In boardrooms everywhere, the conversation around AI is heating up. We’ve seen countless headlines proclaiming, “It’s coming!” or “It’s here!” — asking companies, “Is your organization ready?” and cautioning, “Beware of cybersecurity!”
There is both noise and hype on AI. The pace is astonishing, and AI’s rapid evolution has left us marveling at the possibilities while grappling with its implications.
As board members guiding companies through this new era, we want to ask: How can AI help us, the governance leaders, perform our duties more effectively?
Gaining hands-on AI experience is essential. The more practical exposure board members have to AI, the better equipped they’ll be to steer their organizations through this transformative era, and the best way to understand AI’s potential is by actively using these tools in our day-to-day roles.
Imagine a typical director — working from home or catching up on tasks on vacation — armed with just a laptop or iPad, without the luxury of a tech team at their disposal. AI can be a powerful ally, making life easier, expanding knowledge and enabling sharper, more insightful questions, with tools that are affordable and user-friendly.
Think of AI not just as software but as different “AIs” that can play various roles — intern, researcher, analyst, thought partner and sidekick — all available when you need them, at minimal cost.
Like any capable assistant, AI requires initial learning and prep work. When should you use it? What outcomes can it help achieve? Which tools are the best fit for your needs, and how can you best integrate them into your routine?
What might a day in the life of an AI-powered director look like?
Morning: Research and staying informed
For a typical, tech-savvy-enough director, data is everything, and staying informed is crucial. AI excels here.
Imagine starting your day with coffee and your favorite device. You boot up a couple of apps to start gathering data.
Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that compiles and sorts news from a range of sources, offering you more than just a headline. It delivers summaries, suggests topics for deeper exploration and provides links for further reading. You are not “Googling around,” but training an AI on your specific interests for deep understanding.
As you prepare for a board meeting, the ability to analyze data quickly and effectively is vital. Tools like Tableau and Power BI have advanced features that allow you to “Ask Data” questions using natural language. You don’t need to rely solely on your financial planning and analysis team for insights; these AI-enhanced platforms can generate contextualized insights on demand, answering your questions with ease and precision.
Next there is the ubiquitous ChatGPT. We recommend using this to capture your thoughts in real time, including a voice-to-text feature. It can accurately transcribe your ideas, summarize and format into a memo ready to share with colleagues. This capability allows you to communicate more efficiently, turning free-flowing ideas into actionable insights, moving at the speed of talk.
Whether you are a seasoned industry veteran or stepping into a new sector, staying up to date can be daunting, particularly if you’re no longer involved in daily operations. AI tools can help bridge that gap. Asking ChatGPT or Perplexity to “explain this to me like I’m a beginner” can quickly bring you up to speed on new concepts or emerging markets, providing a solid foundation for more informed decision-making.
Afternoon: Managing meetings, strategic planning, and communication and oversight
As the day progresses, your focus shifts from absorbing information to making decisions and driving strategy. AI becomes an indispensable partner in managing meetings, planning strategically and ensuring clear communication.
Agenda preparation and meeting transcription and summaries. Preparing for a meeting can be time-consuming, but AI tools like Adam.ai can significantly streamline the process. Technology like this analyzes previous meetings and notes to suggest a tailored agenda.
During the meeting, you don’t need to take copious notes, because AI-driven transcription services do the heavy lifting. Applications like Read.AI or Fathom capture the transcript and create intelligent meeting summaries that can be sent out automatically. The native web conference platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet offer increasing capabilities for real-time meeting transcription and notes. These tools save time and enhance accuracy, allowing you to focus on the conversation.
Having transcripts and notes ready propels the creation of future agendas. Meeting prep can be onerous, and although we all want to live in a world where agendas and materials are sent with plenty of time to prepare, that’s not always the case. You can upload transcripts to ChatGPT AI to quickly summarize and create recommendations for your next topics and action steps.
Tracking to-do’s. Each of these AI notetakers provides the action items discussed in the meeting organized by accountability, ensuring thorough follow-through. Once you have these task lists, you can easily export them into your preferred project management tool (Trello, Asana, JIRA, etc.).
Email management. Regular email remains a primary method of communication for most directors. AI can play a pivotal role in streamlining and reducing the cognitive load that comes with constant email management.
Superhuman and SaneBox offer AI email features that can intelligently categorize, prioritize and summarize your emails, allowing you to focus on what truly matters. Imagine being able to quickly scan an email thread with AI, extracting key points, identifying action items and summarizing responses by individual.
If you’re more comfortable working within familiar platforms like Gmail or Outlook, you can still harness the power of AI without switching tools. Both Gmail and Outlook have integrated AI features that can help you manage your inbox more efficiently. Gmail’s Smart Compose and Smart Reply suggest responses and help you craft emails faster, while Outlook’s Focused Inbox automatically sorts important emails from less urgent ones.
