Why Asia’s AI moment depends on leaders, not tools

Asia runs on hierarchy.

Nearly every major market in the region scores highly on what psychologist Geert Hofstede called “power distance”—the degree to which people accept that power is distributed unequally—and the landmark GLOBE study of 62 societies found those rankings hold across Asia and outpace the West.

And in AI, that’s an enormous lever to get companies to embrace this new technology.

Organizations often run the same AI playbook: Tell people to try it, reward those who show curiosity, and see what sticks.

That approach may have worked for the first phase of AI adoption.

It won’t work for the second.

The gap is widening between companies using it mainly for productivity, and those embedding AI into how they operate.

The former are simply making existing tasks faster or cheaper; the latter are redesigning workflows and business models.

Both may become more efficient, but only the second category is preparing itself for growth.

Soon, the gap between efficiency and reinvention may be too wide for any company to bridge.

People don’t need to be more comfortable with AI; they need to understand it; know when, and when not, to use it; and grasp which tools solve which problems.

In other words, they need direction.

In Asia, most markets carry a strong tradition of hierarchy and deference to leadership.

That means a top-down approach is needed.