The habit gap

“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”
– Will Durant (on Aristotle)

“AI adoption is easy. Behavior change isn’t.”

That shift in thinking is exposing what many organizations are now facing. New tools are deployed, but the way work gets done doesn’t change.

Organizations aren’t struggling to implement AI—they’re struggling to change how people work. That’s the habit gap.

Our partners at 1st90 approach this differently by making learning part of the job itself. In the flow of work, employees learn, apply, and refine new behaviors within the tasks they already own.

The first 90 days become critical. This is where expectations are set, behaviors are practiced, and habits take hold.

In our work with Co-founders Paul Middleton, Mike Heslin, and their team at 1st90, we’ve repeatedly seen how embedding learning into daily workflows helps L&D leaders turn strategy into sustained behavior change.

In our partnership, we’ve also seen firsthand how 1st90 has evolved over the years —from initiatives spanning an award-winning mobile learning for new managers and a gold-medal leadership journey for women— to a broader behavior change operating system across the enterprise, with AI integration that quickly makes learning specific and relevant to the tasks at hand.

In their words, “It’s everything you need to turn strategy into daily habits across your entire organization, built on 15+ years of behavioral science and enterprise transformation expertise.”

Because performance doesn’t improve from knowing more—it improves from doing differently, consistently.

Curious what this could look like in your organization? Let’s talk.

One great thing for 04.21.26 – New from our partners at 1st90: The Behavior Brief: The Activation Gap — Why Your AI Rollout Isn’t Landing (Yet)