Well, this is alarming: “In a regression pitting every variable against each other, AI-identity stance was the single strongest predictor of career optimism – stronger than role, level, and company size combined.”1 All that ultimately matters right now is how an employee feels about AI. Well, it isn’t ALL that matters, but it is the single biggest predictor of optimism. And optimism deeply matters for engagement.
So what does that mean for the founders and leaders of tech companies in Silicon Valley? Only about four in ten tech workers feel energized by AI.2 But you pay 100% of your workforce and disengagement and fear are expensive to pay for, when what you really need are ideation and results.
Between today’s uncertain, volatile atmosphere and the further destabilizing language around AI, more and more pressure is falling on business leaders to build a cocoon of normalcy around their employees. If just being a good person and strong leader is not motivation enough, consider these facts: the most engaged teams are 23% more profitable, with 78% less absenteeism and 32% fewer quality defects. And employees who strongly trust their leaders are 3.7 times as likely to be engaged.3
What can a founder or leader do to build engaged teams that deliver their best for your business? Here are five ideas to consider:
- Get real about AI: It might be making employees more productive, but is it making them more accurate? Are you rewarding accuracy? Or is speed all that matters? Judgement, discernment and critical thinking are still our special sauce as humans. In a recent workplace study from Radical Candor, employees report inaccuracies in AI-assisted work 73% of the time.4 25% of IT leaders report that AI errors have already negatively impacted customers or clients, while 23% report financial damage to their company. More than half of workers (55%) don’t always double-check AI output, even for high-stakes work.5
What can you do? Reward accuracy and speed. Not one or the other. Give a weekly shout-out to team members who catch and fix mistakes. Remember AI Optimism and make the extra step of reviewing a cultural norm.
- Get clear about roles and outcomes: To get a business off the ground, everyone does a little of everything. To scale and grow a business, however, employees need to spend the majority of their time doing what they do best. Everyone doing everything is not a solid foundation for scaling. No exceptions.
In June of 2026, the Journal of Vocational Behavior published a meta-analysis study reviewing six decades of research on role clarity. The research looked at three workplace stressors: role overload (too much to do), role conflict (competing demands), and role ambiguity (unclear expectations). Guess what the research found, unequivocally. Role ambiguity is the biggest negative driver of employee and organizational struggles across every measure the researchers tracked, including stress, productivity, burnout, and intent to quit.6
Team, I am going to shout this: THIS IS SOLVABLE. To solve it requires a huge shift from the founder’s mindset to the growth mindset. Be intentional and specific so every role is clear, and the outcomes for success are obvious to all. This should be a HUGE priority.
- Get intentional about recharging: Even if only for an hour a week. Reward some fun stuff, hard stuff and cool stuff. Recognize and make room for a heavy sigh or two. Significant burnout among tech workers jumped from 45% to 56% in a single year, and more than a quarter say they are very or completely burned out.7
Require some rest. Start a book club, reward an activity a week with family and friends. Be creative and energy giving. And help your people recharge to avoid burnout.
- Get access to honest feedback: No matter how much you communicate and hang out with the team, you are the boss. Information shared with you will always be colored by your role. It doesn’t matter how many times you say “I have an open door” or “I don’t have a door.” Be honest with yourself about your influence on your employees’ livelihoods. What systems can you put in place to get the truth, or at least the directional truth: Do you have a quarterly anonymous survey or a suggestion box of any kind? Build some sort of honest, trusted feedback loop and show you are listening. Start transparent conversations about what you are hearing and what you agree and disagree with. Even when your team disagrees with you, if they are heard, the majority will support you.8
- Get the right HR support: Since more than 70% of tech employees in a Blind poll of over 11,000 said they do not trust HR9, hiring HR only works if you find the right person and if you, as the leader, actually care about your culture. (Simply renaming HR to People does not increase trust, by the way. Employees are on to that.)
Founders and leaders need to be the driving force for building culture in their companies. Average HR people can execute, good HR people can be thought partners, really good HR professionals can build trust and ease the burden on their business leaders. But no HR person, no matter how good they are, can provide “cover” for leaders who do not invest in building trust with their employees. Or for those who do not prioritize a culture built on authenticity and credible career, compensation and reward programs.
A really good HR person, whether consultant, fractional, or full time…whatever works for your business…can help a leader prioritize this work and get it done. This is more than someone to fire or pay people. This is HR that is focused on mobilizing the workforce productively and early in the growth of your business. It will accelerate making serious money and head off serious distractions and problems. You don’t need to do all these things right away. Figure out what your business can handle in the near-term and what you can plan for. In the meantime, do not ignore facts and do not ignore emotion. Because, like it or not, human beings have emotions and employee engagement can make or break your business model.
