Why 90% of AI Projects Fail (and How to Fix It)
In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Eric Mosley, Founder, CEO, and Board Member at Workhuman to discuss how AI and recognition are reshaping the workplace. Eric reveals how companies can unlock hidden talent and reduce bias by combining AI with the human data hidden inside recognition moments.
He explains why 80–90% of AI projects fail, not because of the technology, but because companies lack meaningful data to train their systems. Recognition, he says, provides a treasure trove of insight into real performance, collaboration, and potential.
From the emotional power of gratitude to the measurable ROI of recognition, Eric paints a vision of the future where AI doesn’t replace humanity, it amplifies it.
🎓 In this episode, Eric discusses:
How recognition data fuels smarter, fairer AI
Why 80–90% of AI projects fail, and how to fix it
The emotional and financial ROI of gratitude at work
How AI can help uncover hidden talent and reduce bias
Real examples of recognition improving retention and engagement
🙏 Thanks you to our series partner - Workhuman
Discover how to Build Human-Centred Workplaces which Thrive! → https://www.workhuman.com/resources/reports-guides/the-human-centred-workplace-building-organisational-cultures-that-thrive-emea/
Discover how to Build Human-Centred Workplaces which Thrive!
Workhuman partnered with Gallup to decode why only 33% of U.S. employees feel engaged and what leaders can do about it.
The answer? Recognition done right.
When companies build flexible work, psychological safety, and authentic appreciation, engagement soars.
The research shows recognition:
✅ Boosts retention
✅ Fuels feedback cultures
✅ Elevates wellbeing
✅ Powers upskilling in the AI era
Engagement isn’t chance, it’s design.
The future belongs to organizations that make recognition their competitive edge.
Chris Rainey 0:00
Eric, how you doing, my friend, I am doing great, fantastically. Meet you by the way. Yeah, you too, yeah, like, I'm everyone in the team, like you, like ships in the night, yeah, you've been avoiding me, yeah. Well, no more. How you feeling? It's been an incredible two days. Yeah, I'm feeling great.
Eric Mosley 0:29
The conference has been wonderful, and the we've met some incredible people. And you know, as CEO, work human, I interact with, see CHROs and managers and leaders a lot, and it's amazing. It's just a time like no other. There's this real kind of duality going on, of people are excited about the future, they're excited about what AI can do, and yet also, all the research has shown that all of the projects are failing, you know, and it's like 80 to 90% of projects are failing, yet people are just plowing money and energy and resources into them. So it's a transition, and that creates a lot of fear in these leaders, like, what, you know, why are we not getting it right? Well, nobody's getting it right. So for us, it's, you know, it's a real opportunity. Because the reason why most projects are failing is they don't have the data to train the AI systems, and the data that comes from recognition programs is really this incredible store of information around talent, skills, performance, contribution, relationships. It's all in that recognition data. If you use that to train AI, is intelligence goes up, and so that's what we're seeing, you know,
Chris Rainey 1:44
so is that one of the reasons why you in the title, you was talking about the powering AI with a hidden power of recognition? Yeah, I think that's something that people don't really understand the true value of
Eric Mosley 1:53
that. Yeah, I think recognition programs are an amazing it's an amazing project to see a company launch a recognition program, and suddenly energized our whole employee base, and they could have 100,000 employees all over the world, and suddenly the energy and positivity in the organization lifts up. And they get this. They see it in engagement surveys and employee MPs surveys. They see it and they but they feel it as well. Everybody feels it. But what also simultaneously happens is they start accumulating all this data of what employees think about their colleagues, because they're writing it up. They're saying, You did an amazing job. You were, you were the best presenter in the room. You know, you were the most innovative we never would have thought of that. You know? They're saying all these phrases that natural language processing and llms can pick apart and find signals, and those signals are to say, Okay, well, this person are good presenter, or they have, you know, Advanced Java skills, or they, you know, they're, they, they're a Top Contributor or performer. And so you're getting two things. You're getting a return on investment from retention increases and engagement increases, but you're also, you're getting this gold dust, this data that is perfect for AI, yeah, and I
Chris Rainey 3:07
suppose that's what makes it really different from traditional HR metrics.
