Employees are building their own solutions, then sharing them.

Leaders described how employees feel genuinely empowered to bring AI into their daily workflows, often without being told to.

They’re creating custom agents to handle repetitive tasks, building shortcuts around cumbersome processes, and sharing successful solutions across departments.

A system that starts as one person’s shortcut and individual process can become, within weeks, a tool an entire team relies on.

The gains are individual, not just strategic.

AI adoption isn’t confined to high-level strategic functions or headline transformation projects.

It’s the accumulation of small, individual wins: a task that used to take an afternoon now takes twenty minutes, freeing that time for work that actually requires judgment.

The productivity gains showing up is the result of the sum of individual people solving individual problems, one workaround at a time.

INSIGHTS FROM THE DIRECT 60

The Lead interviewed executives transforming go-to-market strategy across leading global brands. Explore the leaders, and the ideas, shaping what comes next.

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Comfort builds trust, and trust builds capability.

Much of this next-stage of AI adoption is possible due to many employees being comfortable enough with AI somewhere lower-stakes first, probably in their personal lives.

Several executives we interviewed noted that the fear around AI is less about the technology and more about looking foolish in front of a team while still learning.

Clearing that hurdle privately is often what gives someone the confidence to bring the tool into their professional work. Once the trust exists, it makes it easier to pass on to their teams.

What we’re hearing from The Direct 60 Honorees:

These conversations are part of a much bigger shift we’re seeing among this year’s Direct 60 List, The Lead’s annual list recognizing 60 executives transforming the go-to-market strategies for leading global brands.

Across our interviews, we learned that the conversation around AI in the brand & retail industry has moved beyond whether brands should adopt it. Brand leaders are increasingly focused on where it creates meaningful leverage and how their teams can use it responsibly. The key focus now lies in what happens when experimentation moves from isolated use cases into the way an organization actually operates.

And AI is only one piece of that conversation.

From protecting brand equity and rethinking customer relationships to building stronger operating systems for growth, The Direct 60 Honorees offer a window into the priorities shaping some of today’s most influential consumer brands.

The takeaway

The brands getting the most out of AI right now aren’t necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated strategy. They’re the ones giving employees room to experiment, build, and share what works, turning AI into leverage at every level rather than a capability reserved for the top.