So, have you been using AI to help you with your work?
It’s not often I finish a podcast interview and immediately change how I work, but that’s exactly what happened after my conversation with AI expert Jonathan Mast.
In the latest Talk About Talk podcast, ep.193 AI Prompting Secrets You’ve Never Heard, we dove into how AI can completely transform the way you communicate at work. From SOPs to difficult emails to that big keynote you’re dreading, AI can’t do the work for you, but it can make it feel a heck of a lot easier.
Here are three big takeaways Mast shared that you can put into practice today:
1️⃣ Give AI your dreaded work
If you’re like most execs, you’re brilliant at vision but allergic to detail. Mast gets it.
“We’re really good at 30,000 feet, not so much at 500. And so we do better with vision… but ChatGPT is amazing at bridging that gap and turning our big-picture ideas into step-by-step SOPs.”
And those emails you’re procrastinating writing?
“I can now get [them] done in just moments with AI… I don’t have to be nice. AI will do that for me.”
(Yes, that includes the dreaded “we won’t be moving forward” email.)
In other words, Mast encourages you to delegate some of your most dreaded tasks to AI. The AI doesn’t mind!
2️⃣ The Perfect Prompting Framework
I invited Mast on the podcast because I’d heard him say something that stopped me in my tracks:
“Forget the AI prompts. I have a Perfect Prompting Framework.”
And you know I love a good framework! Here it is:
- Tell the AI what kind of expert it is (economics, business strategy, social psychology, etc.)
- Give it context. What are the relevant details?
- Ask your question.
- Then ask it “What questions do you have for me to optimize your output?”
This last point, “What questions do you have for me to optimize your output?” is absolute GOLD.
When I say this framework changed the game for me, I mean I started using it immediately, and the results were night and day from what I was receiving before I learned the framework.
BONUS: After I learned Mast’s Perfect Prompting Framework, I shared it with several friends and we added two ideas:
- Tell it what kind of output you’re looking for (a list, a paragraph, an image, etc.)
- Remind it what you don’t like (I always say: “Remember: no emojis, no em dashes, no solid lines.”)
I asked Mast what he thinks about these two adds, and he fully condones them. (Yay!)
Here’s my advice for you: Copy the Perfect Prompting Framework above. If you like, add my two points. Paste it at the top of your to-do list to remind you to use it every time you use AI.
I promise you, this AI prompting framework changes everything!
3️⃣ AI is not optional, it’s electricity
As you’ll hear in the episode, Mast is masterful at using metaphors. He describes the way most of us use AI as playing with a slot machine, entering prompts and hoping for the best. Then trying again and again until we hit the jackpot.
Here’s another of Mast’s metaphors: “We resemble the southbound end of a northbound mule.” You’ll have to download the episode to hear that gem in context.
We ended the episode with Mast’s best metaphor yet:
“AI is like electricity. You don’t think about it until it’s gone, but it’s powering everything. And as a leader, it’s your responsibility to model how to use it.”
I encourage you to think carefully about how AI can help optimize productivity for you and your team, and your boundaries around using it.
This point resonated with me as a thought leader. Yes, I use AI every day, but I have boundaries. I use AI to help me brainstorm ideas and to come up with metaphors(!). But I never use AI to write drafts.
Similarly, I’ve read that business leaders can and should use AI to help them craft form letters, but never for anything personal.
AI is like electricity. What are you using AI for?
If you only remember one thing…
One of the biggest takeaways from my interview with Mast was something that really surprised me.
I went in thinking of myself as a late adopter of AI, but when Mast shared how few people are actually using it well, I realized I might actually be ahead of the curve (and there I was beating myself up!).
The real wake-up call was this: You’re probably not going to lose your job to AI, but you could lose it to someone who knows how to use AI better than you.
That means I’m not worried about a robot stealing my job as a communication coach, but I am keeping an eye on the coach who’s using AI more strategically than I am.
Whether you’re deep in daily prompts or still wondering what to type, the latest Talk About Talk podcast episode is a must-listen. As always, you can listen (or watch) on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Let me know what you think!
Talk soon,
Dr. Andrea Wojnicki
executive communication coach