Industry leaders share how they're building the skills, mindsets, and cultures needed to thrive in an AI-enabled future.

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Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of everyday work across the insurance industry. From streamlining processes and improving productivity to accelerating decision-making, the opportunities are significant. Yet as organizations explore new AI capabilities, many leaders are discovering that the most important conversations aren't about technology at all — they're about people.

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As AI reshapes how work gets done, insurance organizations are rethinking how they develop talent, build future leaders, and create cultures that support continuous learning. Rather than asking whether AI will replace jobs, leaders are increasingly focused on how employees can work alongside AI while strengthening the uniquely human capabilities that drive lasting business value.

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Building a Workforce Ready for Change

"The rise of AI has fundamentally shifted the conversation around workforce readiness and capability development," said Colleen Ellsworth, Director of Innovation Development at The Hanover Insurance Group.

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She noted that employees increasingly need a working understanding of AI and how it can be incorporated into daily work to improve efficiency, productivity, and innovation. That shift has prompted organizations to invest heavily in education, skill development, and employee enablement.

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"To support this transformation, we have placed a strong emphasis on education and enablement," Ellsworth said. 

"We are creating learning opportunities, assessing AI readiness across the organization, and actively listening to employees to understand where they are in their adoption journey."

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That focus on meeting employees where they are is a theme echoed across the industry.

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For Karla Thommen, Managing Director of People Operations at The Partners Group, the challenge isn't simply introducing AI — it's creating a path forward for employees with varying levels of comfort and experience.

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"Our focus with our talent has been identifying how to train and equip them to understand AI vs. automation, and advanced uses of AI that go beyond using it to write well-crafted e-mails," Thommen said.

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While some employees are already experimenting with more sophisticated applications such as building AI agents and sharing them with colleagues, others are approaching the technology with caution.

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"Meeting people where they are is important to enterprise-wide success," she said.

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The Skills AI Can't Replace

As organizations prepare for an AI-enabled future, one message is becoming increasingly clear: human capabilities are growing more valuable, not less. Both leaders pointed to critical thinking as one of the most important skills employees can develop.

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"While AI can generate insights, content, and recommendations at unprecedented speed, employees must be able to evaluate outputs, identify potential inaccuracies, and apply sound judgment before taking action," Ellsworth said.

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She also highlighted growth mindset, decision-making, and impactful communication as capabilities that become increasingly important as AI adoption grows.

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"AI can enhance productivity, but it is human expertise, context, and judgment that ultimately determine whether the technology creates meaningful business value."

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Thommen offered a similar perspective, emphasizing adaptability, resilience, curiosity, and critical thinking as essential capabilities for the future workforce. In fact, she believes organizations should be especially intentional about preserving critical thinking as AI becomes more prevalent.

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"Regardless of generation and experience, increased reliance on AI will dull our ability to be sharp critical thinkers," she said. "Essentially, we'll delegate strategic, critical, and creative thinking to AI."

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Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for human reasoning, leaders have an opportunity to reinforce the importance of thoughtful analysis, sound judgment, and curiosity. The employees who succeed in the future are unlikely to be those who simply know how to use AI. They will be those who know when to challenge it, validate it, and build upon it.

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Creating a Culture of Continuous Learning

Preparing employees for an AI-enabled future requires more than technical training. It requires a mindset of continuous learning. For Ellsworth, developing AI fluency means helping employees move beyond basic use cases and begin thinking about how AI can support higher-value work.

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"AI fluency goes beyond simply knowing how to write a good prompt," she said. "Employees need to develop an understanding of what AI is capable of and learn to think creatively about how it can be applied to their work."

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She encourages employees to view AI as a thought partner for research, analysis, problem-solving, decision-making, and innovation.

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"The most successful employees will be those who continuously explore new possibilities and challenge themselves to reimagine how work gets done with AI."

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That emphasis on exploration and learning also plays an important role in preparing future leaders.

While no organization can accurately predict the jobs that will exist a decade from now, leaders can equip emerging talent with skills that remain valuable regardless of how technology evolves.

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"The goal is not to prepare talent for a specific future role, but to cultivate individuals who can learn, evolve, and thrive to meet evolving business demands as work changes," Ellsworth said.

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Thommen agrees that leaders must actively coach employees to think critically, even when using AI-generated outputs.

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"If we don't know how to properly use the tool to get the best out of it and evaluate its output, how do we really know if we are achieving the most optimal result?" she said.

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People and Technology Must Evolve Together

"Don't think about AI as purely a technology initiative," Ellsworth said. "Leaders also need to understand how AI will enhance and evolve skills, ways of working, and the employee experience."

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She believes the organizations that will gain the greatest advantage won't necessarily be those with the most advanced tools, but those that invest in helping employees build new capabilities alongside those tools.

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Thommen similarly stressed the importance of balancing technology adoption with training, change management, and clear expectations. She also encouraged leaders to recognize that employees will adopt AI at different rates and for different reasons.

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"AI is not something we are 'doing to employees,' it is a new tool in their toolbox not unlike many others that they are provided with to ease their jobs, help them serve clients better, and be more efficient," she said.

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Looking Ahead

The future of work in insurance is undoubtedly being shaped by artificial intelligence. But if industry leaders are learning anything from this moment of transformation, it is that technology alone is not the differentiator. Success will belong to organizations that cultivate curiosity, strengthen critical thinking, invest in learning, and create cultures where employees feel empowered to adapt and grow. AI may accelerate change, but people will determine its impact.

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