Eric Mosley 3:11
Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's different. We have work human about eight years ago, we invested in a data science department, and so a whole team of, you know, PhDs and organizational psychology and data analysis and and now AI and machine learning, and we put them on because we had hundreds of big global companies running recognition programs, a recognition moment every second all over the world. Wow. And so you put all this team on that and say, you know, find insights. What does this data tell us? And we've then been able to create these AI models. And now, when you run your recognition program, we push it through those models and it and it's very different. It just tells you, it's like you're taking the knowledge of every in everybody's head in the company, about their colleagues, and you're putting it into a central intelligence entity, and then you get to ask that any questions you want, yeah? And if somebody in the company, out of the 100,000 people, if somebody knows the answer, it's coming out of that. Ai, wow. Really amazing, yeah. And
Chris Rainey 4:13
also, I think it's like, you're not waiting three four months. This is instant, yeah, yeah. You're putting this in the hands of your managers and your leaders, yeah, in the flow of what moment when they need it
Eric Mosley 4:23
most? Yeah. And I've seen it work where, you know, I've seen you go like, let's say you go into the AI assistant, you say, well, the finance department are fantastic at finance, but is there somebody there who's great at public speaking? Because we need some presenters from finance. It'll come back with, you know, three names, and the three names, you'll look at them, and two of them, you'll go, absolutely. How did it know that? You know, but it knew that they were brilliant. And then one of the names, you probably never heard of them, but it turns out, actually they're brilliant as well. But then you get to interact. You get to say, Well, why? Why is you know, Emily, really good at presenting. Tell. Me the evidence, and it'll literally give you all of the evidence as to why it's, it's, it's casting that judgment, yeah? And then you can have a conversation about Emily, and it's just unbelievable. I
Chris Rainey 5:11
don't think people really, and I'm learning now from you right now, pretty people understand the value of what AI is brought to recognition. Yeah, unlocked, yeah, yeah, really exciting for you and the team now, yeah, yeah, because you've got this incredible tool, yeah, allowed you to take that rich data and surface it,
Eric Mosley 5:26
yeah, I remember probably 18 months ago, we in the lab, you know, in a dark room and work human headquarters, where all the buttons are, yeah, there was in that lab we created this, you know, this, you know, suite of AI technologies, and I got to play with it, with just a work human, our own employees data, and I asked it some simple questions, like, I was looking at the time for a chief of staff, and I thought, Well, I wonder, is there an internal candidate? And I asked, you know, is there any candidates to be the CEOs Chief of Staff? And I came back with answers. And I swear the hair on the back of my neck stood up because it was, it was, it was just smarter than all of us. It knew more than any kind of scary a little bit any one of us, like we all in aggregate, knew. But you don't operate in aggregate. You operate in on your on your individually. But this thing was able to have all of our knowledge at the same time. Yeah, and when it came back with those names, actually ended up hiring or promoting one of those people to be Yeah? What does that
Chris Rainey 6:26
mean for the business and the product? Because now you're basically stepping into the space where your accent unlocking hidden skills and talent across the organization, yeah, yeah, different parts of the world, right? There's an element of inclusivity, yeah, that comes into play now,
Eric Mosley 6:40
yeah, yeah, that's another element in terms of, you know, diversity and bias in the organization that companies, especially large companies, with, you know, a lot of people, they are a reflection of the society that they live in, you know, and if society has internal biases, well, then companies will as well. The good news is you can actually use AI to analyze the activity in a recognition program, and you can see the bias in action. You can see that, you know, women, for example, will receive less value in their awards than men, even for normalized for the same job roles and experience. And so what that means is that when people are and even women giving to women, they give less to women than they give to men. So which reflects society, but it's but it's not often you get a baseline where, well, now you can try and fix that. And if you look at this data continuously, you'll see whether your fixes are working or not, because you'll either get better or you'll or you won't. And so yeah, biases is a huge is a huge benefit for for our customers. It's another signal. But, yeah, these are all incredible add ons for the return on investment, for recognition programs. Yeah, ultimately, as I said, it creates cultures, but and ignites kind of passions and employees, and builds relationships. But to have this extra, you know, ROI, which is almost infinite knowledge about the talent is, is, is something that differentiates us
Chris Rainey 8:16
from every super interesting, yeah, would you, I said a random one, but what would you say is, like, the common misconception that you hear about recognition?
