Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Exec endorsement fuels AI adoption
Artificial Intelligence | Operations
October 9, 2025 – AI investments in operations are paying off faster, but leading organizations are outpacing the rest, per a study by MIT and McKinsey. AI adoption leaders see performance improvements 3.8 times higher than those in the bottom half of the study. While higher digital investment explains some of that gap, the research also points to executive sponsorship as one of four critical factors that separate today’s AI leaders from the rest, note Senior Partner Delphine Nain Zurkiya and coauthors. Forty-four percent of leading companies in the study have CEO or board-level support, more than double the rate of bottom performers and a 17-percentage-point increase from the previous study.
To read the article, see “Bold accelerators: How operations leaders are pulling ahead using AI,” August 19, 2025.
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Visual form
Two-panel stacked-column comparison showing leadership responsibility shifts over time.
Layout / body structure
The graphic is split into two side-by-side panels, one for leaders and one for the bottom 50 percent. Each panel compares a stacked column from four to five years ago with a stacked column for the last two years, and a shaded connector between the columns shows the direction of responsibility shift.
What is being compared
It compares which organizational level leads company digitization efforts over two time periods, separating CEO and board, C-suite, VP level, and midlevel leaders or no primary leader for stronger versus weaker performers.
Measurement system
The values are percentages of respondents. Each stacked segment is labeled directly with its share, and the two time points in each panel let the reader compare how leadership responsibility moves up or down the organization.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Each panel contains two vertical stacks with four colored segments. The leaders panel uses a central shaded wedge labeled as an upward responsibility shift, while the bottom-50-percent panel uses a wedge labeled as a downward responsibility shift. The category labels sit to the right of the second panel for direct reading.
Main takeaway from the visual
Leading companies have shifted digitization responsibility upward toward the CEO, board, and C-suite, while weaker companies have moved responsibility downward away from the top of the organization.
Key standout values or extremes
Among leaders, CEO and board rises from 27 percent to 44 percent, while VP level falls from 36 percent to 17 percent and midlevel or no primary leader drops to 6 percent. In the bottom 50 percent, C-suite falls from 44 percent to 31 percent, VP level stays around 22 percent, and midlevel or no primary leader rises from 13 percent to 28 percent.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.