Know Decide Act

10x Your Productivity at Work with AI and Automation

By Keith B. Carter

Category: Technology & the Future | Reading Duration: 20 min | Rating: 4.3/5 (69 ratings)

About the Book

Know Decide Act (2024) is an empowered take on AI’s potential to transform the workplace. It offers practical walkthroughs to move from workflow drudgery to AI enhanced workflows that boost work quality and productivity, along with practical strategies for implementing AI tools across every kind of workplace. Want to free up 5 to 20 more hours during the work week? This is the book. You'll learn how to use 20 ai tools that the author uses every week.

Who Should Read This?

Managers who want to use AI to drive performance and innovation
Workers keen to retain their edge in an increasingly automated workplace
Freelancers ready to scale their offering with smart AI tools

What’s in it for me? Leverage AI for professional edge.

Not long ago, AI felt like science fiction. Now, it’s a reality shaping our work lives. AI tools can create compelling content, design visuals, and analyze complex data in seconds. This rapid evolution has left many professionals questioning their job security.

Maybe you’ve felt that uncertainty too. Here’s the good news: AI isn’t here to replace you. But those who master AI will outperform those who don’t. Across industries, professionals are already using AI to gain an edge—turning rough ideas into polished presentations, spotting customer trends, and automating repetitive tasks.

In today’s workplace, AI isn’t your rival; it’s your greatest ally. Ready to make it work for you? Let’s dive in.

Chapter 1: Know, Decide, and Act

Video didn’t kill the radio star, and Excel didn’t eliminate accountants. PowerPoint didn’t replace graphic designers either. Let’s challenge the idea that new technology makes workers obsolete. If you’re worried AI might automate you out of a job, you’re asking the wrong question.

Instead, ask: how can I use AI to gain a professional edge? There are plenty of answers. Writers can use AI to tackle the dreaded editing process, generating insights and points of clarity they can refine. Marketers can analyze consumer sentiment at lightning speed, spotting trends immediately rather than in weeks. Developers can automate repetitive coding tasks, freeing up time for innovation, security and user experience. As we explore AI’s potential, keep three steps in mind: know, decide, and act.

Start by knowing your landscape. How might AI transform your industry? Could it identify trends, process large datasets, or handle routine tasks? Once you understand these possibilities, think about how to adapt. For example, if AI takes over routine customer queries, could you focus on delivering personalized service for complex issues? Next, decide to move forward.

Change can be intimidating, but embracing AI gives you an edge over those stuck in uncertainty. Finally, act deliberately. Don’t wait for change to happen around you. Take the lead in shaping the future of your work. The opportunity is here—don’t let it pass you by. Let's try something.

Chapter 2: Context is critical to unlocking AI’s full potential.

Open up an LLM like ChatGPT and type: "These apples are great". You'll probably get a response like: "I'm glad you're enjoying them! Fresh apples are delicious. Is there anything specific to these apples you'd like to discuss?

" But context changes everything. Revise your prompt to say: "We are walking into an Apple Store and I say to you 'These apples are great'". Suddenly the AI understands and adjusts its response to something like: "Ah, I see the misunderstanding now! You're talking about Apple products at an Apple Store, not actual fruit. " This simple example highlights the first rule of using AI effectively: context is everything. Think of AI as a new intern: eager but inexperienced.

You wouldn't ask a new intern to create a complex white paper on their first day. You'd provide clear guidelines, share examples of past successful work, and establish feedback mechanisms. Just like any other intern, your AI tools also need expert direction from you. To embed context in every interaction with LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude, borrow from the experts. Google's four-part model for AI prompting is close to foolproof. Those four parts are persona, task, context, and output.

Let's try it. Imagine asking your AI tool to draft an email about a billing issue. For persona, you would tell the AI to embody an experienced customer service representative specializing in billing disputes. Its task would be to address a customer who was charged twice for their monthly subscription.

The context you supply might include your company's refund policy, this loyal customer's three-year history and first-time complaint. For output, you'd ask for a concise, empathetic email acknowledging the error, explaining the refund timeline, and offering a discount as goodwill. The difference between mediocre and exceptional AI results often comes down to how well you frame the task. By providing the right context, you can transform AI into a powerful productivity tool, capable of delivering tailored, high-quality results.

Chapter 3: AI can simplify email tasks, saving time and improving communication.

If you work a 9-5, you probably have a scary number of unread emails in your inbox. This is where AI can step in to lighten the load. Here are three ways AI can transform your email workflow. Let’s start with a familiar scenario: It's 10:30 PM, and you've just received an infuriating email from your manager asking why you haven't completed a report they never assigned you.

