21 Days of AI: A Grit and Growth Mindset Challenge

― Week Two | Day 8 ―

On Bias

Intro: This week, we will explore more functionalities of GenAI to augment your and your team's skills. Over the next few days,, when we ask your GenAI tool to assume “human roles,” we introduce the potential for bias. Although AI, like other technologies, may appear neutral and objective, it is susceptible to bias because it internalizes our present reality, operating on parameters that reflect our failings and blind spots.

But we can’t function under fear! By promoting equitable access to AI and other emerging technologies, we can begin to counter these biases. Moreover, continuing to address these concerns can help prevent the development of pro-innovation bias, which is a tendency to favor invention without identifying potential weaknesses.  

Thought Leaders:

• Trooper Sanders was CEO of the former Benefits Data Trust and is a member of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee and a special advisor to the American Bar Association Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence.
• Elham Tabassi was NIST Chief AI Advisor and creator of the NIST Trustworthy AI Program. The NIST framework is recognized and utilized for its thoughtful explanation of various types of bias and guidance on addressing the bias that leads to suboptimal or even harmful results.

GenAction: Ask your tool to explain concerns of bias when using GenAI and what considerations should be made to monitor bias in its output.

Grit and Growth Guide: Grit and growth mindset better enables you to adapt to and overcome ever-changing obstacles and barriers, including navigating artificial intelligence. Rather than turn away from the bias and harm perpetuated by AI, we can help these innovations reach their full potential by combating these concerns and mitigating future complications.

Reflection: What surprised you? What do you want to keep exploring? What may be valuable for you? What isn’t?

Explore your own thoughts and experience about today’s GenAI journey with the following self-prompts: “I like…,” “I wish…,” and “I wonder…”

― Day 9 ―

AI as a Coworker

Intro: How often have you popped your head into your co-worker’s office or reached out to a trusted friend to pick their brain on a particular challenge or roadblock at work? Now, with GenAI, your brainstorming sessions can reach new levels.

Thought Leader: Allie K. Miller is a top artificial intelligence leader, advisor, and investor. Previously, Allie was Amazon's Global Head of Machine Learning Business Development and Venture Capital. Before that, Allie was the youngest-ever woman to build an artificial intelligence product at IBM. She now provides tools and resources for engaging with AI, including the“WISER” method for prompting (Who, Instructions, Sub Tasks, Examples, Review)

GenActIon: Identify a work challenge or a creative project you are currently stuck on and formulate it in a clear prompt. Then spend 20+ minutes answering questions and trying different methods for AI-idea generation and brainstorming. See below for example prompts/questions.

Sample Prompts:

• General brainstorming: Generate [10-50] possible solutions to [problem]; What are some unconventional approaches to [challenge].
• Place constraints: What if [challenge/problem] had to be resolved in [time constraint] / for under [money constraint]?
• Play with “interview” style and “perspective shifting”: 
  • Insider perspective
    • “Imagine you are [insert name of expert in field/industry leader, or more specifically, name of your supervisor/primary audience for your work product." How would you answer [describe challenge]?
  • Outsider perspective
    • “Imagine you are [expert in a completely different field." How would you respond?

Tips: If you opt for the insider perspective, ensure you provide GenAI with sufficient background information about your supervisors, industry, and audience. Don’t forget also to try the outsider perspective: you might be surprised by the out-of-the-box solutions you get.

Grit and Growth Guide: Just like brainstorming with a real person is more about the exchange than obtaining one specific answer, the purpose of this exercise is not to come up with the “perfect” solution at first prompt. But instead, exploring unexpected avenues can offer new ways to approach a challenge.

Reflection: What surprised you? What do you want to keep exploring? What may be valuable for you? What isn’t?

Explore your own thoughts and experience about today’s GenAI journey with the following self-prompts: “I like…,” “I wish…,” and “I wonder…”

― Day 10 ―

AI as a Professor

Intro: AI tools can be a great supporting resource in the educational sphere. For example, they can help ideate methods for engaging students or summarizing extensive data and research. However, it is essential to balance using AI to enrich discussions from the generated insights and using AI to replace active engagement in the learning process, which can lead to a lack of critical thinking by its users.

Thought Leader: Rachel Thomas co-founded Fast.ai, an organization focused on making deep learning accessible to a broader audience. Rachel has been influential in making AI more accessible and has discussed various aspects of AI training, including prompt design. With a Ph.D. in mathematics, she combines her strong theoretical background with a commitment to promoting ethical AI practices and advocating for diversity in the tech community.

GenAction: Think about an upcoming speaking engagement, like a presentation or panel. Instead of asking the AI to draft an outline or talking points from scratch, draft a first version yourself, then use AI to polish and provide suggestions. Use AI to critique your “assignment” the way a professor might.

Pro Tips: Go back to the pro tips shared in Day 4 and think about adding those in your toolkit of prompts for text-based GAI tools, including when generating questions:

• “Act as if…”
• When telling it how you want your output to be presented, use also “do” and “don't”
• Use examples.
• Consider also the audience.
• Build on previous prompts.
• Correct mistakes and give feedback.

Sample Prompt: “I need to present about [XX] to a group of summer associates joining the law firm for the first time. The presentation needs to be clear, easy to understand, and dynamic. I already drafted the following bullet points from my presentation [as listed here]. I act as if you were my professor and ask potential questions I could pose to the summer associates to engage them in discussions about some essential details and exceptions they could not miss."

