“Core to leadership, culture, and employee engagement is the ability of employees to express and fulfill their most important personal values at work.” -Rum

Personal values like family, health, and wealth drive employee AI adoption. This is a critical initial finding from LRI’s on-going and collaborative “Activate AI” research program, highlighting a strong, positive link between the ability of employees to express (or “fulfill”) their most critical personal values at work and the degree to which they are adopting AI in their work.

Finding ways to boost AI adoption is critical because organizations are struggling to integrate AI successfully. A recent “State of AI in Business 2025” study by MIT Nanda found that only 5% of custom enterprise AI tools reach production, while the remaining 95% are not having a measurable impact on P&L. This means few organizations are realizing a strong return on their enterprise-level AI investments. The MIT Nanda study also indicated that much of the adoption of AI is occurring in a bottom-up fashion through the individual employees leveraging their own AI tools in their work.

We took from this research the importance of organizations and their leaders to find ways to motivate employees to leverage AI in their day-to-day work. To this effect, our “Activate AI” research program is exploring the human side of the challenge, specifically how leadership, culture, and employee engagement boost AI adoption. And core to leadership, culture, and employee engagement is the ability of employees to express and fulfill their most important personal values at work.

AI adoption itself can be measured in a variety of different ways, including how quickly new AI tools are tried (TRY), how often AI tools are used in work (USE), how often AI-generated content is shared with colleagues (SHARE), and how often employees have helped others to learn to use AI tools (GUIDE). Our study examines how the expression and fulfillment of a variety of personal values at work can activate AI adoption by trying new AI tools, using AI in their work, sharing AI content with others, and guiding others to use AI.

Personal values can be measured through LRI’s Personal Values Sorter (PVS), a short and effective assessment that helps people identify their top 5 most critical values, and to what degree these values can be expressed or fulfilled at work. This versatile tool has been used in a variety of ways to help tie personal values to team and organization culture, employee engagement, and AI adoption.

In a sample of 201 full-time employees from a variety of organizations and balanced based on sex and age, we saw positive and statistically significant correlations between the ability of employees to express critical values (through the PVS) and their self-reported AI Adoption metrics. Employees responded to an on-line survey which asked them to identify their most critical values and the degree to which they could express these values at work. We averaged each employee’s ability to express their top values and correlated this number with a variety of AI Adoption metrics. Results indicated that when employees’ core values could be expressed, they were more likely to try new AI tools (r=.25, p<.01), use AI in their work (r=.22, p<.01), share AI content with others (r=.28, p<.01), and guide others to use AI (r=.29, p<.01).

We also examined results for specific values, and we provide below three examples of personal values (family, health, and wealth) that appear to activate AI adoption.

• Family. Employees who value family often prioritize work-life balance and integration and are highly supportive of family-friendly policies. They generally prefer jobs, teams, managers, and organizations that allow them the ability to support and have quality time with their loved ones. Our research indicates that when people fully express the “family” value at work, they are more likely to try new AI tools (r=.24, p<.05) and guide others to use AI (r=.29, p<.05). These findings suggest organizations could help employees who value family to express this value at work and tie how AI Adoption enhances family (for example, leveraging AI to work more efficiently and fewer nights at the office).

• Health. Employees who value health tend to exhibit higher rates of preventative behaviors, participate more and champion wellness programs, and promote wellness initiatives to help their teams and larger organization. Our research indicates that when people fully express the “health” value at work, they are more likely to try new AI tools (r=.35, p<.05), share AI content with others (r=.35, p<.05), and guide others to use AI (r=.50, p<.01). These findings suggest organizations could help employees who value health to express this value at work and tie how AI Adoption enhances health (for example, leveraging AI to reduce stress and improve employee well-being).

• Wealth. Employees who value wealth tend to exhibit higher financial literacy, greater participation in retirement planning, and more strategic career advancement. They tend to prefer results-oriented teams and organizations that emphasize efficiency and stronger returns on investment. Our research indicates that when people fully express the “wealth” value at work, they are more likely to try new AI tools (r=.40, p<.05), use AI in their work (r=.58, p<.001), share AI content with others (r=.46, p<.05), and guide others to use AI (r=.47, p<.001). These findings suggest organizations could help employees who value wealth to express this value at work and tie how AI Adoption enhances wealth (for example, leveraging AI to promote career advancement and earning power).

If you are a leader trying to activate AI adoption in your organization, consider collaborating in this research program. Simply drop me a note in the comment section below or send an email to steve.rumery@lri.com and I’ll be happy to set up a time to connect for a short intro meeting. We are actively looking for leaders and organizations to collaborate with us and to identify unique opportunities for you to “Activate AI” in your organization.

About “Active AI”:
Activate AI is an on-going and highly collaborative research program led by Leadership Research Institute (LRI). The program focuses on finding ways to boost AI adoption through leadership, culture, and employee engagement. The methodology features multiple LRI-designed assessments, including the Personal Values Sorter (PVS), VIBES (VQ), Battery Quiz (BQ), as well as the engagement battery (Engage®) and restorative leadership style (Restore®) assessments and frameworks. If you are interested in learning more about activating AI in your organization, contact steve.rumery@lri.com.  

About Dr. Steve Rumery
Dr. Steve Rumery (aka “Rum”) is a Director with Leadership Research Institute (www.LRI.com) who develops the credibility and impact of leaders and organizations through executive coaching, research, and consulting. Rum has experience working with Fortune 500 companies across industries, as well as high-performing and mission-driven nonprofit, education, and faith-based organizations globally.