Your instinct? Fire back an angry response. Instead, draft your thoughts, then ask AI: "Please edit this email to maintain my core message but make it professional. " Your heated draft becomes: "I want to clarify that this report wasn't previously assigned to me. I'm happy to prioritize it now. Could we discuss timeline requirements tomorrow?

" Crisis averted! The AI may also provide some helpful advice about the importance of maintaining a professional writing style at work. Next, consider customer service emails. Even teams with patchy writing ability can deliver great comms with AI assistance. Imagine a frustrated customer who emails about their erratic wifi connection. Your rep can ask AI to extract key points, then prompt for missing information, asking: "What additional information should I request to diagnose this issue?

" With complete details in hand, they can ask AI to draft a helpful response explaining possible solutions. Finally, AI bridges language and cultural gaps in email communication. Imagine an airline help desk where agents speak English. A customer emails in Malay about their name appearing incorrectly on a booking.

The rep drafts their English response then instructs the AI: "You are a customer service agent fluent in Malay. Translate this email into Malay, including clear explanations of technical terms like 'booking reference' and 'passenger manifest. '" They end up with an email that bridges the language barrier with cultural sensitivity.

Chapter 4: AI’s capabilities extend far beyond text, solving complex workplace challenges.

When most people think of AI, they think of text-based tasks like drafting emails or creating content. But AI can tackle far more, including complex challenges like onboarding employees to new software systems. For example, if you work in IT or tech support, you know how this usually goes. A management directive mandates a software upgrade or new system.

But adoption rates lag. Workers are frustrated by the change and find the learning curve too steep. The only solution is to introduce onboarding. But without AI, your options are time-consuming and labor intensive. An elaborate PowerPoint employees struggle to follow. A screen recording that needs re-recording with every update.

Text-heavy documentation no one reads. With AI? That’s a different story. Platforms like Guidde – that's G-u-i-double-d-e – make software walkthroughs easy. These tools use AI to capture your screen actions as you navigate a new system and automatically create clear step-by-step tutorials for users to follow at their own pace. When software updates inevitably roll out, these walkthroughs can be quickly modified, ensuring your organization stays current.

And in this global world, Guidde can translate your documentation into more than 40 languages. Now you might think, well, that's good news for tech support workers. But I never need to deliver software walkthroughs. Here's the thing: there's almost certainly an AI solution for whatever task you find to be a time-consuming headache. The next sections will look at more targeted AI applications, from HR to Finance. It stands for Human Relations.

Chapter 5: AI can streamline HR tasks, freeing time for meaningful human interactions.

But if you're an HR professional, you know that the human aspect of your job can frequently be sidelined in favor of time-consuming admin tasks. Imagine spending more time doing the things that drew you to HR in the first place, like having meaningful career development conversations, or skilfully mediating conflicts. AI is a tool that can free up your workday for these essential human interactions. Let’s look at just two scenarios where AI can dramatically streamline your workload.

First – analyzing data. Let’s say your CEO drops by with a request like this one: "Our Glassdoor reviews aren't great. Can you look into it? " Pre-AI, this task would mean hours hunched over spreadsheets. But with AI, you can upload those reviews to a platform like ChatGPT and get an immediate synthesis of the raw data. Then drill down with targeted prompts, like: "Show me patterns in negative reviews from employees who left within their first year" or "Compare satisfaction scores between engineering and marketing departments.

" Within minutes, you might discover that new hires in technical roles consistently mention inadequate onboarding resources – a specific issue you can now address strategically. Second – onboarding itself. This critical process, when done well, helps employees feel supported from day one. Specially designed automation tools like Workato transform onboarding from an error-prone and complex manual process into something far more seamless. When a new employee is added to your HRIS, your AI platform initiates a cascade of automated actions. Think: automatically providing email accounts and software licenses, routing necessary approvals through the right managers, monitoring compliance documentation, and sending personalized training emails at predetermined intervals.

The result? Speed and efficiency – no more waiting three days for a laptop setup. Scalability – onboard five or fifty new hires with the same effort. And consistency – everyone gets the same excellent experience. Most importantly, you're free to focus on putting the human back in Human Resources.

Chapter 6: AI simplifies data preparation, letting you focus on insights and strategy.

Data pros love to analyze, discovering hidden patterns and insights that drive strategic decisions. But there's a pretty big downside to the job: wrangling the data into an analyzable state. It's time-consuming, tedious, and not exactly the stimulating work that attracted you to data analysis in the first place. We've already touched on how AI can help synthesize large amounts of data.

