Beyond the Buzz: Practical AI Applications for Business Leaders
"The best way to predict the future is to create it," said Peter Drucker, the father of modern management.
"Easier said than done," replies every small business leader ever!
In today's business world, creating the future often means embracing the tools that can drive your company forward—like AI. So how do we bridge the gap between the ideal and the "tyranny of the ordinary"?
Personally, I barely qualify to be called a millennial, so I can appreciate how hard it is to integrate some of these tools. At the same time, I've seen how the right tools can make a world of difference. The key is to start small and choose tools that offer real, tangible benefits to your day-to-day operations.
In this blog post, we've compiled three practical ways to leverage AI in your business right now, including some of the best tools we've found useful.
1. Utilize AI to Compile and Simplify Information
The overload of information in today’s digital age does not stop. Every day, we're bombarded with data from various sources - emails, reports, industry news, social media, and more. This is where AI can be a game-changer.
AI-Powered Content Summarization
AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude can read through lengthy documents, reports, policies, or articles and generate concise summaries that capture the key points. This capability can be applied in numerous ways:
Market Research: Quickly digest lengthy industry reports or competitor analyses.
Legal Documents: Summarize complex contracts or terms of service. A good prompt is to ask your tool of choice: “What issues should I be concerned about in this contract?”
Customer Feedback: Synthesize large volumes of customer reviews or survey responses.
To use these tools effectively:
Start with a clear question or objective. Your prompt matters!
Provide the AI with the full text or key sections you want summarized.
Ask for bullet points or a brief paragraph summary.
Review the summary and ask follow-up questions if needed.
And of course, while AI summaries are helpful, it's always good to review the original source for critical information.
AI-Assisted Meeting Management
Other tools like Otter AI or Fireflies AI can revolutionize how you handle meetings. Here's how:
Real-time Transcription: Otter AI can attend meetings (in person or virtual) and provide a real-time transcript, allowing you to focus on the discussion rather than note-taking.
Automated Summaries: After the meeting, Otter AI generates a summary of key points, action items, and decisions made.
Integration with Calendars: It can integrate with your Outlook or Google Calendar to set up reminders for follow-up tasks discussed in the meeting.
Searchable Archives: All your meeting transcripts become a searchable database, making it easy to refer back to specific discussions. This is especially great for project management or anytime you need to remember what exactly was discussed!
Pro tip: You can use ChatGPT to clean up and further summarize the notes from Otter or Fireflies, creating a concise, actionable summary of every meeting.
By leveraging these AI tools, you can significantly reduce the time spent on information processing and note-taking, allowing you to focus on strategic thinking and decision-making.
2. Use AI to Help You Hire Better
Finding the right talent has always been challenging, but the landscape has only grown more complex post-pandemic. Are a candidate's job changes part of mass lay-offs, or are they signs of poor performance? AI tools can help you navigate these waters more effectively. Cassie Thompson, Sr Director of People at Infinity Marketing and AI/HR expert, recommends putting your core values into Chat GPT, then the job description, and asking Chat GPT to come up with interview questions that align with both the core values and the job description.
AI-Powered Pre-Employment Testing
Tools such as TestGorilla provide comprehensive candidate assessments, offering pre-employment tests that evaluate everything from cognitive abilities to specific job skills. Here's how you can leverage these tools:
Create a combination of tests tailored to your specific role requirements. This might include:
Cognitive ability tests (problem-solving, critical thinking)
Personality assessments
Role-specific skill tests (e.g., coding for developers, writing for content creators)
Situational judgment tests
AI-Enhanced Interviews
Interview fatigue is real. It’s so easy to get into the habit of just having a conversation with a candidate instead of asking insightful questions. We like to use AI for help generating structured, tailored interview questions.
Leverage a tool like Claude or Chat GPT. You can input a candidate's resume into ChatGPT and ask it to generate specific interview questions based on the experience, skills, and job requirements. For instance, after reviewing a candidate's background in project management, you could ask the tool to suggest questions around their leadership style, how they handle project setbacks, or their approach to team collaboration.
Important note: Make sure you strip out all identifying details to maintain the candidate’s privacy, or use a private Chat portal.
Example prompts to generate general questions:
“Based on this resume (insert key points or the resume itself), create interview questions that assess the candidate’s experience in managing large-scale projects and their leadership abilities.”
Develop questions to assess emotional intelligence in a customer service position."
"What are good situational interview questions for a project manager role?"
"Generate questions to evaluate a candidate's adaptability and willingness to learn."
"What questions can reveal a candidate's communication and collaboration skills?"
Example prompts to explore cultural fit:
“Generate questions to explore how a candidate values teamwork and personal growth. The candidate has been in marketing for 3 years.”
“Create questions that will help me assess a candidate’s values and alignment with a small business culture.”
These tools not only help you identify the candidates who are truly the best fit for your open positions but also provide valuable insights that can inform your onboarding and employee development processes.
3. Use AI to Save Time
Turn Data into Reports
One of the most time-consuming tasks for small business owners is analyzing data and creating reports. AI-powered tools like Domo can automate this process, turning raw data into visually appealing and easy-to-understand reports and dashboards.
Domo's AI capabilities can help you:
Automatically generate insights from your business data
Create predictive models to forecast trends
Set up alerts for key performance indicators (KPIs)
Automate Routine Tasks
AI can also help automate many routine tasks that eat up valuable time. For example:
Email Management: Tools like SaneBox use AI to prioritize your emails, automatically sorting them into different folders based on importance.
Scheduling: AI-powered scheduling assistants like Sidekick can handle the back-and-forth of setting up meetings, saving you from endless email chains.
Social Media Management: Platforms like Hootsuite now incorporate AI to help you optimize posting times and content for better engagement.
Where do we go from here?!
Start small, focusing on areas where AI can provide immediate, tangible benefits. For us at Forge, that’s been getting really comfortable with using Chat GPT and/or Claude. If we’re working on a specific search, we’ll ask Claude to help generate companies that we should look at, or different keyword strings to search for.
Choose one or two people within your organization who are tech-savvy. Ask them to commit a couple hours a week to exploring and diving into AI tools. Every company will be different, with unique pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Remember that your prompts — what you give the AI tool — matter more than anything. AI is only as good as you coach it to be.
And most importantly, remember that AI is just that — still artificial intelligence. Even the best AI tool does not replace the human element of nuance, empathy, and kindness. What AI gives you is a starting point. . . perhaps the kernel of an idea or a rough draft to work from. The unique point of view that you bring is what makes any final product truly remarkable!