"Notes from the Field" is a weekly brief from Michael Domanic, Section's Head of AI. Supercompanies are organizations where AI is part of how every person works, converting that intelligence into impact and value faster than their competition. Most companies say they want this, but can't articulate what they need to be doing to get there. This brief is Michael sharing what he's seeing, what's working, and what's not as he builds one from the inside.

Here’s something interesting from a new Gallup study that just dropped (and is backed up in our own data): in companies investing in AI, the biggest driver of whether employees actually feel AI is changing how they work isn’t the tool or the training. It’s their manager. And not by a little. Employees with managers who actively support AI are way more likely to say it’s transforming their day to day. 

The problem? Fewer than one in three employees say their manager is actually doing that. That needs to change.

This lines up exactly with what I saw leading AI at UserTesting for the past few years. The teams that moved fastest weren’t the ones with the best tools, they were the ones with managers who made AI part of how the work actually got done. I’m a week into my role as Head of AI here at Section and I’m already seeing the same thing internally and with customers. Here’s your key takeaway: if you’re leading AI transformation, invest in enabling your managers. They’re the ones who will make this real.

AI developments we’re tracking

More AI investment, but worse outcomes. 

Writer’s annual enterprise survey found that despite increased investment, every organizational health metric around AI got worse in the past year. “AI is tearing my company apart" rose from 42% to 54% of the C-suite. Employee confidence in their company's strategy dropped from 47% to 31%, and 29% even admit to actively sabotaging it.

Companies gave employees tools without governance, support, or clear expectations. 75% of C-suite leaders concede their AI strategy is "more for show," 61% admit employees were left to figure it out on their own, and 79% say AI applications are being built in silos. The head of AI's job is to lay that foundation now, even if it feels like backtracking: align on why you are even using AI and what you’re trying to achieve, set expectations with employees for how their work will change, build governance your workers can  trust, and activate the managers who will make or break your transformation.

Ramp made everyone a digital coworker. 

After hitting 99% tool adoption, Ramp discovered most employees had no idea how to get better. Their solution was an internal productivity suite called Glass, where anyone can find and deploy agents and automations. 

The companies pulling ahead are moving even faster, and most enterprises aren't anywhere close. An internal marketplace with a governance layer built in addresses two problems at once. It gives employees ready-to-deploy tools and a clear path to building their own, while keeping everything from scattering across the work environment. If you're  leading AI transformation, your task is to align internally on who builds what and how it gets reviewed. Catalog what people are already using. This will become your marketplace.

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