But specialized platforms like Microsoft Power BI can handle way more data (we’re talking millions of rows) and quickly package it into charts, graphs, and other visuals as well as prototype dashboards. Tools like Power BI can automatically identify trends, detect anomalies, and even suggest which visualizations might be most relevant to your data set. For instance, a retail chain using Power BI might instantly visualize seasonal sales patterns across hundreds of locations, identify underperforming product categories, and forecast inventory needs. If you don't have access to Power BI, you can still use Claude or ChatGPT for a host of data visualization functions. Say you're pitching to work on a data viz project with a prospective client but don't have access to all their data. The solution?

Simply prompt your AI: "Create a sample dashboard mockup for a healthcare provider tracking patient satisfaction scores across five departments. Include visualizations for monthly trends, demographic breakdowns, and key drivers of satisfaction. " Within seconds, you'll have a host of workable visualizations that you can turn into compelling mockups for your pitch. When you let AI handle the data prep, you can focus on the true value-add you bring to your role, through interpreting insights and making strategic decisions.

Chapter 7: AI accelerates the creation of investment proposals, leaving room for personal expertise.

Finance professionals know the value of a personal touch when advising clients, but much of their time is spent on routine tasks like drafting investment proposals. AI can streamline this process, allowing you to focus on delivering tailored advice. Here's how this might work in practice: A couple based in Singapore schedules a meeting to discuss planning for their child's education costs. Before they arrive, you might prompt your AI to take on the persona of a financial advisor specializing in education planning for expatriates in Singapore.

You'd specify that you need help preparing for a meeting with a couple saving for their 3-year-old daughter's university education in the US. You'd provide context about their combined annual income, existing investments, and savings timeline. You'd ask for questions to better understand their needs and, finally, request a draft follow-up email with key points. Your AI responds with questions like: "What's your risk tolerance on a scale of 1-10? " and "How important is liquidity during the accumulation phase? " It suggests an investment mix of a Regular Savings Plan, EFTs, and stable Singapore government bonds, projecting how this could grow to cover estimated education costs of SGD $425,000-$600,000.

AI will get you 60% of the way there in these standard client requests. What should you do next? Check for accuracy, refine the proposal, and add personal input. Perhaps you know this couple has strong environmental values, so you might substitute standard ETFs for greener alternatives. Or maybe you're aware of Singapore-specific tax advantages for education savings that the AI missed. These bespoke touches give you a competitive edge over other advisors.

Chapter 8: AI offers endless possibilities to enhance productivity and creativity.

We've seen how AI frees professionals from tedious tasks to focus on creative, strategic work. But we've only scratched the surface of what AI can do for you! Let’s finish with a lightning round of game-changing AI applications. Keep up!

Use AI to generate meeting minutes. Fireflies AI notetaker joins your meetings, transcribes everything, and delivers organized notes within minutes. Use AI to create video explainers. With InVideo, you can type "Create a 60-second video tour of a modern home" and instantly receive a draft video with appropriate footage. Use AI to review legal documents. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude can scan a 30-page contract in seconds, flagging unusual clauses and risks, so that problems are caught immediately rather than after signing.

Use AI to boost your networking game. Canva's AI Design transforms a request like "minimalist business card, navy accents" into multiple professional options, giving you the perfect business card to hand out to contacts. Use AI to land your next great role. Leverage ChatGPT as an interview simulator, prompting it to create technical questions based on specific job requirements.

That’s it for the lightning round – but only because we don’t have time to keep listing all the ways AI can potentially transform your work and your life. If you’re interested in uncovering more, may we suggest you prompt your nearest AI to suggest a list of life-changing AI hacks? In this Blink to Know, Decide, Act by Keith Carter, you’ve learned that AI won’t replace human jobs, but humans who can confidently deploy AI already enjoy a professional edge.

Final summary

When you know your AI opportunities, decide to embrace change, and act now you can boost your productivity and your career trajectory. But keep in mind, AI is an intern, while a good one it still makes mistakes. And like an intern the more context you provide the better it will complete its assignment. Okay, that’s it for this Blink.

We hope you enjoyed it. If you can, please take the time to leave us a rating – we always appreciate your feedback. See you in the next Blink.

About the Author

Keith B. Carter is a globally recognized expert in AI-driven productivity and digital transformation. His career spans academia, Wall Street tech, and NY fashion. These days, he advises businesses and governments worldwide on harnessing emerging AI technologies to boost productivity and performance.