🗝️ Silent sabotage (watch out for this)
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” - Albert Schweitzer
🔑 This issue at a glance (2-second summary)
Your employees copy what you do with AI, not what you say about it. Use it openly, address the fears directly, and agree on where the saved time goes.
A tale of two companies. Which one sounds more like yours?
Last week, I spent a full day teaching AI inside a California company full of highly-engaged staff.
People volunteered their real work. We built live examples on the spot. Employees shared their screens. And the leaders in that room were already using AI and talking about it openly. The leaders championed the training from day one, which gave everyone else permission to play.
In contrast, I think back on a different company that ran their session on Zoom. Employees weren’t required to have cameras on. Leadership barely participated. Some leaders even openly expressed skepticism.
Which company do you think will thrive in an AI world?
In a recent survey of 2,400 knowledge workers, 29% of employees admitted to actively sabotaging their company’s AI strategy. Among Gen Z, it jumped to 44%.
What does this sabotage look like? Refusing company-approved tools, sneaking around them with unapproved tools, or deliberately turning in low-quality work to make AI look bad. Of those who admitted to it, 30% said their main reason was fear that AI would take their job.
I’ve witnessed silent sabotage up close. One team member admitted to me that she was in the camp of those concerned about the moral, ethical, and environmental impact of AI. But after my workshop, she sees things differently.
Another team member was notoriously anti-AI a few months ago. Now he is one of the company’s main AI champions.
Both started skeptical. Both just needed permission.
Think about the messages most employees hear right now:
“Use AI to get more done.”
“People who don’t adapt will get left behind.”
A smart employee does the math and thinks to themselves, “If I get faster, I’ll be expected to produce more work. Or I train my replacement. Either way, I lose.” So they protect themselves.
That fear is fair. Address it fast.
Decide where the saved time goes. Some of it should kill repetitive work that no one likes doing anyway. Some should raise quality. Some should go to creative thinking, growth, and the work only a human can do. And some should go toward celebrating more wins together in-person. Operating from an AI-first mindset makes work more engaging and fun.
Share with your team out loud how AI will benefit them individually, not just the company.
Winners take action
Be your company’s first AI champion. Use AI in front of your team on a real task. Show the prompt. Show the messy first draft. Show how you fixed it. When your people see you try, they’ll risk trying too.
Then recruit other evangelists. Share automation-related wins in a weekly huddle. Reward the experimenters and builders.
Then address the silent fears that are already going through their minds. Here’s what I told that room last week:
“A lot of people are scared AI will take their job. By the end of today, you will happily think to yourself ‘Hell yeah! AI will take my job!’ Because AI allows us to 10X ourselves, giving us more freedom, more growth opportunities, and more humanity.”
“But let’s not sugarcoat it. AI will come for your job... unless you come for AI first.”
Whether you are the firm itself or an individual within the firm, these tools make you more valuable, more hireable. Everyone, from the janitor’s closet to the C-suite, wishes they had more hours in the day. This gives that to you. If AI feels like a bully to you, then bully the bully. Use it to make your life better.
And if you want help, bring in an outside trainer. People ask an outsider the questions they’d never ask their boss. That’s exactly the work I do with leadership teams and their employees, so your people stop protecting their jobs from AI and start using AI to grow. Contact me here if you would like to explore training for your company.
The tools you need
I get this question all the time: “Which AI platform should I choose for my business?”
Instead of the obvious “it depends,” I built a free tool that does the sorting for you: ethanking.com/which-ai.
It compares ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Google Workspace with Gemini, and flags when your data rules call for a private setup instead. Answer 12 questions, get your top pick, a runner-up, cautions, and a ready-made pilot plan.
This week’s podcast highlight
On King Moves, episode 150, “Are Your Employees Silently Sabotaging AI?”, I asked Justin if he sees silent sabotage inside the companies he coaches.
His answer surprised me. He sees something sneakier. The same AI priority shows up in quarterly planning, three months later, six months later, and keeps getting kicked down the road.
We also break down this viral clip from an AI event in London where one audience member stood up on her chair and took over the room. Justin’s take on why the loudest voice in the AI debate shapes everyone else’s thinking is worth your six minutes.
Stop playing life on hard mode. Automate your success.
Until next week,
Ethan King
A.I. Automation for Business Growth
Keynote Speaker | Author | CEO | Strategist
P.S. Tomorrow, Monday, September 28, I’m running Build My AI Team Live. This is a live working session where you build your own AI executive assistant right alongside me. Because this group is intentionally small, you’ll get direct help from me throughout the build. Your registration includes the four-hour session, a working AI assistant, the full recording, and 30 days of follow-up support. If you’ve ever met my assistant, Henley, this is where you build your own team of genius assistants who work for you 24/7 and would cost over $600K in salaries.
Last chance to grab your spot: register.buildmyaiteam.live
