leadership | lead up

Next generation AI prompts and how they will transform work in 2026

AI tools are evolving rapidly, but the real revolution isn’t just in smarter algorithms. It’s in how we prompt, guide, and collaborate with these systems. If the prompts of 2023 were “write my blog post” or “summarize this article,” the prompts of 2026 will reshape what it means to think, decide, and work.

Let’s look at some next generation AI prompts, why they matter, and how you can build this power skill to stay ahead.

The shift from simple commands to strategic collaboration

Ask anyone who used ChatGPT or other LLM-powered tools in 2023, and you’ll hear the same story. AI made everything a little bit easier and a lot faster. With one command, you can have AI write an email or social post, create a checklist or edit your content.

But as AI becomes central to every knowledge worker’s toolkit, prompts will become less about one-off tasks and more about nuanced collaboration. Your AI assistant is moving beyond “do this” to “think with me.”

This shift is significant, because in the coming years, those who master strategic prompting will set the standards for efficiency, insight, and impact in the workplace. It’s a difference as fundamental as learning Google search in the 2000s or project management basics in the 2010s.

What makes a next generation AI prompting different

Great prompts in 2026 won’t just be clear and specific. They’ll embody a new kind of leadership:

Context-rich and goal-oriented

The best prompts give the AI backstory, constraints, and a desired end result.

Intellectual integration

You’ll blend expert opinions, critique decisions, and ask AI to serve as a challenger or thinking partner and not just a content generator.

Multi-format and multi-step

Modern prompts will expect the AI to analyze, summarize, synthesize, and output results for different stakeholders and channels at once.

Bias-awareness and inclusivity

Instead of simply generating content, top prompts instruct AI to screen for accessibility, conscientious language, and systemic impacts.

Consequential foresight

The leading edge of prompts will model downstream effects and surface scenarios leaders need to plan for.

Prompt engineering will be a core skill

Prompting is no longer about getting decent results out of a clunky tool. It has become a core operating skill for strategists, analysts, marketers, product leaders, and executives. Those who learn the new prompt language will get more out of their AI partners and spend less time bridging gaps between what they want and what AI delivers.

Next generation AI prompt examples

Here are examples and use cases that showcase what prompting mastery will look like by 2026. Adapt and experiment with these to boost your own workflows.

Rethink decision-making with a strategic partner

Prompt:

Act as my strategic thinking partner. Here’s what I’m stuck on…

Use case example: “Act as my strategic partner. I’m trying to decide whether to invest more in international student recruitment or in expanding adult learner programs. Here’s what I know so far…”

AI is no longer a passive assistant. By inviting it in as a strategic partner, you unlock cross-checks, scenario planning, and perspective-broadening dialogue. This is especially powerful in complex decisions where human bias or bandwidth might limit analysis.

Synthesize leading thinkers and frameworks

Prompt:

Combine the perspectives of [Author A] and [Author B] to critique this idea.

Use case example: “Evaluate our plan to restructure team check-ins from weekly all-hands to asynchronous updates, using the leadership frameworks of Cy Wakeman and Simon Sinek. What strengths, risks, and cultural impacts should we anticipate?”

This prompt pits efficiency and accountability (Wakeman) against connection and inspiration (Sinek), which is a common tension in remote and hybrid leadership. It forces AI to weigh emotional truth vs. emotional management, and productivity vs. purpose.

Engineer persuasive content with behavioral insight

Prompt:

Analyze this content for psychological triggers, then rewrite it to resonate with [audience persona].

Use case example: “Review this alumni donation page. What psychological levers are being used? How could this better resonate with first-gen students from rural areas?”

Personalized, high-impact content becomes standard, not a luxury reserved for big brands. The best prompts look beyond surface-level edits to shape content for real emotional effect.

Summarize, reformat, and distribute

Prompt:

Turn this 2-hour meeting transcript into 5 action items, 3 questions for leadership, and a Slack post summary.

Use case example: “Here’s a Zoom transcript of our design sprint. Give me a TLDR, stakeholder-specific summaries, and a timeline.”

Why it matters:

AI becomes the go-to tool for knowledge distribution. You get actionable summaries and communication-ready outputs in minutes, saving leaders and teams hours each week.

Personalize communication at scale

Prompt:

Create multiple message variants based on this user’s behavioral data and communication style.

Use case example: “Using Clive campaign data, generate 3 re-engagement email variants that match a warm but efficient tone. Target parents who clicked the financial aid link but didn’t convert.”

AI-powered personalization shifts from nice-to-have to standard operating procedure, equipping teams to address micro-segments and individuals with far greater relevance.

