commitment strengthens as people experience support while working through discomfort and uncertainty. Purpose connects daily effort to the original intent of the investment.

The Payoff

Sustained commitment produces compounding returns. As capability deepens, confidence builds. As work becomes more coherent, capacity increases. As the organization becomes more effective in how it uses its time, makes its decisions, and gets things done, the payoff multiplies.

This is Nurture in action. The question “Is it worth it?” is answered when leadership remains engaged, stays focused, and adjusts based on what is learned about customers’ experiences, employees’ work, organizational dynamics, and system performance as the technology becomes embedded over time.