---
id: "claim-perception-gap"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["§ 5. Make deliberate choices about how human work evolves."]
tags: ["leadership", "employee-sentiment"]
related: ["entity-bcg-henderson-institute", "claim-identity-erosion"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
validation_status: "Attributed to BCG Henderson Institute research; the 76% / 31% figures are not independently confirmed in enrichment sources but are directionally consistent with worker-anxiety survey data."
speakers: ["Matthew Kropp", "Julie Bedard", "Emma Wiles", "Megan Hsu", "Lisa Krayer"]
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-ext-16-dont-treat-agents-like-employees"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/research-why-you-shouldnt-treat-ai-agents-like-employees"
sourceTitle: "Research: Why You Shouldn’t Treat AI Agents Like Employees"
---
# Massive Perception Gap Between Executives and ICs on AI

**Claim (confidence: high, testable):** Executives massively overestimate employee enthusiasm for AI.

According to [[entity-bcg-henderson-institute-d6]] research, there is a large perception gap regarding AI enthusiasm:
- **76% of executives** believe employees feel enthusiastic about AI adoption;
- but only **31% of individual contributors (ICs)** actually report feeling enthusiastic.

This gap underscores the danger of leadership pushing AI initiatives without deliberately redesigning roles to ensure human effort is focused on **high-value, engaging activities**. It reinforces [[claim-identity-erosion]] and motivates Step 5 of the [[framework-responsible-human-ai-collaboration]] — making deliberate choices about how human work evolves.

**Validation note:** The specific 76% / 31% split is attributed to BCG Henderson Institute but is not independently confirmed in the enrichment sources; it is directionally consistent with Alight worker-anxiety data (see [[evidence-alight-worker-anxiety]]).