A Day in the Life of an AI-Powered Executive

In just 18 months, ChatGPT has transformed from a novel experiment to a business imperative. No matter how much Anthrophic’s Claude and Microsoft Copilot try, the “OG” Gen AI tool seems impossible to beat.

According to our latest data, as of June 2024, the AI platform commands 3.1 billion monthly site visits, surpassing established platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and Amazon. 

More tellingly for you, according to its maker OpenAI, 92% of Fortune 500 companies have integrated ChatGPT into their daily operations. 

Knowing how to use ChatGPT is no longer enough. The competitive edge lies in mastering its applications across every facet of running your team and business.

So for this week’s newsletter, I’m leaving the typical analysis in favor of a practical look into what a workday for an AI-powered executive would look like, and how to achieve this:

The New 9-to-5: Leading with ChatGPT

So what does the new nine-to-five look like? Unless you’re like Jeff Bezos, who does all his hardest work in the morning, we’ll ease into ChatGPT after breakfast and get more advanced as the day progresses. 

Morning Routine: Basic AI Integration

‍9:00 AM - Daily News Analysis and Summary

The executive starts their day by scanning headlines from trusted news sources and industry-specific newsletters. 

They then turn to ChatGPT to synthesize this information and gain actionable insights through a well-crafted prompt like:

"As an expert Business Intelligence Analyst, provide a strategic briefing based on these headlines and summaries. Based on this information, please provide:

• A concise summary of the top 5 news stories relevant to our industry [specify industry]
• Potential short-term and long-term impacts on our business that I can brief my team on
• One or two strategic questions we should consider in light of these developments

Format as concise bullet points. Prioritize actionable insights over general summaries.

This briefing will guide our daily decisions and inform our upcoming strategy meeting. Thank you for your expert analysis."

This approach leverages ChatGPT's ability to process and synthesize information, contextualize it for the company's specific needs, save time, and provide a strategic start to the day.

The more detailed the prompt, the better the output will be. (Something we call “SuperPrompting.”)

10:00 AM - AI-Powered Email Handling

Next, the executive leverages Grammarly AI (#15). You may know Grammarly as a grammar checker, but its integrations have turned it into a full-blown assistant that answers your email as if you did. 

It’s always a hit when I introduce this during the Lead with AI course (the next cohort kicks off on Monday, so join us!).  

But certain emails need more than a quick AI-reply. 

For this, the executive turns to ChatGPT “GPTs,” mini-AIs trained to tackle a frequently returning task. Like an employee, these GPTs are laser-focused on their area of expertise, such as negotiation, sales discussions, or HR issues. 

If you’ve never built a GPT, you’re missing out on one of ChatGPT's best facets. Feel free to join this free GPT workshop to build your first one.

Mid-Morning: Intermediate AI Applications

‍11:00 AM - Board Meeting Preparation

Our executive has a meeting at 11 AM but understands (as Atlassian’s Annie Dean recommends) that this board prep is more critical.

So, they employ Otter.ai (ranked #45 in the AI for Work Top 100) to attend, transcribe, and summarize critical points from the meeting on their behalf. Otter can now even auto-screenshot slides for full context:

With this time freed up, our executive leverages a custom GPT built explicitly to prepare board meetings. 

This specialized AI tool, created using ChatGPT's GPT functionality, knows the typical format of this company’s board meetings and has been trained on documents like past board meeting minutes and annual strategic plans.

‍Again, if you’re new to GPTs, join our free GPT workshop to build your first one.

The executive prompts the custom GPT with recent wins and challenges and uploads additional performance update data. With a press of a button, a draft of the board memo is generated in seconds to be discussed at the next leadership meeting.

Afternoon: Advanced AI Utilization

2:00 PM - Strategic Initiative Development with AI

The executive dedicates two hours to developing a new strategic initiative using advanced ChatGPT, like chain-of-thought and few-shot prompting.  

(If you haven’t tried chain of thought and few-shot prompting, you'll get way more out of ChatGPT with this 3-hour live workshop I’m running on August 1.)

The AI assists in framing the problem, analyzing market data, generating strategy options, and outlining implementation steps. By guiding the AI through a structured thinking process, the executive quickly gains insights into market potential, the competitive landscape, and critical success factors.

The session results in a concise executive summary ready for further discussion, all done in a fraction of the time it would normally take.

4:00 PM - All-Hands Meeting Preparation

The executive prepares for the monthly all-hands meeting, using a Make.com and ChatGPT integration to streamline the process. 

Make.com is an “If This, Than That,” platform connected to multiple data sources and can pass information to and from ChatGPT.

(Check out all of our recommended AI websites here.)

The executive has set up a “Scenario” on Make that: 

• Gathers updates from department leads in Notion
• Collects key company metrics and financial data from Power BI
• Recent customer feedback and testimonials from Google Sheets
• Industry news and market trends from an RSS feed. 

Make.com then sends this information to ChatGPT, which analyzes the data and generates:

• A draft agenda with key talking points
• Potential Q&A topics and suggested responses
• Ideas for motivational themes or messages

The executive reviews the AI-generated content and then refines the agenda and talking points. They also add personal anecdotes and insights, prepare slides or visual aids based on the outline, and practice key messages and transitions.

Mastering AI: Key Strategies for Executives

When we hear about ChatGPT, we often think about creating content. However, as the above workday shows, AI can be even more powerful as a collaborator.

As Alexandra Samuel points out in her excellent and practical guide to using AI, many key use cases are inward-focused. 

As the world continues to turn to ChatGPT, it’s a great time to get ahead of the crowd by focusing on the platform's intermediate and advanced use cases.

1. Start with SuperPrompts: Use SuperPrompts to make every interaction with ChatGPT more valuable. (Find our free guide and generator here and join the July 15 cohort of Lead with AI here.)
2. Develop Custom AI Employees: Create specialized AI helpers for your unique needs, and tap them as you’d with human employees. (Check out our free workshop here.)
3. Learn Advanced Commands: Practice more complex prompts like chain-of-thought and few-shot to get even more out of ChatGPT. (Join the 3-hour  Class “Advanced ChatGPT” here.)

(See our recommendations for the best generative AI courses.)

And as Matt Kropp, BCG X's global CTO, told me in our interview that I released this week, 70% of AI's value comes from organizational change, not just technology. Successful AI adoption requires a holistic approach, focusing on employee engagement, co-designing solutions, and fostering a culture of continuous learning. 

But it all starts with you, showing the way and being the expert. 

See you next week,

– Daan