Nobody talks about this part of AI.
The articles are full of time-saving statistics and efficiency gains. The LinkedIn posts are full of people announcing how much faster they work now. What’s missing from almost all of it is the quieter, more personal way AI has changed how some managers prepare — not for the easy stuff, but for the hard stuff.
The meeting where you need to deliver difficult feedback. The conversation where you have to explain a decision the team isn’t going to like. The presentation where you know someone in the room is going to push back hard and you need to be ready.
This is where AI has made the most difference for the managers Anna has spoken to. Not in the volume of work they produce. In the quality of their thinking before the moments that actually matter.
Before the difficult conversation
Most managers know the feeling: a conversation coming up that needs to go well, and an inability to think clearly about it because you’re too close to it. You know what you want to say, but you can’t quite find the right order, or the right tone, or the right response to what they might say back.
The prompt:
“I need to have a conversation with [name/role] about [issue]. Help me prepare: what should I say, in what order, and how should I handle it if they become defensive or emotional? I want to be clear and fair.”
What comes back isn’t a script — you shouldn’t use it as one. It’s a structure. A thinking framework that helps you see the conversation more clearly before you’re in it. Most managers who try this find they sleep better the night before.
Before the presentation nobody wants to hear
Delivering news that won’t land well — a restructure, a budget cut, a change of direction — requires a different kind of preparation. The instinct is to soften the message until it’s unrecognisable, or to be so direct that the room closes down. Neither works.
The prompt:
“I need to communicate [difficult message] to [audience]. They care most about [their priorities]. Help me frame this so it lands with them — leading with what matters to them, not what matters to me. Keep it concise and direct.”
This doesn’t make the message easier. It makes the framing clearer — which is the thing most managers spend hours trying to find on their own and often don’t quite get right before they walk into the room.
Before the meeting with someone difficult
Every manager has at least one person who makes meetings harder. Someone who challenges on cost every time, or derails on detail, or has supported a competing position and won’t let it go. Preparing specifically for that person — rather than generically for the meeting — changes the dynamic.
The prompt:
“I’m presenting [proposal] to a group that includes someone who always challenges on [their particular concern]. What questions are they most likely to ask — and what are the strongest answers I could give?”
You’re not trying to outmanoeuvre them. You’re trying to understand their position well enough to address it seriously. That’s better for everyone in the room, including them.
What this is actually about
None of these prompts replace managerial judgment. They don’t tell you what decision to make, or whether the feedback you’re planning to give is right, or whether the person across from you is being reasonable.
What they do is reduce the cognitive noise that gets in the way of thinking clearly. Good managers have always sought this kind of thinking partner. AI doesn’t replace those relationships. But it’s available at eleven o’clock on a Sunday night when the meeting is Monday morning and the person you’d normally call is asleep.
If you’re new to using AI this way, How to Start Using AI Without Feeling Overwhelmed is the right starting point. And if any of the terminology feels unfamiliar, the AI glossary has plain-English definitions for all of it.