Audit for values, ethics, and inclusion

Prompt:

Audit this content for accessibility, inclusivity, and ethical phrasing.

Use case example: “Scan this chatbot script for bias, stereotype triggers, and readability below a 9th-grade level.”

With increasing regulatory pressure and cultural expectations, prompts that screen content for bias, accessibility, and inclusive language become non-negotiable. These help protect brands and empower more equitable engagement.

Anticipate outcomes and design responsibly

Prompt:

Help me think through the downstream consequences of this product feature.

Use case example: “We’re launching an AI-powered tutor to help students with writing assignments. What are the second- and third-order effects? What should we prepare for?”

The skill of prompt engineering extends into systemic thinking. You’ll use AI to challenge your vision, anticipate unintended effects, and identify risks early.

Benefits of next-level prompting

Adopting these advanced prompting techniques leads to:

Faster, more relevant decision cycles: Actionable insights and summaries delivered in the moment.
Consistency and inclusivity: Communication that meets ethical standards and resonates with diverse audiences.
Personalization at scale: Content and outreach that meet users where they are.
Operational efficiency: Multi-step summaries, reformats, and distribution handled in minutes.
Foresight and risk management: Better anticipation of systemic impacts and ethical considerations.

Prompt engineering can be the key to more intentional, resilient, and creative teams.

Leading in the age of AI-native work

Prompting is no longer about wringing results out of black boxes. It’s about leading strategic, creative, and responsible collaboration between human and machine.

If your prompts still sound like “write an email,” now is the time to level up. The future belongs to those who know how to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and guide AI as a true thinking partner. Start practicing these prompts today, and position yourself (and your organization) to stand out in the next AI-powered chapter of work.

What about you? What are your best examples of next-gen prompts?

How higher ed marketers can build an AI Flywheel

I’ve been thinking about higher ed a lot (even more than usual) these days, as it’s facing some challenging times, so I’ll be posting a bit more higher-ed focused content on here.

AI isn’t just another way to save a few minutes on your next campaign. For marketers in higher ed, it offers a lot more. In fact, if used wisely, it can become a system that makes every piece of work more efficient, more insightful, and more effective the more you use it. It’s often referred to as the AI Flywheel.

Let’s take a look at how higher ed marketing teams can move beyond one-off AI prompts and quick fixes, and start building systems that get smarter, faster, and more valuable with each cycle. If you’re spending too much time feeling like every enrollment or giving campaign is a new lift (like planning Welcome Week for the third time in six months), this approach will help you shift from reinvention to momentum.

Why AI in higher ed is not just about faster emails

Higher ed marketers operate in a world defined by big challenges and limited resources. Budgets are tight, teams are lean, and institutional expectations keep growing. And yes, you’re still somehow expected to write like a copywriter, strategize like a VP, and test like a CRO, all before lunch.

Think about it like this: You don’t want a robot that spits out a decent subject line when you ask. Instead, you want to me more ambitious and develop a process that helps your marketing team get sharper, learn from every email sent, and make the next campaign even more relevant, personalized, and achieve better results.

What is the AI Flywheel?

The AI Flywheel is a feedback loop with the intention to compound value. Instead of approaching tasks in isolation, the AI Flywheel connects every prompt, every campaign, and every data point so that the next round is always easier and more effective.

For example:

Ask AI to draft initial content for anything from an email to an event invitation.
Refine the output, shaping the tone and content to match your institution’s brand, tone, and values.
Reuse the structure or logic behind successful outputs for new use cases or audiences.
Analyze the response data. Did students click more? Did parents open less? What seemed to resonate?
Feed those insights right back into the next prompt, so that each turn becomes faster and smarter.

Instead of improving by accident, you develop a plan. Your systems, prompts, and institutional knowledge compound, which can make each campaign more agile and aligned.

How to build an AI Flywheel in higher ed marketing

Here’s how your marketing team can get started:

1. Design prompts for systems, not just single results

Don’t just ask AI to “write a welcome email for new students.” Instead, break the campaign down and think in terms of building blocks you and your team can reuse across future projects.

For a student welcome series, your AI prompt structure might include:

A general template with modular sections (intro, campus highlight, quick next steps, CTA)
Personalization variations (first-generation, out-of-state, transfer)
Follow-up text messages
Web teasers for cross-channel promotion

Whenever possible, capture not only the result but also the reusable logic and variants. This way, your initial prompt seeds a content system rather than a one-and-done piece.

