Yesterday’s post about the AI-obsessed CEO clearly hit a nerve.

A lot of people agreed. Some pushed back. Both reactions pointed at the same thing: there’s something genuinely confusing about how organizations are handling AI adoption right now, and “just use it more” isn’t landing as an answer.

So I did some research and wrote the article I wanted to read on the topic. The short version: pain gets you to open the tool. Curiosity determines how deep you actually go. Most adoption programs are optimizing for the first one and calling it the second.

The data behind this is more interesting than I expected, including a finding that organizational pressure can actually weaken the effect of intrinsic motivation on creativity. Mandates crowding out curiosity. Worth understanding if you’re building teams right now.

Full article in the comments.