The conversation around artificial intelligence in the workplace is shifting. According to John Phillips, Group Vice President of Employee Experience at ServiceNow, the way companies measure AI success is fundamentally flawed. In the August 24, 2026 episode of You Should Know, hosted by Ryan Leary and William Tincup, Phillips argued that counting how often employees use AI tools misses the point entirely. What truly matters is whether jobs are completed faster, with less friction, and with better outcomes for both employees and the business.
Phillips did not mince words when describing the current state of AI in the enterprise. 'Every system of record is now got their little AI agent and it's creating chaos for these practitioners,' he said. 'We're watching this like train wreck of productivity.' The fragmentation is real: customers arrive with eight purchased AI tools plus one they built themselves, none of which communicate with each other. This chaos is particularly acute for CHROs, who face mounting pressure to demonstrate AI productivity gains across increasingly complex technology stacks.
The solution, according to Phillips, is to stop focusing on adoption metrics and start looking at outcomes. 'We're going to quickly stop talking about AI adoption as tool usage, and we're going to start looking at the outcomes and jobs to be done,' he predicted. This aligns with ServiceNow's vision of an 'AI control tower'—an agentic overlay that stitches together 15 large language models and 100 systems, providing a unified interface for employees to get work done without navigating multiple disjointed tools.
The episode delved into the two-sided value exchange between employee and employer. Phillips raised a provocative question: what happens to the 23 hours a tool claims to save you? If that time is simply absorbed into more work, the benefit is lost. The pandemic has also blurred work boundaries, leading to burnout and an internal dialogue of 'am I enough?' Phillips emphasized that high performance requires both extreme focus and extreme recovery, a principle that applies universally.
William Tincup, a co-host, revisited his long-standing critique of engagement surveys, pushing Phillips on whether discretionary effort is a truer metric. Phillips agreed, suggesting that hyper-personalization beats one-size-fits-all pulse data. Ryan Leary shared a personal anecdote about applying to Home Depot and never receiving an acknowledgment email, illustrating the disconnect between technology and human experience.
Phillips' perspective is shaped by time spent in refugee camps, where he learned that 'skills and talent is universal and opportunity is not.' This philosophy drives his belief that AI should democratize access to opportunities within organizations, not just optimize processes.
The episode is part of the WRKdefined Podcast Network, which delivers unfiltered conversations for people invested in the evolving world of work. With over 3.9 million verified monthly listeners, You Should Know tackles pivotal leadership challenges, from AI and workforce dynamics to career mobility and hiring technology. As Phillips' remarks suggest, the next wave of AI success will be defined not by the number of clicks, but by the real-world outcomes that improve both employee well-being and business performance.
