---
id: "quote-imposed-not-co-created"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶2"]
tags: ["employee-sentiment", "change-management"]
related: ["concept-shadow-ai-solutions", "contrarian-shadow-ai-trust"]
speaker: "Ashley Reichheld et al."
speakers: ["Ashley Reichheld", "Christina Brodzik", "Anne-Claire Roesch", "Greg Vert", "Ryan Youra"]
quote: "To these employees, company-sanctioned tools feel imposed, not introduced; mandated, not co-created. And behind that skepticism lies a deeper fear: that employees are being asked to help advance the very technology that could replace them."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-40-workers-dont-trust-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/11/workers-dont-trust-ai-heres-how-companies-can-change-that"
sourceTitle: "Workers Don’t Trust AI. Here’s How Companies Can Change That."
---
# Imposed, Not Co-Created

> "To these employees, company-sanctioned tools feel **imposed, not introduced; mandated, not co-created.** And behind that skepticism lies a deeper fear: that employees are being asked to help advance the very technology that could replace them."
> — [[entity-ashley-reichheld]] et al.

**Why it matters:** this is the emotional core of the source's diagnosis. It crystallizes the finding that the trust problem is about *how tools are delivered* (top-down mandate vs. co-creation) and *what workers fear they signify* (training their own replacement) — not about AI capability. It is the sentiment behind [[concept-shadow-ai-solutions]] and the direct evidence for the contrarian reframing in [[contrarian-shadow-ai-trust]].