Korn Ferry's Human + AI Journey
How we're evolving leadership, ways of working, and culture to make AI part of everyday work at Korn Ferry.
The inside story of how Korn Ferry is transforming with AI
Lately, it feels like every client we speak with is asking the same thing. “We've invested in AI, so why aren't we seeing it pay off?”
They’ve splashed the cash and bought the tools, but the ROI is nowhere to be seen.
Getting real value from AI means looking beyond the tools. Technology is the easy part. The harder question is what AI actually means for your organization and how work gets done.
To answer that, we became our own Client Zero and put every idea, tool, and framework through its paces internally before taking it to clients.
This is our story.
Our Guiding Philosophy
From day one, our philosophy has been clear—human + AI, not human vs. AI.
The two need to work together, each making the other better. Our starting point was to identify where AI would create the biggest impact, and where human judgment mattered more.
We gave AI tasks that were repeatable and required large-scale analysis at speed. That freed up our people to focus on judgment, relationships, and making decisions that drive performance.
“AI can transform work from the ground up. It’s not something to fear. It’s the biggest opportunity our people have had in a generation."
Bryan Ackermann, Head of AI Strategy & Transformation, Korn Ferry
Our AI Journey
Pilots can help you get started. They are not enough to drive transformation on their own.
Our approach focuses on four key areas:
- Leadership
- Productivity
- Organizational transformation
- Industry disruption
Here's what that looks like in practice—and where we’re continuing to build.
Leadership Imperative
Before we rolled out a single AI tool, we needed every leader speaking the same language about AI.
That meant a clear story about AI that every leader could believe in and take back to their teams.
We put three teams in place to drive this forward and get our leaders on board:
- AI Working Group
A dedicated team that reviewed and approved every AI proposal, covering everything from legal and privacy to ethics and efficacy. - Advisory Board
Senior voices who sharpened our strategy and kept us honest. - AI Strategy & Transformation Team
40 people, chosen from every corner of the business, dedicated to embedding AI across every part of Korn Ferry.
The goal wasn’t to get leaders to sign off on new tech budgets.
It was to get our leaders to truly understand and believe in what human + AI could do for Korn Ferry. When they did, adoption followed naturally.
That belief mattered more than any tool. Without leadership alignment, AI stays fragmented, and progress stalls.
Productivity Enhancer
Once leaders were on board, it was time to bring everyone else with us. Thousands of colleagues were at different stages, each with their own relationship with technology and their own way of learning.
Handing them a tool and expecting results was never going to work. We had to meet them where they were.
We learned quickly that AI adoption doesn’t come from access to tools. It comes from behavior change at scale.
That’s when AI becomes part of how people work, not just something they try.
“Using Copilot now feels natural. It’s no longer something I have to remember to use. I rely on it instinctively.”
Sheryl Persson, Associate Principal, Korn Ferry
How we did it
We knew that rolling out AI tools without support wouldn't work.
So, alongside the tools, we built the communities and resources for people to experiment safely with AI.
- KF GenAI Site
One-stop hub for how-tos, use cases, and learning materials. This includes an AI marketplace where prompts and agents are shared, making it easy to access role-specific tools and start with tested ideas. - "How Do I AI?" Sessions
Regular show-and-tell sessions where colleagues, not management, shared what they built with AI, how they used it, and how it changed their day-to-day work. - Champions Network
Enthusiastic AI users from every corner of the business who became the go-to people in their teams. They'd answer questions, share prompts, and make AI feel less intimidating for the people around them. - Movement Making
We made AI feel exciting rather than threatening, celebrating wins and making space for people to experiment without fear of getting it wrong.
“Communities are one of the fastest accelerators for AI transformation.”
Mirka Kowalczuk, AI Strategy & Transformation Leader, Korn Ferry
“One of our colleagues, a Gen X professional for whom AI felt completely foreign, decided to take matters into her own hands," says Kowalczuk.
This person found someone at the same stage in their journey and set up a weekly call. It was just two people, checking in on what they had learned, what they had tried, and what worked.
Others heard about it and asked to join. Then more did.
Before long, six people were meeting every week, each bringing different learnings and building on each other's progress. Nobody organized it. It just grew organically.
"Communities are one of the fastest accelerators for AI transformation," notes Kowalczuk. "When people start sharing what they learn and helping others, learning multiplies in a way that no training program or top-down mandate could ever match."
The productivity wins
We measured impact, not just adoption. Here's what the productivity gains looked like:
75%
of colleagues report AI has improved the quality, speed, or value of their work
65%
reduction in marketing content timelines, from six weeks to two
60%
of procurement emails answered instantly by AI, with 95%+ accuracy
As confidence grew, AI moved from a task tool to a thinking partner. The impact went beyond speed. It was changing how people approach their work.
