Most people are using AI to move faster. That makes sense. Faster emails. Faster research. Faster summaries. Faster proposals. Faster content. Faster everything.

I get it. I use AI every day, and I’d be lying if I said the speed wasn’t valuable. It is. But I also think that’s the least interesting part of what AI can do.

The real power of AI is not that it helps you crank out more stuff. The real power is that it can help you think more clearly before you act.

That matters more than people realize, especially in leadership. When you are running a company, leading a team, selling a deal, managing a client relationship, or making a hard call, speed is not enough. In fact, speed without better thinking can just help you make bad decisions faster.

That is where I think a lot of people are missing the opportunity. They treat AI like a task machine. “Write this.” “Summarize that.” “Make this shorter.” “Give me ten ideas.” There is nothing wrong with any of that, but it barely scratches the surface.

The better use is to make AI push you.

Before an important meeting, I do not just want AI to help me prepare talking points. I want it to challenge my assumptions. I want it to tell me where my argument is weak. I want it to show me what a skeptical CEO, CFO, client, employee, or board member might say back to me. I want it to help me see the conversation from the other side before I’m actually in it.

That is a completely different level of value.

The same is true with decision-making. Do not just ask AI what you should do. Ask it to lay out the tradeoffs. Ask it what you are probably underestimating. Ask it what could go wrong. Ask it to argue against your favorite idea. Ask it what information would change the recommendation. Ask it to separate emotion, assumption, and fact.

That does not replace your judgment. It makes your judgment better.

I think this is especially important in remote work, where so much happens in isolation. We make decisions from behind screens. We send messages without hearing tone. We jump from email to Slack to Zoom to documents and back again. It is easy to confuse activity with progress. AI can help cut through that if you use it the right way.

For me, the goal is not to outsource thinking. I have no interest in that. The goal is to create a sharper thinking environment. AI gives you a sounding board, a debate partner, an editor, a strategist, and sometimes the person in the room willing to say, “That doesn’t actually make sense yet.”

That is incredibly valuable.

The companies and professionals who win with AI will not just be the ones who produce more. They will be the ones who decide better, communicate better, prepare better, and waste less mental energy getting there.

Using AI to move faster is helpful.

Using AI to think better is the real advantage.

These example prompts have been added into the free guide: “Prompts to Turn AI Into a Thinking Partner”.