How AI is Reshaping Strategic Thinking?

Morning Coffee, Strategic Clarity

I wanted to take a moment to share something that’s been quietly revolutionizing how I approach thinking—yes, not just working, but thinking. It started with a story I heard about Meline, the CEO of Meridian Consumer Brands. Every morning at 6:00 a.m., while sipping her coffee, she turns to something that, at first, seemed like a novelty—ChatGPT. Now, it’s her thinking partner.

This caught my attention not because she’s using AI (lots of us are), but how she’s using it. Not to generate press releases or automate emails, but to think deeper, faster, and broader. It's not about replacing intuition; it's about sharpening it.

It made me realize that our leadership challenges aren’t always about not having answers—but not having the right questions. And AI, as it turns out, can help us ask smarter ones. When Meline shifted from vague queries to layered, contextual prompts—asking ChatGPT to role-play as a supply chain director in Vietnam or a consumer shopping in Ho Chi Minh—her understanding of market dynamics exploded. She wasn’t outsourcing insight; she was building strategic intuition.

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Why AI Alone Isn’t the Answer (And Never Was)

The biggest misconception I see is treating AI like a vending machine. Punch in your topic, out comes wisdom. But that’s not how this works. In fact, that’s why Meline’s first attempt bombed. She asked a general question and got a general answer.

But here’s what changed everything for her: Contextual prompting. The clarity of your question determines the clarity of the AI’s response. When you start layering roles, timelines, business dynamics, and even internal politics into your prompts, that’s when the magic begins.

She wasn't asking, “What’s going on in the market?” She was asking, “How have our competitors shifted portfolios under 18 months of inflation, as seen from a Southeast Asia lens?” That’s not a search. That’s strategy.

I tried it myself. Instead of just asking for an overview of a region, I asked: “Act as a regional sales manager in a Latin American FMCG company. Tell me how shifting currency values are influencing promotional pricing across product lines.” The difference was night and day.

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Building a Ritual of Smart Prompts

What I admire most is how Meline turned this into a daily ritual. Every morning wasn’t just about information. It was reconnaissance. She explored her business from new vantage points—regulatory, financial, operational, cultural, like examining the same problem through multiple camera lenses.

It reminded me of the old story of the blind men and the elephant. Strategy is like that—we each feel a different part and think we know the whole. But AI helps us stitch those pieces together, not perfectly, but quickly. It gives form to our blind spots.

Here’s something practical I took away and have since started using myself:

Smart Prompting Framework:

• Start with intent. What do I want to shift in my business in the next 6-12 months?

• Assign a role. Make the AI think like a specific person (Ops Manager, Local Regulator, Consumer).

• Add real context. What region, scale, market pressure, team dynamics are at play?

• Refine and challenge. Don’t stop at the first answer—pressure test it.

• Organize. Ask it to structure or summarize findings in a table, chart, or SWOT.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s acceleration. We don’t replace our thinking—we expand it.

Leading Conversations with Better Questions

What struck me most about Meline’s transformation wasn’t that she came to meetings with AI-prepared slides. It was how her questions changed. Her HR director said it best: “She asks better questions now.”

Imagine going from, “How’s Jakarta doing?” to, “Which KPIs in Jakarta are underperforming compared to Manila and Bangkok, and what’s the root—people, process, or tech?” That’s precision. That’s leadership.

And here’s a powerful tip I learned from this approach: Use AI to prepare the ground—but don’t stop there. Let your team react, refine, and even push back. AI gives you the structure, but your people provide the nuance.

Meline wasn’t asking for answers anymore. She was building conversations—strategic, contextual, insight-driven ones. AI told her hedging costs might hit margins. She didn’t just present it. She asked her CFO, “With the Thailand launch, how does that impact us locally?” She used AI as a conversation catalyst.

That’s the shift. It’s not about replacing people. It’s about coming to people more prepared.

The Rise of the “Second Brain” Leader

So, what’s the future of leadership with AI? I think Meline gave us a glimpse. She’s now experimenting with what she calls a Model Context Protocol (MCP)—assigning different AI agents different viewpoints (consumer, regulator, finance lead), then merging their outputs into one comprehensive view.

It’s still early days, and some of this needs to be built out with IT support. But what it shows is this: we’re not using AI just for tasks anymore. We’re using it for thinking.

In an era where markets shift faster than ever and complexity compounds by the minute, we need better ways to navigate uncertainty. Generative AI, when used thoughtfully, becomes a second brain—not one that makes decisions for us, but one that helps us see farther, think sharper, and act faster.

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The key is still you. Your questions, your leadership, your judgment. But now, you have a tool that can elevate all three.

So as we step into the rest of this year, I’ll leave you with this: don’t just experiment with AI for productivity. Try using it to become more curious. Ask it to challenge your thinking. Use it to rehearse conversations, test strategies, or explore alternate futures.

Just like Meline, you may find that the most powerful part of AI isn’t the answer—it’s the way it reshapes how you ask the question.

What’s your next spark? A new platform engineering skill? A bold pitch? A team ready to rise? Share your ideas or challenges at Tiny Big Spark. Let’s build your pyramid—together.

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