---
id: "quote-masterclass-unempathetic"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ The Empathy Advantage"]
tags: ["change-management", "leadership-failures"]
related: ["action-cocreate-strategies"]
speaker: "Jamil Zaki"
speakers: ["Jamil Zaki"]
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-42-empathetic-leadership-ai-adoption"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/empathetic-leadership-can-make-or-break-ai-adoption"
sourceTitle: "Empathetic Leadership Can Make or Break AI Adoption"
---
# Failed Rollouts as a Masterclass in Unempathetic Behavior

> "In many firms, failed AI rollouts are a masterclass in unempathetic behavior. Leaders announce massive, unrealistic goals, giving employees little guidance on how to meet them and even less assurance about their own role in a post-AI landscape."
> — **Jamil Zaki** ([[entity-jamil-zaki]])

Zaki categorizes the standard corporate AI-rollout playbook — massive goals, zero guidance, no reassurance — as fundamentally unempathetic. This is the failure mode that [[action-cocreate-strategies]] is designed to reverse via [[concept-procedural-justice]].