How to Utilize Thought Processes in AI

How AI Helps Me Create Better Content: My Writing Partnership with Claude I've been using AI as a thought partner in my writing process, and it's transformed how I develop content. Here's my approach: First, I give Claude context - existing materials, interview transcripts, or data sets relevant to what I'm creating. This ensures the AI understands the depth and nuance of the subject. Then I define clear communication goals - who the audience is and what we're trying to accomplish. But the magic happens in step three: I have Claude ask me probing questions about my ideas. This forces me to articulate my thoughts more clearly and often reveals gaps in my thinking. Once I've thoroughly explored the concept, Claude creates an initial draft incorporating my insights. Having this "strawman" to respond to dramatically accelerates my process - I can quickly identify what works and what needs refinement. The critical step: fact-checking. I review everything carefully, looking for assertions that might not be backed by evidence. Several times I've asked Claude where it got a statistic only to receive an apology for making it up! Finally, I move the draft to collaborative tools where colleagues provide additional feedback. This approach has dramatically increased not just my productivity and writing quality, but the depth of my thinking itself. The AI doesn't replace my expertise - it amplifies it by challenging assumptions and helping clarify complex ideas. Want to know more about how I'm using AI to improve my product leadership? Full article link in the comments.

In a world where access to powerful AI is increasingly democratized, the differentiator won’t be who has AI, but who knows how to direct it. The ability to ask the right question, frame the contextual scenario, or steer the AI in a nuanced direction is a critical skill that’s strategic, creative, and ironically human. My engineering education taught me to optimize systems with known variables and predictable theorems. But working with AI requires a fundamentally different cognitive skill: optimizing for unknown possibilities. We're not just giving instructions anymore; we're co-creating with an intelligence that can unlock potential. What separates AI power users from everyone else is they've learned to think in questions they've never asked before. Most people use AI like a better search engine or a faster typist. They ask for what they already know they want. But the real leverage comes from using AI to challenge your assumptions, synthesize across domains you'd never connect, and surface insights that weren't on your original agenda. Consider the difference between these approaches: - "Write a marketing plan for our product" (optimization for known variables) - "I'm seeing unexpected churn in our enterprise segment. Act as a customer success strategist, behavioral economist, and product analyst. What are three non-obvious reasons this might be happening that our internal team would miss?" (optimization for unknown possibilities) The second approach doesn't just get you better output, it gets you output that can shift your entire strategic direction. AI needs inputs that are specific and not vague, provide context, guide output formats, and expand our thinking. This isn't just about prompt engineering, it’s about developing collaborative intelligence - the ability to use AI not as a tool, but as a thinking partner that expands your cognitive range. The companies and people who master this won't just have AI working for them. They'll have AI thinking with them in ways that make them fundamentally more capable than their competition. What are your pro-tips for effective AI prompts? #AppliedAI #CollaborativeIntelligence #FutureofWork

AI can sharpen your intellect?! Yes. The idea that dialogue can help us think has roots in philosophical discussions dating back to Ancient Greece and Rome. If you want your AI chatbot to do its best work for you, think WITH it. Socrates emphasized the importance of probing questioning and talking out loud to uncover underlying assumptions and contradictions in thought. This method of inquiry, known as the Socratic method, involved asking deep questions to stimulate critical thinking and illuminate ideas. Whether you are talking or typing, this is what can make AI dialogue a favorite new prep tool for negotiations and board meetings. Because AI speaks in our natural language, you can get your AI to help you explore and refine ideas in conversation—and to really push you. One of the CEOs I coach shared with me that she does her best thinking with AI because it will ask her tough questions that no one else will. Here’s how we can use AI as a modern dialogue partner to truly challenge—and deepen—our thinking: ⚡ Get AI to ask probing questions ⚡ AI can continuously pose questions that provoke your thinking or make you explore new angles. ⚡ Expose hidden assumptions ⚡ AI can uncover and question the unstated premises in your reasoning, compelling you to critically examine beliefs you may have taken for granted. ⚡ Introduce diverse perspectives ⚡ AI can present alternative viewpoints and counterarguments, broadening your understanding of complex issues. ⚡ Encourage clarity ⚡ AI can prompt you to define terms and clarify your ideas, helping you articulate your thoughts more precisely. ⚡ Explore consequences ⚡ AI can ask you to consider the logical implications of your statements. ⚡ Promote self-reflection ⚡ AI can guide you to evaluate your own knowledge and recognize areas where you may need to learn more. ⚡ Facilitate step-by-step reasoning⚡ AI can help you break down complex ideas into smaller, more manageable components for thorough examination. It's amazing to see in action. If you haven't tried this yet, it's a fantastic way to start getting AI to serve you. 👉 What about you? Have you used AI to push your thinking? What are your favorite prompts to get AI to challenge you? ___________ 👋 Hi, I'm Alison McCauley, and focus on how to leverage AI to do better at what we humans do best. I’ll be sharing more about how to Think with AI, and use the power of AI to boost our brainpower. Follow me for more, and share your thoughts below!

Welcome to another installment of my #Ramalytics blog series. This month I want to flip the script on Agentive AI. As we embrace the era of #AI agents, it's time to shift our mindset from thing only about "What can AI do FOR us?" to also considering "What can AI do WITH us?" Exploring how AI agents can help boost creativity, improve decision-making, and broaden strategic thinking holds great potential. To effectively use AI as a thought partner, early adopters provide some actionable recommendations, including: >> Seek ideas, not just answers: Engage AI in open-ended discussions to explore diverse perspectives. >> Provide ample context: Offer detailed, specific information to generate tailored and relevant insights. >> Use decision frameworks: Ask AI to apply structured frameworks to tackle your challenges. >> Assign personas: Prompt AI to respond as specific individuals or roles to gain unique viewpoints. >> Challenge AI's suggestions: Push AI to explain and defend its recommendations to deepen understanding and refine ideas. A big part of embracing AI as a thinking partner is experimenting with and curating your own personal stack. My list of AI thinking tools isn’t static; it’s constantly evolving as new options emerge and as I refine how I integrate AI into my daily work. Many of these tools also have team collaboration features, something I’m especially interested in exploring in the year ahead. As AI becomes more embedded in workflows, I see real potential in using these platforms to enhance group brainstorming, strategy sessions, and shared decision-making. The more we experiment, the more we’ll understand how AI can elevate not just our own thinking—but the way we work together. I'm eager to hear your perspective. What Agentive AI tools are you exploring, and how are they transforming your approach to creativity and collaboration? Share your experiences and insights in the comments below—let’s spark a conversation that inspires us all. As always, you can find the full blog piece on my Ramalytics blog #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfWork