Workday CIO Rani Johnson shares a practical, people-centered approach to AI adoption that focuses on access, experimentation, and trust. By embedding AI into everyday workflows and empowering employees to explore it hands-on, she shares how to turn curiosity into real enterprise impact.
Ghadeer Redler
Head of Multimedia, Thought Leadership & Customer Stories
Workday
Audio also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
For Rani Johnson, CIO at Workday, driving AI adoption starts with action, not perfection. Instead of waiting for a fully defined strategy from the top down, she focuses on building energy from the ground up. Her approach puts AI directly into the hands of employees, creating space for experimentation, learning, and real impact.
In this episode of the Future of Work podcast, Johnson shares the real work of adoption. When it comes to encouraging enterprise-wide adoption of a tool like AI, it’s not about the big announcement. It’s about creating small moments where people say, “This made my day easier.” Here’s what that looks like in practice.
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Johnson’s team didn’t introduce AI with fanfare. They started by embedding simple, intuitive AI tools into the platforms employees already used. No extra logins, no steep learning curves. Just immediate value.
Then, they empowered “AI champions” across teams to share how they were using the tools in real ways. This wasn’t top-down training. It was colleagues helping colleagues.
Once awareness was built, they moved to functional AI: real tools for real workflows. That meant legal teams using AI to evaluate contracts, sales teams generating tailored outreach, HR teams reducing friction in processes.
They didn’t guess what to build. They worked side-by-side with each function to identify meaningful opportunities and co-create solutions.
Johnson believes that AI won’t always follow the old ROI playbook. Her team created an AI advisory council to replace rigid review processes with an open-minded approach to leadership.
“Even projects without immediate, quantifiable ROI can still produce amazing results,” Johnson said.
One example: Workday’s investor relations team developed a new AI-driven report in just weeks with minimal resources. It didn’t just save time, it changed how they planned.
IT’s role has evolved. In Johnson’s view, it’s no longer about locking things down, it’s about unlocking new ways of working. That means helping teams experiment safely, while still keeping standards high.
People won’t adopt what they don’t understand. That’s why Johnson’s team encourages employees to explore third-party AI tools, write prompts, and train chatbots. The goal is to help people feel in control, not left behind.
Johnson’s approach makes it clear: successful AI adoption starts when leaders invite people in, make the technology approachable, and encourage hands-on learning across every level of the business.
Adoption grows when employees see how AI can actually help—not just in theory, but in their day-to-day. That shift doesn’t happen through mandates. It happens when teams are trusted to experiment, make a few mistakes, and learn as they go.
Here are a few highlights from Johnson, edited for clarity. Be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts and remember you can browse our entire podcast catalog.
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