You can use AI in a more flexible way by having ChatGPT open in a window alongside your email. If you are reviewing a complex email thread in Gmail or Outlook, you can copy and paste the text into a separate ChatGPT window. There, AI can quickly summarize the conversation, highlight key points or even draft a response based on the context you provide. You can utilize AI’s capabilities without leaving your preferred email environment, providing a seamless way to enhance productivity.
Data insights. As a private company director, one of your most critical responsibilities is to ensure that decisions are data-driven and strategically sound. AI-powered tools have revolutionized how data is analyzed and presented, enabling directors to focus on high-level strategy without getting lost in the minutiae.
Understanding complex data often has required the expertise of an analytics team, but now tools like ThoughtSpot put advanced data analysis directly in your hands. These platforms allow you to perform sophisticated analyses with minimal effort, providing you with the insights you need in real time.
For instance, ThoughtSpot offers a natural language search interface, meaning you can ask questions of your data just as you would a colleague. You might type in, “What were our top three revenue drivers last quarter?” and instantly receive a detailed, visually rich answer.
When you need a quick interpretation or want to brainstorm strategic scenarios, ChatGPT can be an invaluable thought partner. You can paste in data summaries, financial reports or even complex scenario descriptions, and ask ChatGPT to help identify key insights or suggest potential strategies.
Evening: Reflecting, planning ahead and reaching out
As the day winds down, a director’s focus often shifts to deeper reflection and thoughtful communication. AI tools can be just as valuable during these quieter moments, helping to synthesize the day’s activities and engage meaningfully with all stakeholders.
Good questions, better discussions. For example, you might start by using ChatGPT or Perplexity to generate a list of thought-provoking questions that can help dig deeper into a specific issue, such as “What are the potential risks if we pursue this strategy?” or “What emerging trends should we consider in our next board meeting?” AI can offer fresh perspectives or highlight areas you might not have fully considered.
Here’s a pro tip: If speaking would be easier, leverage voice-to-text in ChatGPT. Talk for five, 10 or 15 minutes and have ChatGPT summarize the notes for you.
AI can then help you map out your next steps. Tools like Notion or Evernote, enhanced with built-in AI capabilities, can assist in organizing notes and creating action plans. These tools can sync across all your devices, allowing you to review and adjust wherever you are.
Reaching out and thoughtful communication. Evening is often when you take a moment to connect with your broader network. AI tools can enhance this outreach, helping you craft thoughtful, personalized communications.
If you’re crafting a LinkedIn post or a follow-up email, ChatGPT can suggest adjustments to tone, optimize your phrasing and even customize the content to better connect with specific audiences. And if you’re working on something more extensive, like a thought leadership article or an opinion piece, ChatGPT can help you organize your ideas, structure your arguments and polish your language.
Action steps for directors
What are the best ways to integrate these tools into your daily routine?
It might feel like it is IT’s job, but it’s easy and inexpensive to get started yourself, and all directors should be moving fast to learn and model the mindset they want to see.
Lead the AI discussion at board meetings. Don’t wait for AI to appear on the agenda — make it a priority. Introduce the topic of AI use cases at your next meeting and ensure that discussions include the specific needs of board members. Consider how AI tools can enhance governance, improve decision-making and drive strategic initiatives. Be sure to address security and privacy concerns as part of this conversation, laying the groundwork for responsible AI adoption.
Begin with accessible AI tools and level up. Start by exploring AI tools that are readily available and easy to integrate into your daily workflow. Many of these tools are low-cost or free. Whether it’s using AI-powered features in Gmail or Outlook, leveraging ChatGPT for brainstorming, or tapping into analytics tools like Tableau or Power BI, these resources can enhance your productivity without a steep learning curve. Advocate for your company to invest in professional versions of these tools to ensure consistency and ease of use across the board, and don’t be afraid to play and experiment.
Learn to write effective prompts. The quality of AI outputs depends on the prompts you provide. Invest time in learning to craft prompts that yield the best results. Experiment with different types of prompts and refine your technique to get the most out of the tools. Effective prompt writing is a skill that will enhance your ability to harness AI for a wide range of tasks.
Embrace AI as an enhancement, not a replacement. As you integrate AI into your routine, remember these tools are designed to enhance your capabilities, not replace them. Treat AI-generated content as you would the work of a competent assistant — review, refine and expect to correct. Over time, you’ll develop a nuanced understanding of how AI can support your work, leading to a productive partnership between you and the technology.
Experiment and iterate. Dive in and experiment with different AI tools and features. The more you engage with these technologies, the more you’ll understand their potential and how they can be applied to your role as a director. View this experimentation as an opportunity to innovate and to discover new ways of working that can benefit your entire organization.
And, of course, the elephant in the room (or on the page): Did a robot write this article?
No robots, but many of the tools mentioned were used in crafting this piece. AI was instrumental in organizing notes, generating ideas and even arranging calls.
With the right tools at the right time, we collaborated to envision an AI-powered “day in the life,” blended with our experience as real live human executives and directors.