Leading in the future will require personal engagement with AI.
AI talk is everywhere, but much of it is either deep in the weeds or covered in hype. But what does it mean not for your organization as a whole, but for you, personally, as a healthcare leader? Or even as a person in the world today?
This post offers a starting point for how AI can serve as a tool in your own hands, to help you think more clearly, communicate more effectively, and work more strategically. It includes a simple progression model that we use with clients, along with practical ways executives are applying AI themselves.
Many of you are already using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others. If this is you, I’d love to hear how you are using them. How have they supported your work? What problems have they helped you solve more quickly or more effectively?
For the rest of you, think of this as an invitation to step in, because I would suggest that it is necessary that you engage, and also that you will find incredible value when you do.
At Spring Street Exchange, we developed a simple framework for embracing the use of AI in a business context, as shared in the diagram above. This visual highlights three progressive tiers of using AI.
Tier 1: Boost Personal Productivity is where individuals begin experimenting with Generative AI to support their daily work. This demystifies AI for larger functions and can also significantly enhance your own productivity.
Tier 2: Gain Organizational Efficiencies focuses on deploying AI to increase the efficiency and quality of various operational functions, typically to generate savings and improve quality.
Tier 3: Transform for Greater Consumer Value is the most strategic stage. Here, the capabilities of AI enable a company to reshape how services are delivered and create long-term advantages in the market. Tier 3 is using AI to change the game altogether.
In my own wanderings, I have noticed that many healthcare organizations are focused on Tier 2. Fantastic! Yet, I often see this happening when there are top executives who still have not yet embraced Tier 1. For busy business executives, it can be tempting to leave AI to the technical leads. This is what has been possible with other forms of technology, but this is not true with AI.
AI is more than technology to fulfill particular tasks. Instead, it’s a general-purpose tool like the Internet that can be applied across virtually all that we do. Can you imagine doing your job now without being able to access the web? Do you remember those executives who used to have their secretary print out their emails, then mark up these hard copies, and have their secretary respond to them? That’s not us.
The ways AI will be integrated in our lives and change what we do will be at least as powerful as the Internet, but in a different way. And it’s evolving so quickly, that current and new competitors are already working on ways to use it to remake foundational rules of the road in healthcare. They are focusing on Tier 3 of the diagram.
Personal engagement with AI is an essential and foundational step for strategic transformation.
Collaborating with AI
AI models are evolving rapidly, with updates every few weeks. If you haven’t used one recently, you might be surprised by what’s now possible.
Of course, partnering with AI means working with it to get what you want out of it. It’s not a magic box where you ask a question, it understands the context, and gives you a response. In fact, its first response is almost never what I’m looking for. As you get used to interacting with AI you get used to the types of inquiries that it’s good at and those where it needs more nudging.
I don’t think it’s possible to work in the necessary transformation of Tier 3 until you get comfortable with understanding what it is like to talk with an AI, write to and with an AI, and engage in collaborative learning with it. While most healthcare organizations are still focused on extracting the tremendous value from Tier 2, Tier 3 is where the true and sustainable transformation will occur. If you want to move beyond making our historic model of healthcare more efficient, it is necessary to engage in Tier 1 so you can get to Tier 3.
You can start by making AI a strategic thought partner. Here are some use cases:
Reading assistant: You can upload a stack of articles you have been meaning to read and ask the model to pull highlights, patterns, and major takeaways. To avoid missing nuance, you can even ask it to recommend which articles you should read in full and which can be safely skimmed or summarized.
Writing coach: You can ask it to review your content and make it smoother or shorter, or more or less formal. You can provide a list of key points you want to connect and ask it to take a first draft on the written output for you to then refine and translate into your own voice.
Tone feedback: You can have it review a sensitive email you have drafted, and to provide feedback on tone, clarity, and how your message might be perceived. It will suggest edits that support your intent while preserving your voice.
Rehearse encounters: You might be preparing to meet with a colleague to address a performance gap. AI can help you rehearse different approaches and suggest ways to frame the conversation that support your overall goals.
A GPT trained on your company: You could train a private GPT in the specifics of your organization’s history, market position, operations, known gaps, and key strengths. With that backdrop, you can ask all kinds of questions related to how factors could impact your company, such as policy changes, market shifts, or long-term scenarios, all in a context-aware way.
These are just a few examples. Over time, you will likely find that in working with Generative AI in these ways, you can both save time while also improving the quality of your work.
Building a custom GPT with OpenAI is straightforward, although it does require some practice to refine the GPT to deliver the outcomes you want. We have developed a variety of custom GPTs focused on healthcare policy analysis, scenario planning, findings from our proprietary research, and other topics.
There is a world to explore here. If you are interested in some one-on-one coaching to get going, Katie Poole and others on our team excel at providing this.
Some Cautions
Do not copy and paste AI-generated text directly into your work. AI isn’t smart enough and still needs your judgment, your expertise, and your voice. Use it as a draft partner, not a substitute.
Hallucinations are real, and they are usually subtle. AI doesn’t replace your expertise, and if you over-rely on it for content, it could lead to embarrassing mistakes. Be cautious and be sure to validate your work with AI.
Do not share sensitive, proprietary, or private information in a free AI tool. It is low cost to use a secure, private version of the tool. If you don’t know how to set this up, we can help you.
Remember that the first answer is rarely the best one. The real value comes through iteration. You are having a conversation to test, refine, and shape the content until it reflects what you need it to say, in the way you want to say it.
A final thought
I know it can be hard to carve out the mental space to take on this kind of engagement with new technology. I assure you, though, that once you get going, you will see benefits immediately and likely will actually enjoy it at least some. With the pace of change, I don’t think it will be possible to credibly lead in the coming years without this tool as collaborator. Take the leap! We’ll be happy to help.
If you are interested in 1:1 or group coaching in using AI, setting up private or custom GPTs, or other aspects of AI as a collaboration partner, please reach out. (nancy@springstreet.exchange).