What it means to develop at work is evolving. Development was 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. Consequently, 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 just a few 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 relatively than a risk, creating house for experimentation, and reinforcing that studying to work with AI is core to development, not separate from it.
On this paper, we’re beginning with development by way of the lens of influence, probably the most 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 development?
Already, we’re seeing promising indicators connecting AI utilization to development. In accordance with our inner Worker Expertise survey, workers who really feel comfy utilizing AI are 1.3x extra more likely to say they perceive the way to develop their careers at HubSpot. That type of confidence issues. It suggests AI isn’t simply serving to folks transfer sooner, it’s serving to to unlock actual development alternatives.
Whereas many firms are nonetheless determining the way to meaningfully combine AI, HubSpot is already seeing excessive utilization and visual influence. To date in 2025, at the least 98% of workers have used an AI software on the job, whereas over 85% have used AI on a month-to-month foundation. And 84% of workers say they really feel comfy and assured utilizing AI of their day-to-day work, based on inner survey knowledge.
This momentum isn’t unintended. Throughout the U.S., solely 33% of workers really feel their office is taking motion on integrating AI into their practices, based on a current Gallup ballot. At HubSpot, the shift started with a powerful top-down encouragement from management. Our CEO Yamini Rangan and the chief staff set the tone early by modeling curiosity, prioritizing experimentation, and normalizing AI utilization, making a tradition the place attempting 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 help 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 follow. We additionally provide an AI program by way of Degreed, made up of a number of curated programs and ending with an AI fluency evaluation. Provided 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 respect 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 in addition the instruments and assets. This type of help has made it a lot simpler to construct confidence, keep curious, and suppose 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 software for effectivity, fewer clicks, sooner drafts, faster solutions. However development is a unique type of consequence. 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 fascinated with AI not simply as a productiveness software, however as a development enabler. Development isn’t only a nice-to-have, it’s one of many core pillars of our Folks 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 develop into a driver of how we develop?
AI Boosts Gross sales Attainment
One of many clearest methods to watch development 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 objective, was strongly linked to efficiency. Gross sales reps with excessive mission readability had 27% greater 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 related attainment enhancements, particularly by how particular person gross sales reps modified over time. We tracked reps’ attainment through 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 match efficiency adjustments over the identical sort of timeframe.
The outcomes have been clear. Reps who started utilizing AI confirmed significant positive aspects 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 attempting to catch up, they have been trying to degree up.
This early sign means that AI, like readability, might 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 may well assist gross sales reps construct momentum. However its worth might go additional, it could additionally help development or efficiency rebounds after setbacks.
We centered on a gaggle of underperformers: workers who acquired 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 through the overview interval have been extra probably to enhance their efficiency rankings by the following cycle. In addition they tended to make use of a wider vary of instruments, and to stay with them extra constantly throughout the overview interval.
For workers trying to get again on observe, AI could also be greater than only a software, it could possibly be an vital enabler to assist them flip issues round.
Dialogue & Implications
Throughout roles and outcomes, the information tells a constant story: AI isn’t simply making work sooner, it’s serving to folks carry out higher. From gross sales reps reaching greater attainment to underperformers bettering 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 circumstances, actual development.
So if AI has this type of potential, the following query turns into: how can we be sure that it sticks? Impression like this doesn’t come from entry alone, it comes from tradition. Groups want greater than instruments; they want the help, belief, and mindset to develop with them.
That’s why at HubSpot, we’ve centered not simply on adoption, however on constructing an AI-first mindset. In a current LinkedIn submit, our CEO Yamini Rangan outlines what it takes to create this type of surroundings. As she put it, it’s not nearly utilizing AI, it’s about embedding the practices that assist groups undertake it meaningfully and sustainably.
Among 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, sensible 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 trip the AI wave. With all the worker upskilling, it appears like I am a part of one thing greater. It makes me wish to push myself in my function to contribute and keep forward too.” – HubSpot Worker
As we proceed to be taught from how workers are utilizing AI, one among our subsequent priorities will likely be understanding why AI makes a distinction, and what particular practices or use circumstances are driving these outcomes. That perception will likely be key to guiding each enablement and technique going ahead.
The takeaway right here is obvious: 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 development mindset and are seeing actual advantages in consequence.
