How do you leverage AI and automation to enhance your strategic thinking?

The highest quality decisions come from structured Humans + AI workflows that integrate each's unique capabilities. For complex decisions a few specific AI roles at different decision stages include: Define decision: - deconstruct decision criteria - stakeholder perspectives - risk framework Generate options: - insights from diverse perspectives - structured ideation - systems mapping Assess options: - identify assessment criteria - apply decision frameworks - scenario-based assessment Decision: - AI-assisted group discussion - challenges and red-teaming - communication of decision rationale In designing a context-specific Humans + AI decision process, be sure to clarify the distinct roles of Generative AI and Analytic AI.

Generative AI tools such as LLM and text-to-image models offer a promising solution to traditional challenges in scenario planning. These tools can support analyzing existing trends and generating new ones, which is invaluable for scenario planning's trend-driven component. Additionally, these tools facilitate strategic ideation by providing a creative and data-driven approach to envisioning future scenarios. Importantly, they offer a cost-effective alternative, which is particularly beneficial for organizations with limited resources, enabling them to harness the advantages of scenario planning without breaking the bank.

I am currently using Chat GPT-4 asking questions like a "Jarvis" advisor from Iron Man. These are some prompts I use every day, hope they help you: 1- Provide a summary or analysis of a specific book, article, or research paper. 2- Explain a complex concept or topic in simple terms. 3- Help with problem-solving or brainstorming ideas. 4- Share historical context or background information on a particular event or person. 6- Describe the pros and cons of a specific technology, business strategy, or decision. 7-Help you to develop a business plan, marketing strategy, or project proposal. 9- Explain a scientific phenomenon or theory, such as quantum mechanics or relativity.

Mimicking human decision making is what AI is in simple terms. Decision making involves various data points. As the technology behind the AI improves for e.g. Transformer Architecture (GPT) uses large data sets and makes the generation/prediction more closer to human judgement. So, AI is becoming increasingly important as a tool for strategic thinking and strategic decision making.

GenAI tools are useful to expand ideation. While you need to add some inventive yourself, playing around with different prompts, top-p and using multiple models will at least throw new ideas or point you to papers etc. That should help you step out of the frame. More like a research tool and creative aid to be used wisely. Some caveats are the historical threshold of the data on which different models have been trained could impact the relevance of results, for example if investigating recent trends. Also, if everyone starts using the same tools and models, it's can happen that the overall level of collective diversity of novel ideas can converge to a narrower scope of similarity, especially in tasks requiring more open-creativity.

I haven't had the opportunity to use other AIs apart from Chat GPT and Dall-E. An AI that automates processes must be extremely helpful. Having an AI that cooks my breakfast, sorts my emails by importance, and makes coffee would be incredible. in the meantime, Chat GPT has helped me to quickly organize ideas, and create fast drafts that I can correct. Dall-E has helped me to materialize concept art for proposals that will most likely require a human artist to adjust and modify later. But for concept generation, they have been extremely helpful. Ramping up the speed of my workflow from something that could have taken hours to just minutes.

A Copilot for Strategy would be nice, an AI assistant that watches over your writing and gives you hints, pointers and additional data tailored to your domain. Over time, such a tool could probably even take care for you of revising and incorporating feedback or new data to your work, saving you from some grunt work.

The quality of any strategic plan is only as good as the strategic research that has been done. AI can more quickly produce rough drafts of the research when using a combination of AI types, analytic and generative. With that rough draft, a team can advance the strategic conversation sooner. In fact, AI can help decision makers and their teams work together earlier in the decision-making process. Where many decision makers rely on their teams to create a final product upon which they make a decision, decision makers can see the machine's final product immediately and steer their team to gather better quality output and advance the conversation from there.

AI can play a significant role in strategic innovation management by facilitating divergent thinking, enhancing idea specificity, fostering visualization, triggering novel design features, assessing ideas, integrating concepts, and supporting in idea execution planning. Several of these concepts are explored in our July/August 2023 Harvard Business Review cover article titled "How Generative AI Can Enhance Human Creativity."

There is a key point reflected here regarding iteration. Too often, business leaders will use AI and automation tools to save time and money with a "set it and forget it" strategy, as if the AI will optimize without input. But, in fact, it is critical to feed parameters into your tools to give them direction on where you are headed. These parameters need to align with the strategy you have defined before even engaging the tool. The process is iterative in that your parameters should be adjusted as you obtain more data and feedback from the tool.

There is a great fear that AI will replace us all, I think we may be falling for sensationalism and fear-mongering. AI will replace the professionals that refuse to use it with those who will take advantage of these systems to improve their workflows and speed to get results. AI can give you briefs on existing theories, analysis based on the evidence you are providing, and shorten the response time for model testing, all advantages to its uses. We should not fear AI, we should fear not learning how to work with it as another tool in our belt.

We use AI and automation extensively in our innovation processes, particularly focusing on synthetic data, rigorous testing, and autonomous research. By employing synthetic data, we can simulate a wide range of scenarios and outcomes without the constraints of real-world data limitations. This approach is invaluable for prototyping new products, as it allows for extensive testing and refinement in a controlled, yet realistic virtual environment. Our autonomous research capabilities, powered by AI, continuously explore new signals, driving innovation at a pace and depth not possible through traditional methods.

