LinkedIn survey finds half of C-suite leaders lack visibility into future workforce needs as AI transforms work—and their executives say top-down mandates are making the problem worse.

What happened: LinkedIn surveyed 1,252 C-suite leaders in the U.S., U.K., and India and found that half acknowledge they don't have clear visibility into the roles and skills their organizations will need as AI matures. Seventy-eight percent say they are moving faster on AI than they can effectively measure. Eighty-two percent report that entirely new AI-related roles have grown inside their organizations since 2022, yet the same leaders cannot describe what their workforce will look like in two years.

Why it matters: LinkedIn's chief business officer Mark Lobosco argues that the standard response—top-down transformation mandates from executives—may be deepening the blind spot. He told Fortune that successful change requires leaders to be genuinely proficient users of AI tools themselves, not just advocates for the strategy, and to bring employees along by showing them AI as a career accelerant rather than a threat. This is particularly difficult because executives who built careers executing reliable playbooks face credibility challenges when asked to abandon those playbooks for uncertain new approaches, creating what amounts to rational resistance rather than simple lack of knowledge.

What to watch: Lobosco's own approach at LinkedIn focuses on building what he calls a "cockpit"—infrastructure that removes friction and automates preparatory work—rather than trying to turn all employees into AI power users. He frames this as allowing teams to spend 90% of their time with customers on judgment, creativity, and relationship work. Whether other C-suite leaders adopt this model or continue with top-down mandates remains unclear, with Lobosco observing that most companies are still in early stages of what will ultimately be a long redesign.