Ep 134: Unpacking the Psychology Behind AI Success with Dr. Gleb

Bob is joined by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, better known as Dr. Gleb, CEO and founder of Disaster Avoidance Experts and author of the new book “The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results”. Drawing on over a hundred consulting projects and thousands of survey responses, Dr. Gleb explains why roughly 95 percent of AI pilots fail to show ROI, arguing the real obstacle is not the technology but three psychological profiles driving resistance: fear of job loss, threats to professional identity, and shame around quietly using AI in the shadows. They discuss how forced AI mandates can backfire into deliberately sloppy output, why untrained junior employees produce polished but poorly reasoned work, and the widening gap between how executives and everyday employees experience AI adoption. Dr. Gleb closes with practical fixes, from training people on tasks they hate first to having leaders model and reward AI usage openly. Keywords AI adoption, cognitive biases, decision science, psychology of AI adoption at work, change management, AI alarmists, pragmatic resistors, reluctant adopters, shadow AI use, AI slop, malicious compliance, psychographic profiles, identity threat, Office Whisperer, Disaster Avoidance Experts, MIT pilot study, Pew Research, leadership communication, AI training Takeaways 95 percent of AI pilots fail to show ROI because leaders treat a psychological challenge as a technical one Three psychographic profiles drive resistance: AI alarmists who fear job loss, pragmatic resistors who feel identity threat, and reluctant adopters who hide shameful shadow AI use Forced AI mandates can trigger malicious compliance, where resistant employees deliberately produce sloppy output to prove the tool does not work Untrained junior employees produce polished looking but poorly reasoned AI output, widening a generational skills gap Executives and rank and file employees experience AI adoption very differently, a split reality that hides the fear driving resistance Leaders reduce resistance by modeling their own AI usage publicly and rewarding employees who share new use cases Quotes It's not the technology that's a challenge. It's psychology. The technology is great. But the social stigma is high. You go slow to go fast. The leaders need to model AI usage. They need to talk about it. The crucial thing is leaders know that most people aren't engaged in their work. Chapters 00:03 Welcome and introductions 00:54 Dr. Gleb's background and the new book 07:00 Why 95 percent of AI pilots fail to show ROI 08:58 The real barrier is psychology, and the three resistance profiles 12:57 A real world story of shadow AI use and hidden shame 18:30 AI slop, malicious compliance, and untrained junior employees 27:37 The split reality between executives and employees 31:48 Reaching the AI alarmists and pragmatic resistors 38:47 Reaching the reluctant adopters through modeling and reward 52:01 Workshops, the DIY approach, and closing thoughts Dr. Gleb: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gleb-tsipursky Disaster Avoidance Experts: http://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/ The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: https://a.co/d/0cdkVi76 For AI readiness advisory work and marketing inquiries: Bob Pulver:⁠⁠ ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver⁠⁠⁠ Elevate Your AIQ:⁠⁠ ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.com⁠⁠⁠ Substack: ⁠https://elevateyouraiq.substack.com⁠