In the 1950s, Solomon Asch ran a simple experiment.
Put 10 people in a room.
9 are actors. 1 is the real participant.
A bell rings. The 9 actors stand up.
The participant hesitates… then stands too.
Not because it’s right.
But because everyone else is doing it.
Over time, even when the behaviour is obviously wrong, people conform.
Not out of ignorance, but out of pressure.
Psychologists call this normative conformity.
Fast forward to today, and you can see the same pattern in how organisations approach AI.
“We need an AI Strategy”
“Our comeptitors are investing”
“The market expects it”
So we stand up when the bell rings.
Even when we’re not entirely sure why.
The risk isn’t adopting AI.
The risk is adopting it because everyone else is.
That’s how you end up with:
⭕Expensive tools solving no real problem
⭕“Innovation” that adds complexity, not value
⭕Teams forced to use systems that don’t actually help them
A better approach?
Don’t start with AI.
Start with friction.
⭕Where are your people struggling?
⭕Which workflows are slow, repetitive, or error-prone?
⭕What’s quietly costing you time, money, or morale?
Then apply AI there.
Not as transformation theatre, but as targeted automation.
The companies that win won’t be the ones who stood up fastest.
They’ll be the ones who knew when not to.
