---
id: "quote-vague-mandates"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ The Workslop Pressure Cooker"]
tags: ["executive-perspective", "frustration"]
related: ["claim-blanket-mandates-fail", "concept-performative-ai-use"]
speaker: "Anonymous Company President"
speakers: ["Anonymous Company President"]
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-38-ai-workslop"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/why-people-create-ai-workslop-and-how-to-stop-it"
sourceTitle: "Why People Create AI “Workslop”—and How to Stop It"
---
# The Frustration of Vague AI Mandates

**Context:** a company president in the survey, highlighting the disconnect between board-level demands for AI usage and the lack of strategic vision for its actual application (see [[claim-blanket-mandates-fail]]).

> As a manager of managers, I feel that I am being pushed to drive AI usage through the organization with no clear vision, which leads to constant frustration at the board level. They want the use of AI, but other than saying 'use it everywhere every day,' there is no place our team can use it to actually be viewed as successful.

— Anonymous Company President (survey respondent; not a named speaker, so no entity note is emitted)