ISSUE 15 / ENABLEMENT · 4 MIN READ

The AI Class Didn't Know Your Job

AI training should pair shared fundamentals with practice built for the work employees, managers, and leaders actually do.

Don LongFounder, SummitMark · September 14, 2026

THE MOSTLY RIGHT LETTER

Three colleagues discuss how AI training should fit their distinct tasks: checking a customer reply, mapping a handoff, and reviewing a workflow. — One tool. Three roles. Different work to learn.

If the assignment is ‘use AI more,’ but no one has shown you where, how, or what to check, the missing skill may not be yours.

Imagine sitting through a company AI session, learning the difference between a prompt and a search, and leaving with one last instruction: ‘Now find ways to use this in your work.’ By Friday, someone is wondering why the whole team has not transformed procurement.

The frustration that follows can feel personal. Maybe everyone else is getting it. Maybe you are not asking the right questions. Maybe the tool is only useful for people who have spare time to experiment. New research suggests the problem is often less tidy than ‘employees need to catch up.’ The tools are reaching people faster than the conditions for learning them well.

SOURCES AND SCOPE: Survey percentages describe respondents; the Department of Labor framework is program-design guidance, not proof that a particular training program works.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Long

Founder of SummitMark. Helping people and organizations become capable with AI.

THE MOSTLY RIGHT LETTER

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