Unlocking Human Potential in the Age of AI 

• Leaders must use AI tools first to build trust and accelerate adoption. 

• AI is a business and operational transformation, not just a technology shift. 

• The organizations that win will be the most human, not the most technical. 

View the full session recording below.

AI is reshaping the way people work, learn, and lead, but leaders across industries agree on one thing: Technology alone won’t determine success. People, culture, and trust will. That message anchored a recent panel discussion alongside Ronia Kruse of OpTech, LLC and Digital Lakes, Dana L. Williams of Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation, and Sarah Dugan of Accenture on what it takes to prepare organizations for an AI‑powered future.

As the moderator, Shatica McDonald of Accenture Song set the tone for the conversation, saying, “Today’s conversation is less about tools and technology and more about the people as it relates to AI.”

Organizations and leaders need to strive for meaningful, organization‑wide adoption. Dugan emphasized that leaders cannot guide teams through AI change from the sidelines. Accenture required its top 300 executives to be the first users of Microsoft Copilot, a move designed to build trust and model behavior.

“Leaders being the champions and adopting the technology first is the difference,” Dugan said, noting that leaders must experience AI directly to understand its impact on decisions, governance, and workflows.

Leaders must understand the human factors behind adoption. Kruse, who completed the University of Michigan’s Chief Data and AI Officer education program, said she pursued the certification to understand the strategic purpose of AI, not necessarily just the mechanics. She noted that success often depends on recognizing employee concerns and using those insights to shape implementation and achieve better outcomes.

“Invest as much, if not more, in the people side that you do in the technology side,” Kruse said. “Because we get the value when we bring the people along, and that’s the harder part.”

Williams’s work in Detroit highlighted how our most vulnerable residents are still extremely disconnected and ill-equipped with the technological skills that will be the foundation for getting almost any job here in the city. DESC serves more than 80,000 residents each year, many of whom lack basic digital skills needed for today’s job market. By embedding digital coordinators in career centers, thanks to grant funding from Rocket Community Fund, DESC is treating technology as an experience and culture rather than a set of skills to help residents build confidence. 

“IT is a skill in almost every single organization that exists in our city,” Williams said. “We focus a lot on skill building in those areas so that they can have, again, that baseline information to be able to move forward.”

The panel closed with a clear call to action: Rethink roles, build fluency, and invest as deeply in people as in tools. As McDonald concluded, “In this AI‑powered world, humanity will be the differentiator.”

This session was sponsored by Accenture.