2. Create a living context file

AI is only as good as the context you give it. Feed your key institutional inputs into your AI companion or prompt library:

Brand voice and tone (welcoming, inclusive, aspirational, empathetic)
Personas (prospective students, parents, alumni, faculty, donors, employers)
Differentiators (small class sizes, experiential learning, first-year programs)
Strategic goals (increase applications, grow out-of-state reach, boost giving, increase student retention)

Example:

“Using our brand voice, draft a headline and subhead for our rural-first-gen scholarship landing page.”

Your context doc becomes a shared institutional brain, without needing to Slack a coworker for that one tagline she wrote back in 2019.

3. Turn every output into a future input

Every campaign, message, or landing page is a learning opportunity. Once you send an email with great open rates or a text message that parents forward widely, don’t just celebrate and move on. Feed that result back into your AI system.

For instance, prompt your tool with:

This open house email had a 52% open rate and strong parent engagement. Use it as a model to draft a campaign for our admitted student event.

This way, you’re building institutional intelligence that compounds, turning AI into a digital team member who remembers what worked (and what fell flat) last semester, last year, and beyond.

4. Systematize with a prompt library

Organize your prompts and templates so you’re never starting from scratch. Think of this as your team’s living playbook, where you collect and annotate things like

Outreach plan evaluations
Donor message variants based on giving history
Career-focused homepage copy
Accessibility and language audits
Infographic summaries

This living library becomes more valuable with each project, which can help make every new campaign both faster and more targeted.

Benefits of the AI Flywheel for higher ed teams

Scalable personalization: AI enables you to deliver tailored messaging, but the flywheel structure prevents your small team from reinventing the wheel with every campaign.

Consistent messaging: Centralized inputs, living prompt libraries, and reusable assets mean that your voice, values, and strategy show up seamlessly wherever your audience is.

Smarter and faster decision-making: Data feeds back into your system after every initiative, enabling rapid learning and focused improvements instead of guesswork.

Sustainable marketing systems: Even with staff changes or shifting priorities, your documented systems make it easy for new team members to ramp up and keep improving what’s working best.

How to get started

You don’t need a large team or a massive investment to begin. Start small and intentionally:

Save your three most-used prompts and tweak them with every cycle
Keep a shared doc with core messaging, personas, and brand guidelines
Make a habit of reviewing results and adding insights back into your system

Over time, your flywheel will pick up speed, giving your institution compound returns and marketing agility.

What about you? Have you started working on your AI Flywheel?

clock with AI symbols, brain in the middie

20 AI prompts that will save you hours every week

You know AI can help you get more done faster. But too often, it feels like one more tool to manage rather than a true productivity partner. The missing piece: Clear, structured prompts that make AI do the heavy lifting.

Here are some ideas to get started with 20 ready-to-use AI prompts that distill tasks into fast, repeatable wins. Whether you handle operations, marketing, hiring, analytics, or content creation, I hope these examples will save time and deliver consistent results.

Good prompts matter

Before jumping into specific prompts, it is essential to understand what separates a quick win from wasted time.

A strong prompt should:

Include relevant context so the AI understands your goal
Request a defined outcome (such as a checklist or email)
Specify the structure or tone you expect in the answer

Clear, intentional prompting transforms AI from a novelty into a practical tool for day-to-day efficiency.

Prompts for business owners and operators

Target operations tasks with precise instructions to introduce structure and speed up repetitive processes.

1. Build a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

Prompt:

Write a clear, step-by-step SOP for how we [task: onboard new clients into our product]. Use short, numbered steps and include any tools we need to use.

How it works: You receive a process document organized for new or existing employees, reducing onboarding time and errors.

2. Conduct a process improvement audit

Prompt:

Here is our current process for handling inbound leads: [paste process]. Suggest improvements using automation or AI, and explain how each change saves time.

What to expect: Actionable recommendations with time-saving calculations to fuel continuous improvement strategies.

3. Use the Eisenhower matrix for prioritization

Prompt:

Here are 10 tasks I need to get done this week. Help me prioritize them using the Eisenhower Matrix. Tasks: [list].

Result: AI provides a clear task matrix, allowing decision-makers to focus on what is urgent and important.

High-impact prompts for marketers

AI can shortcut ideation, optimization, and content repurposing processes. Structure is fundamental for valuable outputs.

4. Generate campaign ideas

Prompt:

Give me 5 creative campaign ideas for promoting our [product/service] to [target audience] with a budget of [enter budget range].

Benefit: AI offers campaign concepts tailored to real constraints, shortening planning cycles.

