Why the biggest obstacle to AI adoption is not the technology, it’s overthinking

More than 99.5% of people say they overthink. Right now, most of them are overthinking AI.

New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff draws on research with 10,000 people to explain how the repeating thoughts he calls soundtracks quietly decide whether a team adopts change or resists it. He works through the broken soundtracks he hears most often inside technical organizations, from ‘we tried AI before and it didn’t work’ to ‘if I bring up AI, my team will panic’, and gives three questions for testing any of them: is it true, is it helpful, is it kind.

“Overthinking is when what you think gets in the way of what you want.”

If you’re leading people through AI change and meeting more resistance than you expected, this is the other half of that conversation.

• Why overthinking, not technology, is the real constraint on AI adoption, and what it costs
• How to spot a broken soundtrack using three questions that work on any AI objection
• What to say instead, replacing the AI objections you hear most often with thoughts that generate momentum