---
id: "action-visible-leadership"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Breakdown 3: Leaders and managers operate in different realities."]
tags: ["leadership-engagement", "alignment"]
related: ["framework-three-breakdowns"]
speakers: ["Julia Shin", "Sandra J. Sucher"]
action: "Require senior leaders to join operational working sessions to set firm-wide AI standards."
outcome: "Eases the interpretive burden on managers and aligns executive expectations with operational reality."
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-sig-50-adoption-overloading-managers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/ai-adoption-is-overloading-your-middle-managers"
sourceTitle: "AI Adoption Is Overloading Your Middle Managers"
---
# Engage Leaders in Operational Working Sessions

**Action.** Senior leaders must bridge the perception gap by *joining operational working sessions* with managers. This visible engagement provides firm-wide direction, replacing individual guesswork about quality standards and client transparency. It also gives leaders a clear view of the practical tradeoffs managers navigate, helping calibrate executive expectations.

**Outcome.** Eases the interpretive burden on managers and aligns executive expectations with operational reality.

This targets the third of the [[framework-three-breakdowns]] — the [[entity-bcg-d50|BCG]]-quantified reality gap where executives are ~2x more likely than individual contributors to call employees enthusiastic about AI. It also gives managers cover on the open dilemma of [[question-client-transparency]].

**Enrichment context.** Multiple surveys confirm executive optimism outrunning frontline reality; the IFS 'managers as gatekeepers' study shows that poorly handled displacement narratives cut managers' willingness to adopt or advocate for AI — making direct, honest leadership engagement a trust intervention, not just an alignment one.