5. Generate ideas for blog posts

Prompt:

Analyze the content on [URL] and give me 10 blog post topic ideas optimized for the keyword ‘[keyword]’. For each, include a suggested title and a meta description.

Why it’s useful: This prompt helps you generate content ideas that are both strategically aligned with your existing site and optimized for SEO. You’ll walk away with not just broad topic direction (macro) but also ready-to-use titles and descriptions (micro) , accelerating your drafting process and boosting your search performance.

6. Repurpose Content for Social Media

Prompt:

Take this blog post: [paste blog text] and create 3 LinkedIn posts and 2 Instagram captions using a friendly, helpful tone.

Time saving: Redistribute long-form content into bite-size marketing assets in minutes, not hours.

7. Draft an engaging promotional email

Prompt:

Write a concise, engaging promotional email for [offer] that encourages [action]. Keep it under 150 words and include a strong CTA.

Outcome: A ready-to-edit email draft, consistent in style and focused on driving immediate action.

Prompts for content creators and educators

Use AI to streamline educational and creative production, focusing on clarity and engagement.

8. Build an agenda for a webinar

Prompt:

Build a 30-minute webinar agenda on [topic]. Include 3 key talking points, 2 interactive moments, and 1 call to action.

Practicality: Provides a structured, audience-focused plan for live events.

9. Turn documents into slide summaries

Prompt:

Here’s a long document: [paste or describe]. Create a 5-slide summary presentation with slide titles and bullet points.

Efficiency: Turns dense materials into high-level summaries viewers can process quickly.

10. Simplify complex topics for beginners

Prompt:

Explain [complex concept] in simple terms suitable for beginners. Use analogies and bullet points.

Value: Makes knowledge accessible, supporting onboarding and learning initiatives.

Streamlining hiring and HR with AI

Automate writing and talent screening with prompts configured for quality and inclusion. Check out my detailed post with more prompts here.

11. Craft compelling job descriptions

Prompt:

Write a compelling, inclusive job description for a [role] at a [type of company]. Include responsibilities, qualifications, and company culture highlights.

Advantage: Ensures roles are marketed attractively and inclusively, saving time on rewrites.

12. Generate interview questions

Prompt:

Give me 10 behavioral interview questions to assess a candidate’s problem-solving skills for a [job title] role.

How it helps: Builds precise question sets that test relevant competencies.

13. Onboarding checklist creation

Prompt:

Create a 2-week onboarding checklist for a new [role], with tasks broken down by day and links to relevant resources.

Desired outcome: Smooth onboarding processes mean faster time-to-productivity and less manager oversight.

Prompts for analysts and administrative efficiency

Extract insights and move from raw data to actionable summaries without manual labor.

14. Summarize spreadsheet data

Prompt:

Summarize this spreadsheet data: [paste table or describe data]. Highlight key trends and anomalies.

Value: Convert messy sheets into insights for focused, strategic reviews.

15. Summarize Meeting Notes

Prompt:

Summarize the key decisions, action items, and next steps from this meeting transcript: [paste notes].

ROI: Ensures important discussions result in tangible next actions.

16. Suggest useful dashboard charts

Prompt:

Suggest the most useful charts to include on a dashboard for tracking [goal, e.g., website conversions]. Explain why each is valuable.

Performance Tracking: Prioritizes metrics that matter, enabling smarter dashboard design.

General productivity hacks

Use AI to design repeatable frameworks, triage communications, and enforce strategic time allocation.

17. Create templates that save time

Prompt:

Create a reusable template for writing weekly status updates to my team. Include sections like ‘Highlights’, ‘Blockers’, and ‘Next Steps’.

Standardization: Fosters clarity and unity in reporting, saving time weekly.

18. Triage Slack messages

Prompt:

Here are 10 recent Slack messages I received across different channels. Help me classify each as Needs my action, FYI, or can be ignored. Messages: [paste messages].

Why it’s useful: This prompt helps you cut through the noise in team communication tools like Slack, Teams, or Discord. By instantly identifying what needs your attention versus what doesn’t, you can reclaim your focus and stop letting pings and notifications derail your deep work.

19. Design a weekly planning grid

Prompt:

Help me plan my week. I want to spend 60% of my time on deep work, 30% on meetings, and 10% on admin. I work Monday–Friday, 9–5.

Desired outcome: Enables intentional time management with built-in deep work prioritization.

20. Encourage personal reflection

Prompt:

Guide me through a weekly reflection. Ask me 5 questions about what went well, what I learned, and what to improve next week.

Continuous improvement: Promotes regular self-review, building resilience and alignment.

