Know Decide Act summary

Let's try something. Open up an LLM like ChatGPT and type: "These apples are great". You'll probably get a response like:  "I'm glad you're enjoying them! Fresh apples are delicious. Is there anything specific to these apples you'd like to discuss?"

But context changes everything. Revise your prompt to say: "We are walking into an Apple Store and I say to you 'These apples are great'". Suddenly the AI understands and adjusts its response to something like: "Ah, I see the misunderstanding now! You're talking about Apple products at an Apple Store, not actual fruit."

If you work a 9-5, you probably have a scary number of unread emails in your inbox. This is where AI can step in to lighten the load. Here are three ways AI can transform your email workflow.

Let’s start with a familiar scenario: It's 10:30 PM, and you've just received an infuriating email from your manager asking why you haven't completed a report they never assigned you. Your instinct? Fire back an angry response. Instead, draft your thoughts, then ask AI: "Please edit this email to maintain my core message but make it professional." Your heated draft becomes: "I want to clarify that this report wasn't previously assigned to me. I'm happy to prioritize it now. Could we discuss timeline requirements tomorrow?" Crisis averted!

When most people think of AI, they think of text-based tasks like drafting emails or creating content. But AI can tackle far more, including complex challenges like onboarding employees to new software systems.

For example, if you work in IT or tech support, you know how this usually goes. A management directive mandates a software upgrade or new system. But adoption rates lag. Workers are frustrated by the change and find the learning curve too steep.

Let’s look at just two scenarios where AI can dramatically streamline your workload.

First – analyzing data. Let’s say your CEO drops by with a request like this one: "Our Glassdoor reviews aren't great. Can you look into it?" Pre-AI, this task would mean hours hunched over spreadsheets. But with AI, you can upload those reviews to a platform like ChatGPT and get an immediate synthesis of the raw data. Then drill down with targeted prompts, like: "Show me patterns in negative reviews from employees who left within their first year" or "Compare satisfaction scores between engineering and marketing departments." Within minutes, you might discover that new hires in technical roles consistently mention inadequate onboarding resources – a specific issue you can now address strategically.

Data pros love to analyze, discovering hidden patterns and insights that drive strategic decisions. But there's a pretty big downside to the job: wrangling the data into an analyzable state. It's time-consuming, tedious, and not exactly the stimulating work that attracted you to data analysis in the first place.

We've already touched on how AI can help synthesize large amounts of data. But specialized platforms like Microsoft Power BI can handle way more data (we’re talking millions of rows) and quickly package it into charts, graphs, and other visuals as well as prototype dashboards. 

Finance professionals know the value of a personal touch when advising clients, but much of their time is spent on routine tasks like drafting investment proposals. AI can streamline this process, allowing you to focus on delivering tailored advice.

Here's how this might work in practice: A couple based in Singapore schedules a meeting to discuss planning for their child's education costs. Before they arrive, you might prompt your AI to take on the persona of a financial advisor specializing in education planning for expatriates in Singapore. You'd specify that you need help preparing for a meeting with a couple saving for their 3-year-old daughter's university education in the US. You'd provide context about their combined annual income, existing investments, and savings timeline. You'd ask for questions to better understand their needs and, finally, request a draft follow-up email with key points.

We've seen how AI frees professionals from tedious tasks to focus on creative, strategic work. But we've only scratched the surface of what AI can do for you! Let’s finish with a lightning round of game-changing AI applications. Keep up!

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