What it means to develop at work is evolving. Development was once synonymous with promotions or upward mobility. As AI turns into extra embedded in our instruments and workflows, it’s additionally beginning to form how we develop. In consequence, it’s simply as a lot about gaining new expertise, adapting rapidly, and elevating efficiency inside present roles.
At HubSpot, we’re exploring this shift from a couple of completely different angles. From the beginning of 2025, we made a company-wide dedication to turning into an AI-fluent group, not simply by deploying instruments, however by cultivating the precise tradition and mindset. That meant serving to workers see AI as a possibility fairly than a menace, creating house for experimentation, and reinforcing that studying to work with AI is core to progress, not separate from it.
On this paper, we’re beginning with progress by the lens of influence, one of the vital seen and measurable dimensions. How is AI altering what folks can obtain of their day-to-day roles? And what does that inform us concerning the potential for deeper, longer-term progress?
Already, we’re seeing promising indicators connecting AI utilization to progress. In line with our inner Worker Expertise survey, workers who really feel snug utilizing AI are 1.3x extra more likely to say they perceive how you can develop their careers at HubSpot. That type of confidence issues. It suggests AI isn’t simply serving to folks transfer quicker, it’s serving to to unlock actual progress alternatives.
Whereas many firms are nonetheless determining how you can meaningfully combine AI, HubSpot is already seeing excessive utilization and visual influence. Thus far in 2025, not less than 98% of workers have used an AI instrument on the job, whereas over 85% have used AI on a month-to-month foundation. And 84% of workers say they really feel snug and assured utilizing AI of their day-to-day work, in response to inner survey information.
This momentum isn’t unintentional. Throughout the U.S., solely 33% of workers really feel their office is taking motion on integrating AI into their practices, in response to a latest Gallup ballot. At HubSpot, the shift started with a powerful top-down encouragement from management. Our CEO Yamini Rangan and the manager staff set the tone early by modeling curiosity, prioritizing experimentation, and normalizing AI utilization, making a tradition the place making an attempt new instruments wasn’t simply accepted, however anticipated.
That early management sign laid the muse for the enablement that adopted. From there, we invested in giving workers the instruments and assist they wanted to develop their expertise. That features GrowDAI, a two-day deep dive into foundational AI expertise, and MondAI Minute, a weekly collection the place workers share how they’re placing AI into observe. We additionally supply an AI program by Degreed, made up of a number of curated programs and ending with an AI fluency evaluation. On condition that we place ourselves as an AI-first firm, each in our product technique and core enterprise processes, we see it as important to construct the identical fluency internally.
“One factor I deeply admire about HubSpot is the corporate’s funding in serving to groups be taught and experiment with AI. We have been given not simply the time and house to discover, but additionally the instruments and sources. This type of assist has made it a lot simpler to construct confidence, keep curious, and assume creatively about how AI can improve our work.” – HubSpot Worker
And the funding is being felt: 91% of HubSpotters say their division is working with urgency to undertake and combine AI. However the aim isn’t simply adoption, its transformation. What does it actually imply to develop with AI?
It’s simple to border AI as a instrument for effectivity, fewer clicks, quicker drafts, faster solutions. However progress is a special type of end result. It’s not nearly velocity or quantity. It’s about influence, constructing new capabilities, regaining momentum after setbacks, and discovering readability in moments of uncertainty.
That’s why at HubSpot, we’ve been serious about AI not simply as a productiveness instrument, however as a progress enabler. Development isn’t only a nice-to-have, it’s one of many core pillars of our Individuals Technique, alongside readability, belonging, and recognition. As AI turns into extra embedded in how we work, we’ve began asking a deeper query: can it additionally grow to be a driver of how we develop?
AI Boosts Gross sales Attainment
One of many clearest methods to look at progress in motion, particularly in fast-paced roles, is thru gross sales attainment. It is a sharp, measurable sign of efficiency and momentum. With that in thoughts, we examined how AI adoption pertains to attainment amongst HubSpot reps.
In our earlier analysis on readability, we discovered that mission readability, understanding how your work connects to the corporate’s goal, was strongly linked to efficiency. Gross sales reps with excessive mission readability had 27% increased attainment than these with low readability, reinforcing the concept alignment drives outcomes.