Eric Mosley 8:24
Well, I think, you know, recognition, because it's been around for decades. You know, back in the 70s, there was recognition, and people think of it as a kind of a check box, kind of, you know, manager to subordinate the top 10% of people will get an award from their manager, you know, the teachers, pets, and it's all kind of trinkets and trash type, yes, that's the baggage of recognition from being around for for decades. But that's, you know, and we were lucky enough to kind of innovate in that, build a software platform, you know, a web based platform, and then build in social technologies, and then now AI technologies, which turns it into this kind of peer to peer, capturing the wisdom of crowds. So that's very different, and not manager to subordinate, unless a customer really wants that. But we would always advise, let everybody give to everyone. You know, they always put artificial limits. For some reason, their instinct is to restrict, but you really want it to flow. You know, if people feel, you know, real gratitude for a colleague, but let them express it, because there's just boundless aura away from that for both people. You know, even the giver
Chris Rainey 9:38
is lifted. I feel like I get more when I'm giving recognition, yeah, yeah. I love Yeah. It fills me with joy, yeah, to do that, yeah, I'm with you, yeah,
Eric Mosley 9:48
the act of giving, yeah, is, if you look at the data, the most powerful givers, they're also the kind of cultural energizers in a company, and they feel good about themselves when they give. It's quite. Incredible. It's yeah, it's a natural human instinct,
Chris Rainey 10:03
yeah, I agree. And I think now that we've that you've embedded this into the flow of work, yeah, through the communication channels, yeah. It shows up, yeah, part of work. It's something they do separately, yeah? And I have to remind myself, yeah, yeah, to go over here and recognize someone. It shows up when they need it, right? Yeah, in the flow. I think that's important. Haven't,
Eric Mosley 10:25
haven't at your fingertips with like, mobile applications really helps. You can be on the escalator, leaving here, and then, you know, and just have it dictate. You can dictate the message and open your dictation, yeah, you can do all of that so that just what that, it just removes friction, you know, because when you're when you're asking people, then make, make a mental note and do it later. Or they never, they never,
Chris Rainey 10:47
didn't do it. Yeah? Managers are busy, etc, yeah. But for organizations that are taking their first steps, yeah, into user recognition to especially with now the AI driven insights, where should they start? I think that's a question I get a lot, yeah,
Eric Mosley 11:01
I mean, I think, Well, I think the first thing they should do is contact us, but one, but, I mean, I mean that, you know, honestly, that they to get em to get a playbook and and build a strategy, and because what you don't want to do is treat the project as a tactical project, where it's A nice to have, and it's just a background noise. You're just giving up so much value by doing that. So have a real strategy, and you might need our help to do that. And you know, there's plenty of books out there. There's, I have five books on recognition out in the world, but approach it like a proper with it with the return on investment. In mind, sit down and think, What do I want to get out of this in a year's time, or two years time? Why am I even bothering to do this and and we can help you articulate that and then build a program to deliver that. Because for some companies, it's just I, you know, our people are miserable and they feel like nobody cares about the work that they do. That's one category. But we also have things like manufacturing plans who have to improve safety, so we can build programs dedicated to that and actually move the drives those behaviors. Yeah, drives those behaviors. And then even even things like revenue, like we work with global consultancy agencies who have used it, they've seen billable hours go up across the board. So you can, you can really tie it back, yeah, you can focus the ROI narrowly or in a wide way.
Chris Rainey 12:30
Yeah, what are some of the common pitfalls? Yeah, you can see companies fall into,
Eric Mosley 12:36
well, they I think the biggest pitfall is that kind of, or not. Kind of historical urge to restrict, either restrict the quantity or the direction, yeah, and even it's it never fails to surprise me. You know, somebody, a VP of HR, will come and they'll say, Yeah, we want everybody involved, but we don't want any of our senior leaders, our VPS, to be able to receive because they get paid enough, so, you know, and they don't need anything. And you think, Well, are they human?
Chris Rainey 13:06
And why would everyone loves to No, I've never met anyone who doesn't like to be
Eric Mosley 13:10
recognized. Yeah, everyone, it's a core human recognized, yeah? If they are, you know, in any way normal, yeah, they will be lifted, and they will want to do more for their people and for the company. And so at the end of the day, every company is just a collection of human beings that make up a community, and you want all of them marching in the same direction, yeah?
