First, a major shout out to Yolanda Rios, an Ellevation colleague who shared The Clear-Eyed View on LinkedIn and introduced five new people! Word of mouth is the best way to grow this community. If you’ve found this newsletter valuable, don’t forget to use your referral link to share it with your network. I appreciate you all!

Three Ways AI Can Help You Grow Your Career

In the 1979-1980 NBA season, the 3-point line was introduced to the league. Critics dismissed it as a gimmick, with only 5,003 three-pointers attempted that year. Fast forward to last season, and NBA players attempted an astonishing 86,357 threes. What was once seen as a gimmick is now a defining feature of the sport.

Al Horford, a 17-year NBA veteran, embodies this evolution. When he entered the league in 2007, outside shooting wasn’t part of his game. Over his first 420 games, he made only 10 three-pointers. Today, Horford is a high-volume shooter, draining 145 threes in the 2022-2023 season alone. His adaptability has not only elevated his performance but also extended his career. He’s one of just four active players remaining from his draft class.

Why You Should Embrace Artificial Intelligence

Just as the 3-point shot reshaped basketball, generative AI is revolutionizing the workplace. AI is the professional world’s version of the 3-point shot: an essential skill that separates thrivers from languishers. You can’t slow it down. You have to be ready to adapt.

According to Goldman Sachs, over two-thirds of jobs will be exposed to some form of AI automation, and one-fourth of work tasks will be automated by AI.

Do you want to be like Al Horford, whose adaptability has kept him at the top of his game, or risk falling behind like those who never evolved their skill sets?

Here are three ways to leverage AI on your terms.

3 Unique Ways to Leverage AI on Your Terms

1. Take a deep dive into a topic of interest using Notebook LM 🧐

One thing I’ve been wanting to learn more about is storytelling - a topic I’ll be covering in next week’s newsletter. Specifically, I want to learn how to become a better storyteller in different contexts: written communication, presentations, and 1:1 conversations.

Without AI: I’d traditionally go to Google, search “storytelling best practices,” and click several links on the first 1-2 pages (does anyone ever go past page 3 on a Google search?). I’d find several relevant YouTube videos and articles but only have the time to skim a couple. If I wanted to extract the key points, I would manually take notes. This approach is time-consuming and inefficient 👎🏿

With Notebook LM: You can still go to Google (or even better, Perplexity - a great AI search tool) to find reputable sources. Then, you can upload those sources into NotebookLM to auto-generate helpful, digestible resources developed directly from the sources provided.

How?

1. Search for relevant resources on your topic

2. Open Notebook LM

3. Upload your sources (Notebook LM supports most file types; YouTube videos are my favorite).

4. Choose the best format for you—ask questions via chat, create a study guide, or even generate a podcast.

My favorite new feature? Engaging directly with the podcast hosts to clarify your understanding 🤯.

The beauty of Notebook LM is you don’t have to worry about “AI hallucinations.” You control the data feeding the model, giving you more confidence in output.

If you want to take a deeper dive, I found this video helpful.

2. Create a CustomGPT to help you meet expectations🧑🏿‍💻

Last week, I wrote about managing up. One way to consistently meet your manager's expectations is to match their desired communication style.

Without AI: You’ll manually study your manager’s communications and do your best to match their approach and style. You'll learn through trial and error relying on feedback over time.

With a CustomGPT: You can train ChatGPT to help you write according to your manager's preferences. By training ChatGPT with your manager’s writing, you can create a tool that can help you to write in the way they prefer.

How?

1. Login to your OpenAI account (if you don’t have one, build one immediately)

2. Click the top left where it says “Explore GPTs” —> Click “Create”

3. Using the “Create” tab, you can use conversational language to build your CustomGPT.

4. Start engaging with the conversation box to describe what you want.

5. If you’re building a CustomGPT like the one I described above, consider removing web search and uploading as much material as possible. It will only use what you upload to train the responses.

6. Test the GPT and continue to iterate until you are satisfied with the outputs.

Need more support creating a CustomGPTs? I followed this video step by step and was able to get a functional and valuable GPT running in 10 minutes. Don’t want to watch the full video? Pop it into Notebook LM and see what happens 😉.

3. Prepare For crucial conversations/presentations with advanced voice

In a few weeks, I have a big presentation. I’ve been working on storytelling and my pacing when giving a presentation. In preparation, I often want to practice and gather feedback from others to ensure I put my best foot forward.

Without AI: I’d practice the presentation in front of the mirror, maybe record myself over Zoom, and certainly bug my (very patient) wife for feedback.

With ChatGPT Advanced Voice: I can deliver the presentation to ChatGPT, which will act like a speaking coach. It will give me honest, difficult feedback to help me improve my pacing and storytelling.

How?

1. Open up a new chat in ChatGPT using “advanced voice”

2. Prompt the model using the RACE (Role, Action, Context, Expectation) prompting framework

   1. Example prompt for presentation feedback:

       “You are an expert speaking coach. I want you to give me difficult feedback on an upcoming presentation [On X) [To Y]. Specifically, I want you to rate my [skill 1, i.e pace] and [skill 2, i.e storytelling] on a scale from 0 to 10. Be highly critical of my presentation, and don’t be afraid to give me the difficult feedback I need to improve”

3. Based on the feedback output, continue to refine the feedback by asking specific questions until it meets your needs.

This can work for presentations and any type of conversation. I’ve tested it for difficult conversations in which ChatGPT plays different personas. Although not perfect, it beats a mirror 😉.

Here's a video showcasing how to get the most out of Advanced Voice.

Note: The two ChatGPT use cases require you to use ChatGPT Plus. It’s the best $20/month I spend (ok, maybe not as valuable as Spotify, but close). It gives you access to tools to make you legitimately better and more efficient at work. If you don’t want to pay the money, many employers may cover the cost of ChatGPT or have access to licenses.w

Final Takeaway: Start Now!

Recently, I surveyed my LinkedIn network to understand how often they use Generative AI for their professional development. The results?

39% of respondents use AI almost daily for their professional development. However, 30% are only in the early stages of adopting AI and use it passively. I used to fall into the bottom 30%, but as I’ve explored different use cases and capabilities, I’ve realized how critical AI adoption will be for career relevance.

What’s stopping you? Whether it’s a lack of understanding, concerns about privacy and data, or output bias, these are legitimate concerns. But you can’t let them stop you from getting started.

Change is inevitable, but growth is a choice. Artificial Intelligence is the 3-point shot of the professional world—once viewed as a gimmick, soon to be indispensable. Start small. Upload a favorite article to Notebook LM, train a CustomGPT with just one email chain, or rehearse your next meeting with ChatGPT. With each step, you’ll discover new ways to save time, enhance skills, and stay ahead in your career.