Constructing on these insights from our readability analysis, we wished to see whether or not utilizing AI might drive comparable attainment enhancements, particularly by how particular person gross sales reps modified over time. We tracked reps’ attainment throughout the month they began utilizing AI and once more one month later to see if their efficiency improved.
To create a good comparability, we assigned non-AI customers a randomly chosen ‘begin month’ that mirrored the timing of AI adoption. This allowed us to check efficiency modifications over the identical kind of timeframe.
The outcomes had been clear. Reps who started utilizing AI confirmed significant positive factors after only one month in comparison with prior efficiency. They usually didn’t simply progress relative to their very own previous efficiency; additionally they outperformed friends not utilizing AI.
Apparently, we additionally discovered that reps who selected to make use of AI began from a better baseline, hinting they might have been extra proactive from the beginning. They weren’t simply making an attempt to catch up, they had been seeking to stage up.
This early sign means that AI, like readability, could assist folks focus extra on what issues, transfer with extra confidence, and see significant outcomes.
AI Helps Rebounds After Setbacks
AI has already proven it could assist gross sales reps construct momentum. However its worth could go additional, it could additionally assist progress or efficiency rebounds after setbacks.
We targeted on a gaggle of underperformers: workers who obtained an “Unsatisfactory” or “Wants Enchancment” ranking within the second half of 2024. We then tracked whether or not their efficiency improved within the first half of 2025, and whether or not AI use made a distinction.
The information suggests it did. Amongst this group, those that used AI throughout the overview interval had been extra seemingly to enhance their efficiency rankings by the following cycle. Additionally they tended to make use of a wider vary of instruments, and to stay with them extra constantly throughout the overview interval.
For workers seeking to get again on monitor, AI could also be greater than only a instrument, it may very well be an necessary enabler to assist them flip issues round.
Dialogue & Implications
Throughout roles and outcomes, the info tells a constant story: AI isn’t simply making work quicker, it’s serving to folks carry out higher. From gross sales reps reaching increased attainment to underperformers enhancing their rankings, the influence of AI is exhibiting up in ways in which transcend effectivity. It’s supporting focus, readability, momentum, and in lots of instances, actual progress.
So if AI has this type of potential, the following query turns into: how can we be certain that it sticks? Impression like this doesn’t come from entry alone, it comes from tradition. Groups want greater than instruments; they want the assist, belief, and mindset to develop with them.
That’s why at HubSpot, we’ve targeted not simply on adoption, however on constructing an AI-first mindset. In a latest LinkedIn put up, our CEO Yamini Rangan outlines what it takes to create this type of atmosphere. As she put it, it’s not nearly utilizing AI, it’s about embedding the practices that assist groups undertake it meaningfully and sustainably.
A few of the methods we’re doing that embrace:
- Modeling utilization from the highest: When leaders use AI visibly and infrequently, it builds belief and normalizes experimentation.
- Create purposeful constraints: When paired with daring objectives, good constraints can push groups to innovate with AI in significant methods.
- Empowering small groups to check and share: AI “tiger groups” assist create momentum from the bottom up.
- Investing in studying: Applications like GrowDAI and MondAI Minute create house for skill-building, not simply adoption.
- Hackathons: Creating participating methods for groups to check new concepts and instruments to handle actual enterprise challenges.
- Measuring and sharing progress: Visibility into what’s working builds momentum throughout groups.
“HubSpot’s been doing so nice at pivoting rapidly to experience the AI wave. With all the worker upskilling, it appears like I am a part of one thing greater. It makes me need to push myself in my position to contribute and keep forward too.” – HubSpot Worker
As we proceed to be taught from how workers are utilizing AI, one in every of our subsequent priorities shall be understanding why AI makes a distinction, and what particular practices or use instances are driving these outcomes. That perception shall be key to guiding each enablement and technique going ahead.
The takeaway right here is evident: the expertise is just one a part of the equation. At HubSpot, we set the tone early in our AI journey with a transparent cultural dedication to AI, grounded in curiosity, belief, and a progress mindset and are seeing actual advantages in consequence.
