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.
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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.
Start with Curiosity, Not Control
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.
Shift from Pilots to Practical Wins
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.
Invest with Flexibility, not Fear
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.
Let IT Lead with Openness
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.
Callie Zeifang: The turning point in AI adoption won’t necessarily be a big announcement or major launch. It will be that quiet moment when someone using AI says, “Oh… this just made my day easier.”
Welcome to the Future of Work Podcast. In each episode, we bring you conversations with the thinkers and doers shaping tomorrow's workplace. From AI pioneers and visionary business leaders to Workday's own experts, we'll unpack the real stories, the practical strategies, and the bold ideas that will help you navigate the exciting landscape ahead.
I’m your host, Callie Zeifang. In today’s episode, Workday CIO Rani Johnson shares how to build an AI-first culture where AI doesn’t just boost productivity, it makes work feel more meaningful and joyful. As you’ll hear from Rani, while we often resist new tech at first, a forward-thinking mindset is key. So, in this episode, we'll give you a clear path to AI adoption designed to empower your teams and drive real, lasting change. Let’s hear from Rani.
Rani Johnson: Hi, I'm Ronnie Johnson, Chief Information Officer here at Workday. I'm excited to be here today to talk about how to drive successful AI adoption within your organization.
AI is transforming how we work, and it's crucial for businesses to embrace it to stay competitive. In this lesson, we'll explore why fostering an AI first mindset is so important, and I'll share some best practices for driving AI adoption within your teams.
My early experiences with technology, even before my corporate career, gave me a front row seat to the challenges and opportunities around new innovation.
Back in the day, I was fascinated with AI and started experimenting with expert systems. I eventually used this technology to launch my first application and company called “Guidetostyle.com,” and it helped people choose what to wear based on their plans for the day.
When we finally got to the step of showing the prototype to potential investors, they said women will never buy clothing online. This experience and others taught me a valuable lesson. New technologies are usually met with resistance, but this is often short sighted.
As my CIO career began in state and local government, I again witnessed firsthand the cautious approach to new technologies. There was a strong preference for playing it safe, but I also saw the incredible cost of waiting, the missed opportunities for learning, and the challenges to building a forward thinking culture. These are the advancements that can transform workforces, and if you wait too long to learn about and adopt new technologies, you'll just be left behind.
When I talk to my peers who might be hesitant about AI, either out of fear or perceived lack of skills, I think back to the early days of online shopping or the resistance of software as a service.
We've seen this pattern before. Don't let fear hold you back, embrace the immense possibilities of AI and help shape the future of work. At Workday, we've learned and adapted throughout our AI journey, embracing its power for innovation and making work more meaningful. We hope our experiences and strategies can offer valuable insights for other leaders navigating the AI landscape.
So let's jump right in.
How do we start to drive AI adoption? That's the challenge, right? It can seem really intimidating. And there's a lot of uncertainty about where to even begin. We approached the initial first step as just building awareness. We wanted our employees to understand the potential of AI and how it can benefit them directly. And we took a very deliberate approach.
We started by rolling out a series of readily available AI features. These were integrated within the tools that our employees use in their everyday work. We wanted to make AI accessible, easy to use, intuitive and most importantly, non regrettable. Our employees could immediately find ways to incorporate these tools into their daily work, which drove excitement and helped to demystify the AI.
But simply having access to these tools isn't enough. Employees need to learn how to use them. This is where our AI champions came in. These AI champions were individuals hand selected from various teams across workday focused on socializing persona based I use cases. They became our internal advocates, sharing real life examples of how teammates were using these AI tools to improve their workflows.
This peer to peer approach built trust and made it feel less intimidating. It wasn't just us pushing AI. It was colleagues showing each other how it can make their work lives easier.
So when driving AI adoption within your organization, remember to start with building awareness and excitement. Make AI tools readily available and integrated into your employees everyday workflows. Then identify and empower your AI champions, showcasing real life, relatable use cases that demonstrate the value and ease of using AI.
With this foundation of awareness, we move to the next phase. What I call functional AI. This is where things get a bit more complex. This is a use for specific business areas or to help teams do their jobs better. Suddenly you're not just playing with a chat bot. You're using AI to streamline complex agreements, analyze data, and automate processes.
AI understands relevance, which means you get a varied response for the same questions. This requires careful consideration of appropriate use cases. For example, chat bots within legal or HR need to be able to detect things like tone toxicity or bias. So the main question becomes what are the right use cases.
