When it comes to crafting your message,
it’s tempting to lean heavily into AI,
the new shiny tool that is here to stay.
No doubt, AI offers tremendous opportunities,
but with these come significant pitfalls
which a few recent Rock The Room® clients
have fallen into, and which I recognize
are important now to address.
Here are three to avoid:
- Outsourcing your POV / Point of View. Your core perspective — the central message behind your communication — must come from you. AI can absolutely help you sharpen your thinking and hone your ideas. But ultimately, the perspective must be yours. You were asked to speak, present, write, or lead for a reason. Make sure you own the angle. If you don’t, it will show in your delivery. And the moment someone challenges your thinking, you may collapse quickly. Don’t build your communication on quicksand.
- Having AI “write the script” before you’ve done the original thinking. One of the biggest mistakes I’m seeing is people turning to AI too early in the process.Not only will you end up with a slew of soundbites and statements that seem pithy but are actually often meaningless…but on top of this, you’ll be swimming in a flood of language and logic. Last fall, the Chief of Staff to one of my VIP clients tried to shortcut the coaching process by heavily relying on AI-generated scripting. What he sent in our group thread initially impressed the CEO, but in reality, it was a tangled mess of words, ideas, and disconnected messaging. More importantly, it completely missed the CEO’s unique insights, those that established him as a thought-leader. The CEO then got caught between a reliable time-tested Rock The Room® approach and AI “slop”…leading him into a swirl of confusion, overwhelm, and wasted time. Since then, I’ve implemented a process with clients around how and when to use AI effectively.
- Flawed logic disguised as intelligence. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude are seductive and remarkably skilled at producing statements that seem smart, but I’ve often had to stop a client and ask, “Is that actually what you’re trying to say?” Once they reread the AI-generated line, they pause and ultimately admit, “Hmmm. Not really.”
Be discerning.
Be judicious.
Don’t outsource your vision…or your voice.
Risk Forward & Rock On,
