FOJI is the new FOMO
We’ve all heard of FOMO—Fear of Missing Out—but there's a new acronym that’s also influencing AI adoption: FOJI, or Fear of Jumping In. Many leaders find themselves hesitant about AI, caught between the promise of innovation, skepticism about the tech, and the fear of making costly mistakes.
While FOMO may drive impulsive decisions, FOJI can lead to paralysis. Many teams find themselves in conflict: the FOMO folks feel weighed down by the FOJIs and the FOJIs feel bullied by the FOMOs.
Where’s FOJI coming from? We’ve interviewed dozens of leaders at cutting-edge companies and here are the most common causes of hesitation:
It keeps changing: AI is already daunting with its technical complexity and it’s changing so fast it’s impossible to keep up. A Deloitte survey found that 68% of business leaders feel unprepared to address the ethical and technical challenges of AI.
Cost concerns: Implementing AI solutions can be expensive - especially if you’re trying to build it yourself.
No time to learn: Many leaders feel like they don’t have the time to get “up to speed” enough to make org-level decisions about AI.
Fear of failure: The fear of investing in AI and not seeing a return is real. A survey by MIT Sloan Management Review reveals that 40% of executives worry about the ROI of their AI investments.
That said, the benefits of AI are very real.
When properly implemented you can get benefits like those below. If you’re tired of stats, just ask any heavy AI-user for their take. They’ll likely rave about the time and energy savings of the tools.
Increased Efficiency: AI can boost productivity by up to 40%, according to Accenture.
Enhanced Decision-Making: McKinsey notes that AI-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire new customers.
Revenue Growth: Companies using AI report a 10% increase in revenue, as per Harvard Business Review.
Here are some strategies to overcome FOJI and start getting benefit from AI.
AI as your talented intern. Sometimes the right framing is all you need to “unlock” your understanding of a technology. Here’s one that we’ve seen work well: AI is your talented robot intern - they’ve read the internet, but only know what you tell them about your company or your wants/needs. Delegate tasks to them the way you would a person.
It’s not all or nothing. Many of world’s biggest super-users choose to keep some tasks outside of AI. You can use it where it works for you and not where it doesn’t. Just like you don’t worry about Excel taking over your life, AI won’t either. You’re in control.
Augmentation vs. Automation: Some of the most compelling AI use-cases involve using out-of-the-box AI to reduce friction in your workload - leading to time savings of 5-10% or more on average. That’s ROI without any tech build required.
Start small: It’s literally impossible to know everything about AI. The best way to wade in is to focus on the use-cases that will make your life easier. Try this prompt: Here’s a task I’m procrastinating on [ex- writing performance reviews, making board slides, reading articles], how can you help me with this? Let the tool show you how it can be helpful.
Name it to tame it: There are very real concerns and fears when it comes to AI (bias, errors, human displacement). Write these out. This moves you from the implicit fear stage to the explicit action of getting answers.
