Forget rockets: Gallup’s CEO says bad management is the real problem
Gallup CEO Jon Clifton argues leadership quality, not technology, is the biggest barrier to fixing a workplace crisis he says may take longer to solve than reaching Mars.
For all the talk of artificial intelligence reshaping the office, Gallup chief executive Jon Clifton says the biggest problem facing workers has barely changed: management. Speaking at the Jobs for the Future Horizons conference, a discussion later reported by Fortune, Clifton went as far as to suggest humanity may reach Mars before employers manage to fix it.
Gallup’s research indicates that employee engagement has weakened in recent years, with poor engagement estimated to have cost the global economy around $10 trillion in lost productivity over the past year. Clifton’s diagnosis was direct: ‘The problem is the workplace,’ he said, pointing out that most employees still find real meaning in their work — what erodes their motivation is the environment built around it.
Management sits at the center of that environment, according to Clifton. Gallup’s analysis shows managers play an outsized role in shaping whether employees feel supported, understand what’s expected of them and stay engaged over time. A capable manager can help a worker grow and feel valued; a poor one can undo that quickly, regardless of what tools or perks a company offers.
That dynamic has only sharpened as companies roll out AI tools across their workforces. Employees who say their managers actively help them use AI effectively are significantly more likely to report that they’re doing work suited to their strengths, Gallup found — a gap that has little to do with the sophistication of the AI itself and everything to do with how it’s introduced.
The Mars comparison is deliberate. Technology leaders including Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos have all discussed futures where space travel becomes commonplace, with Musk’s SpaceX pursuing a settlement on Mars as a long-term goal. Clifton’s argument is that reaching another planet may prove to be the easier problem compared with rebuilding trust, communication and leadership inside ordinary workplaces on this one.
Wikimedia Commons/by NASA/JPL
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