Leading People
Gerry Murray talks to leading people about leading people. Get insights and tips from thought leaders about how to bring out the best in yourself and others.
Leading People
Discover how Context Makes Magic Happen
Ever typed a question into ChatGPT and gotten a weird or underwhelming response?
You’re not alone.
In this One Simple Thing episode, we explore why so many AI queries fall flat — and what leaders can do differently. There’s one small shift that makes all the difference… and no, it’s not about being a tech expert.
This is the final part of our short series on how to use AI to enhance your leadership — without losing your human touch.
🎧 Curious?
Hit play and find out what makes AI really work for you.
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Welcome to Leading People with me, gerry Marais, this week. It's One Simple Thing, where in each episode, I share a quick, actionable tip to help you bring out the best in yourself and others the best in yourself and others. One simple thing is created for young leaders, but hey, us older folks can still learn a thing or two. Ask my dog. He's learned a few new tricks recently. Here's a question for you have you ever typed a question into ChatGPT and the answer you got back was well, not quite what you were hoping for, or maybe even a bit off the wall. You're not alone, and here's why Because all meaning is context dependent. If you don't give AI enough context, it will do its best to fill in the blanks, but it's not a mind reader and, unlike your most intuitive colleague, it doesn't know you or what you meant, unless you tell it. So today's one simple thing is Learn how to brief an AI like a pro so you get relevant, useful responses every time. Now let me bring this to life with a story from my own kitchen table. My 17-year-old daughter had saved a bunch of fashion images to Pinterest for a year-long school project she's doing. She wanted help generating a color palette from them using ChatGPT. So she snapped a screenshot and uploaded it to the chat. Her message Make a color palette from this. Now, that's not a bad start, but ChatGPT had no idea this was part of a school project, that she was building an entire fashion collection, or that she needed ideas that were realistic, cohesive and in line with her personal style. It first gave her a palette, but not her palette, because it didn't know the context. Once we refined it and got more specific, it produced what she really wanted. And this is the mistake a lot of people make when talking to AI they throw in a prompt and hope for magic. But context is what makes the magic happen, and it doesn't have to be complicated.
Speaker 1:Here's a simple briefing checklist you can follow. You can think of it as the five essentials for briefing AI. Well, so the first is who is this for? Is it for a client, your boss, your team or even yourself? Number two what are you trying to do? Are you trying to write a message, prepare for a meeting? Are you trying to write a message, prepare for a meeting, explain a topic, brainstorm ideas? Number three why does it matter? Are you trying to impress, influence, inform, simplify or just clarify something?
Speaker 1:Number four where will this be used? Is it for a presentation, an email, a social post or just a conversation? And number five how do you want it to sound? Do you want it to sound friendly, formal, humorous, direct or just thoughtful? And once you answer these, even quickly, you're giving the AI guardrails and it can do much better work for you. And remember, you're not handing off your thinking, you're just giving your thinking assistant better instructions. In fact, the more thoughtful you are, the better it gets. In fact, the more thoughtful you are, the better it gets.
Speaker 1:And here's the aha moment. You don't need to be a tech wizard, you just need to be clear. And that's what good leaders do. They communicate clearly, whether with people or even machines. If this resonates, please share it with someone who's struggling with getting useful results from AI or who's just dipping their toe in. And that's another One Simple Thing. Thanks for tuning in. Remember, small steps can lead to big changes. Test out this One Simple Thing and notice how it transforms your day. Let me know how you get on. Reach out on LinkedIn and connect with me. Mention the podcast and if you'd like to learn more one simple things, then subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast channel and follow our LinkedIn Leading People page. In our next episode of One Simple Thing, we'll explore another easy way to be a great leader by bringing out the best in yourself and those around you. And in between, you can check out one of my longer conversations with leading people about yes, you've guessed it leading people. So until then, keep exploring and stay curious.
