88% use AI. About 6% get real value from it

88% of organizations now use AI somewhere in the business. About 6% are getting real value out of it.

That is McKinsey, from late 2025.

Put the two numbers side by side and the comfortable explanation stops holding up. This is not a tools problem. The tools are bought, deployed, and honestly very good, and almost everyone already has them.

So whatever is opening that gap is not the technology. It is quieter than that.

It comes down to a distinction I keep coming back to, and one that explains much of the gap:

AI Adoption vs. AI Enablement

Adoption is owning the tools and letting people use them while the work stays more or less what it always was. Enablement is changing how the work actually gets done, and bringing the people who do it along with you.

Two companies can buy exactly the same software in the same month and, a year later, look completely different.

The software was never the variable.

And underneath all of this sits a question most leadership teams never stopped to answer:

What does an AI-enabled version of us look like in three years?

Skip that question and every initiative quietly becomes another pilot. Each pilot looks reasonable on its own, but together they draw no particular picture. Because no one ever agreed on the picture.

Over the next few weeks I will explore both ideas: - Why AI adoption and AI enablement are not the same thing - Why every AI strategy should start with a clear picture of the destination

And I will share a simpe exercise you can run with your own leadership team.

Starting this week.