AI Adoption, Governance, and Leadership: Why AI Success Is a People Challenge E171

<p>Why do so many AI projects fail to scale even when the technology works?</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, we explore a critical question in enterprise AI adoption: is the real barrier of technology, or is it leadership, governance, trust, and people readiness?</p><p><br></p><p>KEY MOMENTS </p><p>00:00 Introduction </p><p>3:30 Why AI adoption assessments matter before scaling </p><p>5:46 Leadership vs. management in AI transformation </p><p>10:15 How to improve employee engagement in AI adoption </p><p>12:52 How to convince executives to support AI adoption </p><p>15:25 How many companies are investing in AI adoption </p><p>19:49 Dr. Marissa Alert’s path into AI adoption consulting </p><p>22:01 AI governance, guardrails, and responsible adoption <br>25:22 What MDA Wellness does and how it supports organizations </p><p> </p><p>In this episode of the FIT4Privacy Podcast, host Punit Bhatia speaks with Dr. Marissa Alert, a psychologist and human-centered AI adoption expert, about one of the biggest reasons AI initiatives underperform: organizations focus on tools, but overlook people, leadership, and governance.</p><p><br></p><p>The discussion looks at AI adoption through a practical business lens. It explains why employee trust, psychological safety, leadership alignment, and clear decision-making often determine whether AI delivers return on investment or stalls after the pilot stage.</p><p><br></p><p>You will learn why AI training alone is not enough, how resistance and disengagement show up during transformation, and why organizations need governance, guardrails, and stronger executive sponsorship to move from experimentation to sustainable adoption.</p><p><br></p><p>If you are leading digital transformation, planning an enterprise AI rollout, or trying to improve adoption of generative AI, this episode offers practical insights to help turn AI investment into measurable business value.</p><p><br></p><p>⸻ </p><p>ABOUT THE GUEST </p><p>Dr. Marissa Alert is a psychologist, advisor, and human-centered AI adoption expert who helps executive teams address the behavioral, leadership, and trust barriers that slow enterprise AI adoption. She works with organizations to improve readiness, strengthen alignment, and turn AI strategy into measurable business results. Her insights have been featured in <em>Forbes, Newsweek, Yahoo Life,</em> and <em>The Guardian.</em> </p><p> </p><p>ABOUT THE HOST    </p><p>Punit Bhatia is a privacy expert, trainer, and mentor who wo