Combine prompts

When real transformation is the goal, don’t just use standalone prompts. Combine them into workflows. For example:

Craft a compelling job description (#11)
Start by generating an inclusive, well-written job listing that attracts the right candidates.
Create an onboarding checklist (#13)
Once the role is filled, immediately build a 2-week onboarding checklist so you’re ready to hit the ground running.
Turn onboarding docs into a slide summary (#9)
Transform lengthy onboarding materials into a 5-slide overview presentation for your new hire’s first day.

By stacking these prompts, you move from role definition → hiring → onboarding with minimal lift. You reduce context-switching, create consistency across hiring assets, and make the employee experience smoother, all in under an hour of focused AI-assisted work.

Stacking prompts leverages compounding time savings, multiplying your impact across every phase of a project.

Wrap-up

Great AI prompts are not shortcuts but disciplined processes encoded into accessible language. They allow you to automate what’s repetitive, delegate without confusion, and direct your best effort where it counts.

Bring intentionality and structure to every AI interaction, and you will transition from spending time on busywork to delivering meaningful, strategic outcomes.

What about you? What are your favorite time-saving AI prompts?

Start with intention: Why planning your day out loud actually works

There’s a moment every morning that quietly determines how the rest of your day will go. It’s not when you open your inbox. It’s not your first meeting. It’s that moment, before the noise sets in, when you decide what kind of day you’re going to have. That’s why I’m a firm believer in starting the day with a realistic, intentional plan and in posting that plan right when your day begins, not hours into it. This isn’t about reporting in or logging hours. It’s about leading your own day with clarity, honesty, and purpose.

This post is about the power of being proactive and about starting on purpose rather than drifting into reaction mode.

Daily stand-ups still hold up

Years ago, I wrote a post called From a Hard-Core Advocate of Daily Stand-Ups, and everything in it still holds true.

Daily stand-ups work because they:

Force you to reflect on how the previous day went
Help you begin your day with focus
Surface blockers and competing priorities in real time
Create small moments of accountability that compound over time

And here’s the key: they only work if they happen at the beginning of your day. Not mid-morning or after your meetings. If your update isn’t shaping your day, it’s just commentary. Not a tool.

If live stand-ups aren’t possible, the next best thing is this:

Have everyone post a short, focused update in Slack as soon as they start working.

Why it has to happen first

When you wait until later in the day to plan, your day’s already been hijacked. The meetings, messages, and fire drills have already dictated your focus.

Posting a morning update before you dive in forces intentionality, puts you in the driver’s seat, and signals to you team where you’re focused and where you may need support.

Plan with honesty and realism

Let’s be blunt: you’re not going to accomplish 20 meaningful things in one day. So don’t write your update as if you will.

Your daily plan isn’t about documenting everything you could do. It’s about identifying what really matters today. The 2–5 high-impact priorities that deserve your time, attention, and energy.

Being honest with yourself matters here:

Is this task truly important or just easy to check off?
Is this list realistic given the meetings and energy you actually have?
Am I setting myself up to succeed or to feel behind?

As Greg McKeown puts it in Essentialism: “You can do anything, but not everything.”

The value of daily planning isn’t in ambition. It’s in alignment.

What a good update looks like

Your update should be written by you, in plain English, and at the start of your day. Not by a tool. Not copied from a ticketing system. Not written in project-speak or tech jargon.

It should answer:

What did I plan to do yesterday? Did I follow through? If not, why not?
What am I focusing on today, and why does it matter?
Is anything blocking me or shifting my focus?

Tools don’t think, but you do

Most of us use project management systems that populate our tasks automatically. And while those are helpful for visibility, they’re not your plan.

If you let a tool dictate your priorities, you’ll end up reacting to deadlines instead of leading with intention.

Writing your own update forces you to pause, prioritize, and communicate clearly, not just to others, but to yourself.

Reflect honestly and learn from the patterns

At the end of the day (or the next morning), check in with yourself:

Did you stick to your plan?
If not, what got in the way? Were your priorities realistic?
Did you let urgency overtake importance?

Honest reflection is what turns this from a routine into a leadership tool. When you regularly notice what’s working and what isn’t, you get better at planning, better at staying in your lane and better at protecting time for what matters.

This isn’t about micromanagement or checking boxes. It’s about building a habit of purposeful work, starting with a plan, crafted by you, in your own words, at the very beginning of your day.

And it only works if you’re honest with yourself. If you know you’re not going to get to 20 things today, don’t write down 20 things. Start early and in a truthful way.

Because real momentum doesn’t come from doing more, it comes from doing what matters, on purpose.