Companies aren't failing at AI because the tools don't work. They're failing because the culture never got on board. Morgan Stanley didn't just deploy an AI assistant - they earned the right to deploy it. Before rolling out their AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant, built on OpenAI and trained on more than 100,000 internal research reports, the firm ran rigorous evaluation frameworks to prove the tool met adviser quality standards.
From law firms to in-house legal teams, the rules of value are being rewritten. The question is: Who's ready to lead the change? In the first episode of 2026 for the UpLevel View podcast, Stephanie Corey and Ken Callander sit down with Rita Gunther McGrath, Columbia Business School professor and Wall Street Journal columnist, to talk about how AI is forcing professional services to price outcomes instead of hours.
A Virtuous Cycle If a legal tech solution has a high degree of adaptability, customers can start small and gradually secure buy-in and expansion. Initial wins create a virtuous cycle, where success leads to growth, and this growth leads to more success. A Cleary Gottlieb team that includes members of its Knowledge Management and Business Development groups has implemented such a cycle at that firm.
I see this daily in veterinary medicine, where high burnout rates cost the sector upwards of $2 billion per year. It's a challenging environment with long hours, stressful workloads and patients that can't even tell you what's wrong. But I've found that the best way to boost performance and even increase capacity with maxed-out teams is to address the underlying operational issues.
When going through change, people need time to understand in their own way what exactly is happening and how it will affect them personally. Technical changes especially can bring about uncertainty for many people. Which means: It makes sense that people can become extremely concerned when we tell them that their ways of working are about to change, and they will need to build them up again from scratch.
The announcement made headlines and thrilled investors, but behind the scenes, the organization wasn't prepared. Ted was given a skeletal team of two direct reports, a patchwork of third-party tools, and the mandate to partner with five global banking divisions serving more than 500 employees. He was expected to turn the AI vision into reality with little structural support.
When CEO Doug McMillon and other Walmart execs visit stores, they'll collect stray shopping carts from the parking lot or pick up trash. The idea is to model servant leadership and being "willing to do what we want anybody else to do," McMillon told a business school audience at Stanford in May. McMillon, 59, announced on Friday that he plans to retire in January. He will be succeeded by John Furner, president and current CEO of Walmart US.
There's just one problem, though: While many know how to declare an initiative, far fewer understand what it takes to carry the project through the friction of daily workflows. What separates those rare successes from the long list of initiatives that fade into half-measures is not only leadership and resourcing, but also the way organizations adapt, measure, and learn as they go.
My first experience with technology adoption for a law firm was probably in 1993. I was attending a partner meeting for a top Am Law firm to demonstrate the first version of Lexis on Microsoft Windows. My pitch was strong enough to get a partner to grab the mouse and try for himself. The problem was that he had never used a computer before. When the partner grabbed the mouse, he accidentally highlighted half the screen. Embarrassed, he walked away without saying a word.
When you think about growing your business, it's natural to picture new customers, more sales, and bigger teams. But growth today looks a little different than you might be used to because it also involves making sure your people can work effectively with the systems you put in place. That balance is what makes the difference between growth that feels sustainable and growth that leaves everyone stretched.
