You can have the right strategy, the right technology, and the right plan, and still watch performance fizzle out.

Workforce Shift #1 is a truly Strategic Project Office as a bridge across AI initiatives.
Workforce Shift #2 is leading strategically without a fixed end state.

This week is Workforce Shift #3.

And it is about something less visible, but more powerful.

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Manage Emotional Climate, Avoid Being Derailed

71% of workers fear that AI will cause permanent job loss (Reuters/Ipsos poll on US workers, August 2025). This is significantly high, and is reinforced in my conversations every week with leaders: the fear levels in their organizations due to AI are palpable.

It is a fact that anxiety directly translates to reduced output. 25% of workers admitted a decline in work quality due to stress in a 2025 Gallup poll. Bottom line: Fear kills productivity.

Do you agree that AI risk is more likely emotional rather than technical? Yes OR No? 

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My Own Fear Reduces Performance

I know that fear kills output from personal experience.

As a young McKinsey consultant in the 1990s, I prepared for my first Fortune 500 CEO meeting. I knew the data, but I didn’t feel I belonged in the room. Too young. Too inexperienced. You know that voice in your head? When my turn came, imposter syndrome took the wheel. My brain froze. I spoke, but I wasn’t present.

I don’t think the CEO or the team noticed. But I disappointed myself because I was too busy managing my anxiety to perform at my best. I left the room knowing I had delivered only a fraction of my potential.

Now, scale that across your workforce.

• Some are worried about staying useful.

• Some are pretending to understand more than they do.

• Some are researching new careers.

Part of the reason for this is that AI has no clear end state. See Shift #2: ambiguity amplifies anxiety. Even the AI Lab Founders aren’t sure where it will end up.

Unchecked, it shows up as reduced initiative, lower discretionary effort, missed deadlines. Think about what it is doing to your productivity right now.

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Shift #3: Manage the Emotional Climate, Not Just the Plan

You are not only managing strategy execution.
You are managing the conditions in which execution happens.

Let’s look at three practical moves.

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3 tips to Improve the Emotional Climate

1. Stabilise yourself first

Your organisation mirrors your nervous system. Speak calmly about what is known, what is not, and what is being tested. Your steadiness as a leader reduces other people’s uncertainty. Members of The Turbochargers Hub, I will provide you with an example PowerPoint framework of exactly how to do this in our March session. See end of this email to register.

2. Name the fear precisely

Avoiding job anxiety does not reduce it. Where there is a high fear in your team or in particular individuals, you are better off acknowledging this, rather than saying nothing.

3. Involve People

Anxiety falls when people feel in control. Invite teams to redesign ways of working and participate in structured experiments. Involvement focuses and increases energy; enforcement drains it.

If you think you already do this, double check whether your staff actually feel involved.

Shift #1 was your Strategic Projects Office as a structural bridge.
Shift #2 is leadership through ambiguity.

Shift #3: strategy in the AI era depends on managing the emotional climate, not just the execution plan.

Next week, we move onto workforce shift #4.

PS More Ways to Accelerate your Strategy

Looking to move your strategy forward? Lisa works with selected clients directly to go from strategy to plan to result. Email Lisa.

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About Lisa Carlin

Lisa Carlin is a Strategy Execution Specialist. Most of my work is guiding transformation leaders in B2B Tech and Knowledge Services to design and implement strategic AI programs that deliver tangible results at scale. I accelerate strategy with Culture Intelligence and AI.

Lisa is author of the globally acclaimed newsletter, Turbocharge Weekly, read by 8,000 business leaders.

Lisa’s career includes roles at McKinsey and Accenture, then running her own business since 1999. Over this time she has delivered over 50 implementations with a 96% success rate.