Chris Rainey 13:33
You made me think of my old job, like when I was in the same company for 10 years, yeah? And it was a sales role, yeah. And I remember, every time we would get a sale, what meant the most to me. Yes, it was great to get commission, but it was that my CEO Andy, for every single time someone brought a deal, would come down from the office and shake their hand, I'm talking for 10 years, wow, and I think, and I remember being excited and that meet that meant more than to me, that recognition,
Eric Mosley 14:00
yeah, kind of validation. It makes you feel part of something. You're achieving something. Yeah, you know, you're building kind of equity and in your own kind of position and reputation. It really means a lot to
Chris Rainey 14:13
people, yeah, and people remember that like I did, like, 15 years later. It's unbelievable. It's still so fresh in my mind of that conversation and yeah, recognition, I've
Eric Mosley 14:24
seen people receiving like a little $50 award and bursting into tears, and it's because it was pent up energy and kind of need that was filled with somebody saying thank you In and describing why they were saying thank you like the party, and it felt like a full circle moment. It felt like a breakthrough. And if they and they didn't have to the person who gave the recognition moment, they may never have done that. It was like it's not a contract. They didn't have to do that. And if they didn't do it, this person would still be left hanging. But, but because there was that closure. They just had a release. And so it is just unbelievably powerful,
Chris Rainey 15:04
yeah, I think one of the, one of the times that this, I'm just storytelling now, but one of the times that this came to life, which really shocked me, is all my family gets together every year for Christmas. There's like 20 of us, yeah? And we've got a lot of family based in Canada, all right. And aunty Carol flew over and during our Christmas dinner, yeah, she shared with everyone how excited that she was recognized at work, yeah? And she got her iPad, yeah, yeah, yeah. Think it was or something, but it wasn't about the iPad, yeah, yeah. She was so excited to share that the partners, yeah, in the consulting company she works for, yeah, yeah, I'd recognize though, yeah, she wanted to share it with the whole family, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, yeah. Just took me back, yeah. It's like, wow, yeah, yeah. Like, to your point, it was something that she was feeling, maybe she didn't feel valued. And yeah, she's been here a long time, and all of a sudden, yeah, she wanted to share that with the whole family, yeah,
Eric Mosley 15:59
yeah. I've seen, I've seen another great example that we've seen in our own business, in healthcare, in nurses. Nurses are the most under appreciated superheroes, you know, out there. And one of our customers, I think it was like a world gratitude day or something, but they gave all the nurses a thank you award with a nominal amount attached to it, and the outpouring they got back from the nurses saying, Oh, my God, I've worked for 20 years, and nobody has ever said thank you. And they what they mean by that is the the admin of the hospital and the doctors never say thank you. I mean, the patients sometimes do, but they were never recognized by their their you know, our colleagues, or the staff in the hospital, and they said, 20 years, and this was that, this is the day that made it all worthwhile. And I remember the CEO fed back that they they were so guilty. They couldn't believe that there was such a hole in the heart of these people who worked so hard. You know, it's something that, you know, work human as a company. And think of the name we like to make bring humanity to the workplace and make work more human. Our service milestones product is an anniversary product, and we designed it in such a way to make sure that on the anniversary that there's a whole experience. And to do that, you have to kind of mobilize the colleagues of the person. And to do that, you have to do some software tricks. You have to create some, you know, human engagement tactics using email and mobile to kind of nudge people to hey, go on to, you know, roses anniversary award and give a recollection of something, you know, some anecdote, and so on that day, when the person receives the award, it's 20 year or three year, or whatever it is, it's filled with memories. And I've seen it time and time again. People say, you know, I sat in bed on a Sunday morning when I received it overnight, because it was actually the Sunday and I read it and I cried, and it and it was just unbelievable. Yeah, that's building community, like, that's building connections, and it's reminding people that, you know, sometimes it's not even the company, it's, it's the people we meet along the way and the experiences that we have, that's, that's what sometimes makes work, you know, workable
Chris Rainey 18:15
100% Oh, so it's a, it's fantastic, people we spend half, a lot more than half our life, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. As you look ahead 2026, and beyond, it's hard to even think that far ahead. Right now, what are you most excited about?
Eric Mosley 18:30
Yeah, I think I'm most excited about we're doing some unbelievable work in data analytics and AI, and we're having more breakthroughs. You know, we productized in our human intelligence release, a lot of the stuff we talked about here, but we have a whole raft of new stuff coming that is really extraordinary. A lot of it is to do with predicting the future path of employees. Where you can, you know, you can find who's going to be promoted in two years, and you can actually, with a degree of credibility, say this person is actually going to be promoted within two or three years. That's incredible information to have and to bring to HR. So I'm really excited about that, because I think over time in companies, lots of people get looked over. You know, they get passed over, and people with great talents that they were never noticed, and it was never nurtured, and they were never given the opportunity. Well, maybe that's one of the things that AI will fix, that people will never, won't be left behind. They it will point them out and say, This person is as good as this other person at whatever and leadership qualities, and they should be on that leadership track. It's been able to, in some of our customers, predict three years before a promotion that a promotion was going to happen. Wow, that's really powerful. So I'm really looking forward to being able to productize that and get it out there. Exciting.
Chris Rainey 19:56
Everyone listen. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having us amazing. In a couple of days as well digest everything. Yeah, congratulations team, and the best is yet to come. And you too. Thank you very much.
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Eric Mosley, Founder and CEO of Workhuman.