ISSUE 16 / MANAGER ENABLEMENT · 4 MIN READ

Managers Are the Real AI Rollout

Only 28% of employees say their manager actively supports the team’s AI use, according to a November 2025 Gallup survey of 19,043 U.S. employees, and that gap predicts almost everything else about whether AI adoption sticks.

Don LongFounder, SummitMark · September 17, 2026

THE MOSTLY RIGHT LETTER

A manager points out something on his laptop screen while two colleagues lean in, with a mountain view behind them. — Manager support, not policy, is the strongest predictor of whether AI adoption sticks.

Only 28% of employees say their manager actively supports the team's AI use, according to a November 2025 Gallup survey of 19,043 U.S. employees. That one number predicts almost everything else about whether AI sticks.

THE MANAGER EFFECT IS BIGGER THAN ANY TOOL ROLLOUT

Gallup dropped an uncomfortable number on well-meaning AI rollouts everywhere: at companies that have actually implemented AI, only 28% of employees strongly agree their manager supports the team using it. Everything downstream traces back to that one data point.

Source and scope: Gallup, "Manager Support Drives Employee AI Adoption," November 8, 2025. Survey of 19,043 U.S. employees. Gallup describes the relationship between manager support and AI adoption as an association, not a proven causal effect.

Gallup - Manager Support Drives Employee AI Adoption

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Long

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

THE MOSTLY RIGHT LETTER

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