I hear this all the time from leaders:
“I don’t need AI to make me more productive — my days are already packed to the minute.”
And they’re not wrong.
Most executives’ calendars look like a game of Tetris, only with more recurring meetings and fewer satisfying “bing” sounds when things line up. (If Tetris had a level called “Quarterly Planning,” nobody would play it.)
→ But there’s a catch.
At the senior level, your value isn’t in checking boxes faster. You’re not judged on how many emails you send or how tidy your calendar looks. Your value is in the bets you make and the judgment you bring to decisions that shape the business.
That’s why the real power of AI for business leaders isn’t squeezing another 15 minutes into the day, it’s making sharper, smarter decisions with the time you already have. (NOTE: Just to be clear…you should use AI to squeeze another 15 minutes into your day so you can free up time to your “real work”)
The Productivity Trap
When AI comes up, many executives immediately think automation or efficiency.
- “It’ll write the first draft.”
- “It’ll take meeting notes.”
- “It’ll save my team time.”
And yes, AI can do all that. But here’s the problem at the leadership level: those aren’t typically the things holding you back.
If your calendar already looks like a game of Tetris, AI isn’t here to add another block. What it can do is help you figure out which blocks are worth keeping — and which you should have declined the invite to in the first place. (Yes, Susan, I’m looking at that “alignment call.” We all know it could have been a Slack message.)
AI is valuable for productivity. But for leaders, its transformational value is in decision-making.
Where AI Creates Executive Value
Think about the kinds of calls you make as a leader:
Strategic bets — which markets to enter, which products to prioritize.
Resource allocation — where to double down, where to cut.
Customer focus — how to adapt to shifting expectations.
AI isn’t here to run the meeting for you (if only). But it can bring you sharper inputs that make your decisions smarter.
Here are a few examples:
Decision amplification: AI can run scenario analysis in seconds, testing “what if” paths you might not have time to explore.
Market sensing: It can scan customer feedback, competitor updates, and industry chatter to surface trends earlier than your human network might.
Assumption testing: It can play devil’s advocate, spotting risks and blind spots you haven’t considered.
Think of it as a co-pilot with no ego. It won’t sulk if you ignore its advice, and unlike your last consultant, it doesn’t bill by the hour for every “what if” scenario. (And no, it won’t write a 40-slide deck nobody reads.)
Want to see how this looks in practice?
Check out my 20-60-20 Framework — it shows exactly how to split the work between you and your AI copilot for consistently professional results.
From Gut Instinct to Informed Instinct
Leaders often rely on gut instinct — and for good reason. Empathy matters. Experience matters. Pattern recognition matters.
But gut instinct without fresh information can also be misleading. That’s where AI can come in. It can give you the breadth of data to validate or challenge your intuition. Or take your 8-billion spreadsheet rows and surface new insights or perspectives you might have missed when you got bored at row 42.
Example: You’re considering launching a new product in Q2. Your instinct says the timing feels right. AI can layer in consumer search trends, seasonality data, competitor moves, and customer sentiment to show you whether Q2 really is the sweet spot — or whether you’re about to run headfirst into a slowdown.
I’ve trusted my gut plenty of times — sometimes it’s brilliant, sometimes it’s like letting my dogs pick dinner. (They’d choose steak, every night, with a side of more steak.) AI helps you double-check whether your “brilliant hunch” is genius or just hungry thinking.
The point isn’t to replace instinct. It’s to strengthen it. To move from gut-driven decisions to gut + evidence-driven ones.
AI helps you widen your lens so you can choose smarter priorities.
This is exactly what I mean when I talk about the Understand and Position stages in my UPGRADE Framework
Making It Real
So how do you put this into practice without overhauling your entire workflow? Start small.
Here’s your “homework” for this week:
Pick one decision on your desk right now. It could be a budget allocation, a business case, or a customer initiative.
Feed the context into an AI tool. Use a framework like PREPARED Prompting so your instructions are clear.
Ask for what you’re not seeing. Risks, opportunities, scenarios, alternative approaches.
Compare its output with your gut instinct. What did it confirm? What did it challenge?
This is how you move from theory to practice. Not by handing AI the keys, but by letting it sit in the passenger seat and point out the turns you might miss.
It’s like running your own private Shark Tank — except your AI co-pilot doesn’t interrupt, doesn’t want equity, and won’t text you later asking for speaking tips. (If it does, I want to know what model you’re using.)
Why This Matters
“Productivity gains are table stakes. Every company is finding ways to write emails faster, generate reports quicker, or automate routine tasks. Those are useful but they won’t differentiate you.”
What will differentiate you is how you use AI to think, decide, and lead differently.
Sure, AI can help you get to inbox zero. But let’s be real…you’ll never stay there. The real win is when AI helps you write the future of your business, not just clean up yesterday’s emails.
The leaders who embrace AI as a decision amplifier will set the pace. The ones who treat it like a glorified admin assistant? They’ll be the ones stuck in yesterday’s game while competitors play a whole new one.
What’s Next
Your Homework
Try applying AI to one strategic decision this week. Use PREPARED to guide your prompt, and compare its output to your gut instinct. Want more?
- Subscribe to my weekly AI Newsletter for ready-to-use prompts and strategies that go beyond productivity>
- Join my weekly AI Newsletter for the latest strategies, tools and ideas on using AI to sell more, serve better and think smarter
Next time, coming up we’ll tackle The CEO’s AI Adoption Curve — why so many leaders get stuck in Delegator mode, and how to move from outsourcing to owning.