Organizational Transformer
Individual productivity with AI sounds exciting, but it's not transformational.
The bigger prize is getting AI to drive real, organization-wide ROI.
This means going deeper than tools and training. It means cleaning up core processes and fixing data foundations. It also means rethinking roles, workflows, and how the organization is structured around AI-augmented work.
How we’re doing it
- 200+ Innovation Ideas from Across the Firm
Colleagues from every part of the business are submitting ideas for how AI could change the way we work. It’s bottom-up energy, not top-down mandates. - Working Backwards
We start from the outcome we want and ask, does this actually move the needle? That filter helps us separate what should scale from what shouldn't. - Redesigning Roles
Using our AI Impact Score and Success Profiles, we’re identifying what skills matter now and how teams need to be structured for a Human + AI world.
This is where AI moves from individual use to enterprise change, redesigning how work gets done at scale.
“What may feel like a frustrating hour upfront, refining prompts and ways of working, can save hours again and again. The impact multiplies across the team.”
Yasmina Belkir, Implementation Project Manager, Korn Ferry
Industry Disruptor
With the foundations in place, we’re asking the most exciting question of all—what does AI make possible that wasn't possible before?
We have decades of data, deep expertise, and a clear understanding of people. Now, AI is opening new ways for us to build tools and solutions grounded in that foundation.
This is changing how we deliver value for our clients.
“AI changes the game in allowing us to scale our impact in ways we could never do before.”
Ben Frost, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry
How we’re doing it
- Decades of Data. Now Supercharged by AI.
Our proprietary data and years of expertise give us a foundation no one else has. We're using AI to build on top of that in ways our competitors simply can't replicate. - A Lab for Moonshots
Dedicated space to experiment with bold, ambitious ideas. Testing AI-powered products and services that go beyond our current ways of working. - Becoming Client Zero
We test every AI-powered solution on ourselves first. So when we bring something to a client, it's already been pressure-tested in the real world, not just in theory.
AI's Impact Across Our Organization
We always said AI should free our people up to do more meaningful work. Here's what that looks like across Korn Ferry.
“AI is no longer something we do on the side. It's woven into how we think, how we work, and how we serve our clients.”
Bryan Ackermann, Korn Ferry
We’ll continue to update this story as we evolve.
What All This Means for Our Clients
We don’t advise on AI from the sidelines. We’ve done the work ourselves, and we bring what we have learned with us.
So when we work with clients, we speak from real experience. The impact shows up in how the work gets done.
Here’s what that looks like.
Your AI Journey Starts Here
Getting AI right is hard. But it's a lot easier when someone's already walked the path.
We have, and we’re ready to share what we’ve learned. Whatever stage you're at, we can help you build the talent, leadership, and organization design needed to make AI work.
Want Help With Your AI Transformation?
FAQ for AI in the Workplace
KornFerry is using AI across every part of the organization, from automating repetitive tasks and accelerating hiring to redesigning roles and rethinking how work gets done.
The result is faster, smarter ways of working. Korn Ferry’s AI initiatives give our people more time and space. They can focus on what only humans can do—building relationships, solving complex problems, and making decisions that drive performance.
Korn Ferry helps organizations build every layer of AI readiness. That means developing AI-ready leaders who can guide transformation with clarity and confidence, redesigning workflows for genuine human + AI collaboration, and building the cultural foundations that make adoption stick.
Our solutions are grounded in decades of people science, proprietary data, and an understanding of human performance that no one else can replicate.
Korn Ferry helps organizations apply AI where it creates the most value. In hiring, we've helped clients cut cost-per-applicant by 76 percent and reduce time-to-hire by 50 percent.
In workforce planning, we help companies identify exactly which roles to automate, augment, or keep human-led. And in leadership development, we make AI readiness a measurable, buildable capability rather than a vague aspiration.
Scaling AI isn't a technology problem. It's a people problem. Most organizations get stuck because they treat AI as a tool to deploy rather than a transformation to lead.
Getting AI to scale requires the right leadership, the right culture, and the right organizational design working together.
Korn Ferry’s AI capabilities help companies get all three right. We align leaders around a shared AI vision, create the behavioral change needed to drive adoption, and redesign roles and processes for a human + AI world.
Our AI Impact Score identifies where AI will create the most value. Our AI Maturity Index tells you how ready you actually are to capture it.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to accelerate, Korn Ferry’s AI strategy and change management experience means we bring lived expertise to every engagement. We've made the transformation ourselves. Now we help clients do the same, faster and with greater confidence.