To answer this, we conducted a deep dive into our operational landscape, collaborating closely with internal functions. This crossfunctional effort allowed us to map existing resources and identify potential AI integration opportunities. This close partnership with our business teams continues throughout the development lifecycle of our functional AI tools.
Recognizing the risks, we also implemented a responsible AI program. Realizing that even a seemingly small use case could trigger something that might violate our practices. We had to think about security, privacy, redundancy, everything.
One of the most significant lessons learned throughout this process is that mistakes are inevitable. Even with my years of experience. AI development can feel uncertain. Predicting outcomes, timelines, spending and return on investment with precision is challenging. We've had to embrace the art of the possible, acknowledging these uncertainties.
Small scale mistakes are not only acceptable, but they are essential for rapid learning. Waiting for technologies to fully mature means missing opportunities for significant impact. We can't afford to miss this opportunity to inject new energy and innovation into our companies.
And that brings me to investing in AI.
We had to revise our entire software review process. So we started with creating an AI advisory council with our leaders to lean on their expertise when making AI investments. We quickly realized that traditional evaluation criteria for investments were too rigid.
We adopted a more open mindset and recognize that even projects without immediate and quantifiable ROI can still produce amazing results.
As an example, our investor relations team built a valuable line for earnings reports in just weeks, with minimal resources demonstrating the potential of speed and impactful development for future planning.
We're meeting with our leaders of each function to figure out the highest impact to use cases for AI. We want to make sure that our investments really count and actually transform the business. We'll be looking at what other companies are doing, showcasing the latest tech, and then mapping out all of that to our own roadmap.
Imagine AI for our sales teams, helping them craft the perfect message for each customer. That's the kind of targeted application we're after.
So when investing in AI technology, it's crucial that you update and streamline the software review process to adapt to the new landscape of AI by forming an AI advisory council and leverage the expertise of leaders when considering AI investments. Adopt a flexible evaluation criteria for AI investments. As some projects may not have immediate, quantifiable ROI, they can still deliver significant value.
Identify the highest impact use cases for each business function and ensure those investments align with the business and actually do transform the business.
Stay informed about industry trends, emerging technologies, and the competitive landscape because the AI field will likely consolidate and lastly, prioritize mature enterprise grade platforms that can be leveraged crossfunctionally.
The role of IT leaders is changing so much. It used to be a gatekeeper. But then along came software as a service. And that put tech directly into employees hands. Now with AI, it's a whole new approach. It can seem really intimidating and leaders now have a huge responsibility to demystify it and make it accessible again. It's like the.com boom.
We're witnessing an even more transformative moment with AI, and it's important that IT leaders harness this potential to drive innovation within their companies.
The key to adoption is to build a culture of learning around AI. Whether you're a developer or a non developer, an executive or an individual contributor. I think it is important that employees have the opportunity to get their hands on the tools and understand how they work.
I know some companies that have their employees actually train AI models and learn prompt engineering, which I think is amazing because it takes away the mystery behind AI. It shows people how it actually works.
Our team is taking a similar approach, encouraging our employees to jump in and explore third party AI tools. They're learning how to write prompts and to train chat bots. We want AI to be a real copilot, an assistant that helps them get their work done.
One of my favorite things about this technology is how quickly it can just click for people.
As an example, my mom has been using a voice assistant for ages and their relationship is kind of amazing. AI has become a part of her life and that's what we're aiming for at work.
Making AI an everyday thing, like a life hack that just makes your job so much faster. It's about doing things significantly better than before. I like an athlete who trains and trains and gets better and feels a great result of their work. That's how we want people to feel about using AI.
Building an AI first culture requires a multifaceted approach. So to recap, start by building awareness and excitement around AI and then identify relevant use cases and invest strategically. Next, foster a culture of learning and experimentation, encouraging employees at all levels to explore and understand AI tools.
Remember AI is not just about productivity. It's about making work more meaningful and joyful. Don't let fear or uncertainty hold you back. Instead, lean in, experiment and discover the immense potential of AI to transform your organization and empower your people.
The future of work is intelligent, and it's up to us to shape it. Thank you for joining me today and I hope you found these insights valuable.
Callie: Thanks to Rani for those amazing insights. As Rani showed us, the real and pressing work of AI adoption is helping AI feel less like a mandate and more like a tool people actually want to use.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more from Workday leaders about how AI is transforming the enterprise, check out our Workday AI Masterclass series at workday.com/ai-masterclass.
In the first episode of a new Workday Podcast series, Workday CTO Jim Stratton and Chief Product Officer David Somers examine the next stage in artificial intelligence: agentic AI. Tune in to learn more about the opportunities AI agents create for HR and finance.
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