Article Review on Superagency in the Workplace

Mayer, H., Yee, L., Chui, M., & Roberts, R. (2025). Superagency in the workplace: Empowering people to unlock AI’s full potential. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/superagency-in-the-workplace-empowering-people-to-unlock-ais-full-potential-at-work#/

Summary

The McKinsey article suggests that an AI superagency might change business models and work in the 21st century like the steam engine did in the 19^th as it considers AI megatrend. AI is superagency when it goes beyond helping as it may collaborate with humans to improve performance and critical decision-making. The research suggested model transparency, multimodal processing, hardware upgrades, enhanced reasoning, and autonomous agents to ease the transition. An important finding is the enormous employee-leader preparedness gap. Surveys suggest employees use AI three times much than bosses assume. They demand greater organizational assistance and training. Although the workforce is ready, corporations cannot grow beyond pilot initiatives since only 1% of leaders consider their AI mature.

Analysis.

This article makes the case for company CEOs using extensive survey data from McKinsey with the line of reasoning presupposing that AI is a necessity for modern businesses. Furthermore, the use of AI has become a key component in companies' competitiveness. The techno-optimistic view argues that AI will eventually be developed and will be beneficial for everyone. Companies may face complex challenges if they continue to ignore this finding. For instance, they may fall behind competitors. Talented employees may also leave for creative environments. Ultimately, they may not achieve the revenue growth that 87% of executives anticipate from investing in artificial intelligence (Mayer et al., 2025). Employees believe their employer will not misuse AI for unethical purposes. Leadership has an opportunity and responsibility to act. This is highlighted in the article.

Topic Consistency.

This article illustrates what we intended to convey in Chapter 2 of our book: that technology has led to changes in businesses and business strategies (University of Minnesota, 2015). The shift that AI brings is an instance of the disruptive technology discussed in the textbook, and managers' need to deal with it. "The various investments in AI in different sectors shows how the response and pressures differ across various industries". The framework of the textbook on strategic decision-making under technological change provides us with valuable insights into the fascinating yet essential issue of "speed versus safety" in the context of AI development and deployment.

Learning Summary.

The results indicate that the organizational challenge, rather than the technical barrier, is the most significant impediment to the adoption of AI. It is shocking to discover how leaders perceive the use of AI and how employees view it. I found that leveraging the readiness of the workforce requires leaders to possess both empathy and effective digital transformation skills. I may have to argue for resources for training in my future career. This will help me connect the strategy to the actual implementation on the ground. The article provides a helpful framework for navigating new technology. Success in implementing any technology requires that human and organizational issues have already been addressed to some extent.