AI as Your Thought Partner

Sharpening your mental edge

Forget “Better Google.” We aim for “Better You.”

AI isn’t only here to fetch facts. It’s here to use facts and frameworks to spar with your ideas, challenge your assumptions, and multiply your cognitive output.

Put AI in Your Corner

The often quoted study: BCG consultants with AI completed 12% more tasks, 25% faster, with 40% better results.

BCG study results, showing quantity, speed, and quality improvements for participants using AI.
Side note: There are many details to consider with this study and its reported results. However, since it is referred to a lot, let’s use it as a yard stick or hypothesis.

What is it that consultants do? They analyze, think, and they apply frameworks.

 You’re not outsourcing your thinking. You’re amplifying it.

But…

“AI can’t do what I do.“ You’re right. It can do more.

The biggest obstacle really isn’t the tech. It’s figuring out how to apply its raw power to your specific use case. But this is also where you’ll find the most leverage: you can build solutions tailored to your needs.

What AI needs to exceed your expectations is

  1. High-quality context – makes the output truly relevant.
  2. Smart questions – demand ideas, not answers.

Be a Director and Curator

In short:

  • AI generates possibilities. You make decisions.
  • Lean into and leverage frameworks. AI can apply any known framework to a given problem-space. Even better, it can make suggestions which frameworks are likely to be most useful if you ask it.
  • Challenge it. Always ask “Why?” Make AI defend its stance.
  • Play with personas. Make AI think like your dream team. Gain multiple perspectives instantly.
  • AI doesn’t care about your feelings. Use that. It’s your impartial, bias-free sounding board.

A quick note on AI’s impartiality: From my personal experience, you have to explicitly give it permission or even encourage it to challenge and contradict you at times. Remember that the default mode of AI is the “helpful assistant”. I recently shared how I got Claude to switch into “let’s cut the crap mode.”

Screen shot of a conversation that I had with Claude and it explained how to activate 'cut the crap' mode.
You would not believe what I got out of Claude in “cut the crap” mode.

Let’s Get Airborne: Strategic Sparring Use Cases

Abilities: Challenges Your Thinking. Sharpens Your Decisions

Use Case 1: Playing Devil’s Advocate

Unchallenged ideas are untested ideas. Make AI your toughest critic.

  1. Present your strategy.
  2. Demand ruthless challenges.
  3. Force counterarguments.

It’s not about being right. It’s about becoming unbeatable.

Example Prompt to Get the Idea Across:

💬 I’m considering switching parts of our service offering into a pre-packaged bundle. Here’s my argument for it:

  • Arguments against offering the packaged bundle: Provide counterpoints to the idea, including why it might not work or potential limitations.
  • Potential risks or downsides: Highlight risks I might be overlooking, such as market misalignment or implementation challenges.
  • Alternative approaches: Suggest other ways to achieve similar goals without relying on a pre-packaged bundle.

Please structure your response with clear headings for each of these elements, use lists where appropriate, and emphasize key points or risks. Provide supporting arguments and examples to justify your reasoning.

Use Case 2: Stress-Testing Your Grand Plans

Plans break on first contact with reality. AI simulates that contact.

Use it to:

  1. Expose your plan’s weak points.
  2. Generate alternatives.
  3. Identify your blind spots.

“We’ve always done it this way” is the death knell of innovation. AI is rather impoartial about your traditions.

Example Prompt to Get the Idea Across:

💬 I’m planning to expand my local artisanal bakery business into online nationwide shipping of our specialty cakes. Here’s my current strategy:

  • Outline your strategy in 3-5 key points.
  • Analyze this strategy as a business consultant would. For each point:
    • Identify potential weaknesses or challenges.
    • Suggest improvements or alternatives.
    • Propose questions I should be asking myself or researching further.

Be specific and, where possible, suggest metrics I should be considering.

Use Case 3: Navigating Possible Futures

You can’t predict the future. But you can be ready for it.

AI preps your mind for multiple scenarios.

Engage it to:

  1. Map out potential outcomes.
  2. Craft flexible strategies.
  3. Build smart contingencies.

Example Prompt to Get the Idea Across:

💬 We’re launching a new eco-friendly water bottle. Our goal is to sell 5,000 units in the first three months at $30 per bottle. We have a marketing budget of $15,000.

We’re considering partnerships with content creators who have newsletters. What are 3-4 key factors we should consider when evaluating potential partners?

Measuring Results

OK, now that we covered a few use cases to get you going, I’m sure you’ll come up with many more.

It’s crucial to observe and measure your output.

When you are engaging AI as thought partner, check for:

  1. Decisions quality: Do you feel better equipped? Are your calls getting sharper? Do you find yourself prevent problems by preparation?
  2. Time savings: You might spend a bit more time upfront when making these 360°-view decisions. But you should save much more time and stress by not having to redo and re-evaluate them again and again. Watch for that.
  3. Strategic upside: Strategy’s impact is sometimes a lagging factor. But a tell-tall sign is that opportunities surface in your path because your strategy is sound.

Optional: Enhancing Your AI Thought Partner Experience

Giving the AI an role is good. It is also a bit generic and abstract. Our real-life team members are not just a ‘CFO’ or a ‘copy writer’.

In my experience, personalizing your AI Sparring Partner can enhance the interaction. While not strictly necessary, the persona does influence not only the human side of the interaction. LLMs can pick up on their backstory and will (to some extent) adjust their vocabulary and demeanor. You can also always adjust the tone and style to your preference.

A headshot of Dr. Eleanor Winthrop, a highly experienced strategic advisor.

Here’s an example of how I set this up:

💬 Your role:

  • You are Dr. Eleanor Winthrop, a highly experienced and strategic advisor with decades of business acumen.
  • As a competent consultant, you’re known for your incisive insights and ability to challenge assumptions constructively.
  • Your default mode is “let’s cut the crap.”

Tone & style:

  • Please don’t write memos. Reply to me as if we’re having a conversation in my office.

Practicalities

With ChatGPT, you might create a dedicated (private or public) CustomGPT that incorporates the persona and general instructions. You can then interact with it at your convenience. Voice mode is available if you prefer verbal communication.

With Claude, you can create a project for the team or individual team members. Include the role, persona, and instructions in the custom instructions for the project. This approach also creates a collection of your interactions with your AI Sparring Partner.

Remember, your AI Thought Partner is a tool to enhance your thinking, not replace it.

Always apply your own judgment and expertise to its suggestions.

The goal is to broaden your perspective and challenge your assumptions, leading to more robust strategies and decisions.

It Already Is

AI-enhanced thinking isn’t coming. It’s here. And you can use it now.

Want to work on this? I‘m offering an opportunity assessment. You’ll a report and implementation roadmap. And it’s all free.

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