Es wird sicher nicht mehr sehr lange dauern, bis Sie einer KI dezidiert sagen können, welchen De-Bono Hut sie bitte als nächstes aufsetzen soll, um einen bestimmten Sachverhalt unter einem spezifischen Blickwinkel zu beleuchten. In der Folge werden Sie dann die KI außerdem anweisen können, verschiedene dieser Hüte aufzusetzen um letztlich auch noch mittels KI eine Zusammensicht dieser Sichtweisen zu aggregieren. Aber eines können Sie heute schon einmal versuchen, wenn Sie beispielsweise GPT-4 einsetzen. Lassen Sie die KI keine Antworten geben, sondern zur Abwechselung mal die Fragen stellen !

Used well, AI can dramatically improve our capacity for strategic thinking. Specific aspects include: - Surfacing emerging trends in your industry - Deconstruct problems into underlying issues - Ideate innovative solutions to issues - Generate useful metaphors and analogies - Generate relevant strategic options - Suggest criteria for assessing strategic options - Provide preliminary assessment of strategic options - Cross-disciplinary inspiration - Generate stakeholder personas and assess their viewpoints - Create and assess scenario frameworks This is a very small subset of specific ways AI can support strategic thinking. Far greater value comes from implementing an overarching "Humans + AI" strategic thinking process.

The key to strategic thinking is asking more and better questions rather than looking for answers. The most powerful use of the AI tools are to extend your question lists. Make your own list before looking at its list. Then show it your list and ask what other things you should be thinking about.

Listening bots, deployed across market, consumer, and technology landscapes, represent a significant advancement in how businesses gather and analyze information. These AI-driven tools continuously monitor various data sources – from social media and forums to market reports and news – providing real-time insights into consumer behavior, market trends, and emerging tech. Incorporating these insights into simulation models, businesses can test various strategic scenarios in a risk-free environment. This capability allows for the exploration of 'what-if' scenarios, to predict the impact of potential decisions and market changes. By leveraging this intelligence, companies can develop adaptive strategies that are responsive to real-time data.

The AI we've built redistributes varied perspectives over participants in ways, that participants learn from non-like-minded thinkers. This way, AI augments cognitive and creative power of the people, while at the same time, people add specific and creative intelligence AI is not capable of producing (yet). Combined, human intelligence and AI allow for swifter, highly engaging, critical-thinking and speed up strategic decision making.

Clearly answering how depends on the organization and team seeking to use AI. I have found that some trial and error is necessary to understand what the machine can be trusted to accomplish. Then, it is a matter of rethinking what your team can accomplish with the AI in an ideal world. For some teams, that means including decision makers earlier in their existing process while other teams may create a completely different decision-making process. Understanding what the AI can be trusted with inevitably means, the strategic thinker has more time to do higher levels of analysis and strategic thinking.

Some other benefits of leveraging AI: • Ignite creative disruption. Use AI to envision radical new business models. • Foster strategic resilience. AI’s predictive analytics can foresee market shifts, preparing you for the unpredictable. • Amplify human intuition. Pair AI insights with human judgment for nuanced decision-making beyond data alone. • Cultivate strategic empathy. Leverage AI to understand deep customer needs and societal trends, aligning strategy with empathy. • Decentralize decision-making. Empower teams with AI tools for localized, agile strategic choices, enhancing responsiveness. • Shift focus from efficiency to significance. Use AI to identify impactful opportunities, not just streamline operations.

One of the limitations of AI that is generally discussed is the presence of biases. However, AI can correct for certain biases. For example, it can help overcome biases associated with creativity and domain expertise, such as the inability to generate or appreciate novel ideas.

-AI can help researchers get high quality data faster and more efficiently than they could generate manually. -Decision makers then have access to more data to consider the complexities of any situation. -Analytic AI plays a role in quantitative research which can help qualitative researchers support their work. -Generative AI can play a role in qualitative research helping quantitative researchers to make their work more practical by explaining the implications of their data. -Generative AI's real value is with strategy collaboration. Collaborators have a vested interest in analyzing and criticizing the output of a machine. There are no emotional concerns with criticizing a machine's output, so more people feel free to contribute.

otro elemento que debemos considerar es asegurarnos de que la implementación de la IA y la automatización en tu proceso de pensamiento estratégico se realice de manera ética y responsable. Esto implica establecer políticas y procedimientos claros para garantizar la privacidad de los datos, evitar sesgos algorítmicos y garantizar que las decisiones impulsadas por la IA sean transparentes y comprensibles para todos los involucrados.

We must consider the risks of automation including the possibility that employees may be "de-skilled" through excessive use of AI. Moreover, the use of AI for simple tasks (like responding to emails) can introduce unhealthy dependencies and reduce individual and organisational resilience.

I asked Chat GPT to create a structure that I could follow to have a book in less than 100 days. I am windblown by the answer: 1- Start by setting a daily word count goal (500 words) and a clear deadline. 2-Begin with a thorough outline, structure, and key points of each chapter. 3-Dedicate time every day to write, at a consistent time and place, eliminating distractions. 4- Break the writing process into manageable chunks, one chapter or section at a time, avoid editing; complete the first draft and then revise in subsequent passes. 5- Stay accountable by sharing your progress with friends, and celebrate small milestones along the way. 6- By consistently working toward your goal, you'll have a completed manuscript in under 100 days.