Resources:

• Hear more about Rachel Thomas' TEDx Talk, Artificial Intelligence needs all of us.
• Getting started with prompts for text-based Generative AI tools
• 4 Steps to Design an AI-Resilient Learning Experience

Grit and Growth Guide: Use GenAI tools to support your learning process and facilitate brainstorming, rather than as a shortcut for deeper learning and assessing a matter. Building domain knowledge helps write better prompts and questions (that generate more useful outputs) to dig into nuances and recognize when AI gets it wrong.

Reflection: What surprised you between asking AI to build something from scratch vs. refining something that you initially outlined/drafted? What do you want to keep exploring? What may be valuable for you? What isn’t?

― Day 11 ―

AI as a Coach

Intro: From life coaching to professional and executive coaching, we all need someone who helps us identify behavioral patterns that no longer serve us, define new goals and actionable steps to achieve those goals, and hold us accountable. GenAI can do just that.

Thought Leaders: 

Jennifer Kenny is the author of The Innovative Mindset, which focuses on reframing how we think about work and our interactions with partners. She explores how leveraging human-centered innovation, like GenAI, benefits processes that contribute to improved performance. For example, she created a coaching bot to aid professional development.

Dario Amodei  [MA1] is the CEO of Anthropic and former vice president of OpenAI. In his essay “Machines of Loving Grace” Amodei identifies the idea of an “AI-coach,” which can help “you find the best version of yourself,” and “studies your interactions and helps you learn to be more effective.”

GenActIon: Identify an area in your professional or personal life where you need guidance. Translate your concern into a clear and concise prompt. For this exercise, spend approximately 20 minutes exploring different ways to think about this issue with the guidance of GenAI as a coach, using the sample prompts below. [Note that you can also use GenAI to establish a more long-term coaching strategy, with clear definitions of goals, coaching methodologies, interaction patterns, etc.]

Sample Prompts:

• Self-discovery: What questions should I ask myself to understand why this is challenging? Help me figure out what’s getting in my way.
• Action-oriented: Give me a quick action item I can complete in 24 hrs.  What’s a simple habit I could start building around this?
• Fun-Twist: What would this look like if I solved it with zero fear and full swagger?
• Role Play: Can you role-play the other side of this conversation so that I can practice responding?

Tips:

• Challenge the GenAI Coach! Ask GenAI about its limitations in coaching, and don’t be shy to prompt it further if its answers are generic and bland.
• If you go back to ask questions, don’t start a new chat but use the existing/saved coach conversation in your GenAI app. That allows GenAI to refine its answers.

 Grit and Growth Guide: A 20-minute play session with GenAI doesn’t replace a trusted human counselor. Do not expect to have the answer to your professional mid-life career, but see GenAI as a practical and readily available guide.

Resources:

CoachHub, in collaboration with the International Coaching Federation, has developed AIMY, an AI coaching platform that provides employees across all career levels with a personalized, goal-oriented “AI coach.”  

Reflection: What surprised you? What do you want to keep exploring? What may be valuable for you? What isn’t?

Explore your own thoughts and experience about today’s GenAI journey with the following self-prompts: “I like…,” “I wish…,” and “I wonder…” 

― Day 12 ―

AI as a Meeting Planner

Intro: Being prepared for meetings can maximize effectiveness and achieve desired outcomes in a professional setting. Preparation ensures informed decisions, efficient use of time, and contributes to a more productive and collaborative meeting experience. AI can ensure that you are prepared to make a valuable contribution to your meetings.

Thought Leaders: 

• Steven Rogelberg, an organizational psychologist, is an award-winning scholar for his research on meetings. Rogelberg’s interdisciplinary work utilizes organizational psychology to enhance leaders and workplaces, fostering effective and successful working environments.
• Mamie Kanfer hosts “The Modern Manager” podcast, is the author of Momentum: Creative, Effective, Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings, and founded Meeteor. Mamie’s mission is to help others manage themselves, their teams, and their organizations more effectively.

GenAction: Before your next meeting, see if your GenAI tool can assist in any of the following areas:

• Research and Information Gathering
  • Identify the individuals and key topics. Use an AI-powered search engine to gather relevant background information or current events that might inform your contributions and/or understanding during the meeting.
• Agenda Creation and Refinement
  
  • After drafting a preliminary agenda that includes meeting objectives, use an AI tool to solicit suggestions on improving the flow and organization, identify any missing topics, and estimate the time allocations for each section.
• Summarization and Analysis
  • Use an AI note-taker to summarize and generate actionable items. Many virtual conferencing programs, such as Zoom, have integrated AI note-takers. You can also input a recording into an AI summarization tool, such as Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai.
• Anticipating Questions & Counterarguments
  • After identifying key topics of your meeting, you can ask an AI tool to generate possible follow-up questions, strong arguments to support different perspectives, and ways to address potential counterarguments.
• Presentation & Talking Points Generation
• Summarizing Relevant Work Updates

Grit and Growth Guide: By engaging in these activities, you can gain practical experience leveraging AI to enhance your meeting preparation workflow and contribute more effectively.

Reflection: What surprised you? What do you want to keep exploring? What may be valuable for you? What isn’t?

Explore your own thoughts and experience about today’s GenAI journey with the following self-prompts: “I like…,” “I wish…,” and “I wonder…”

― Day 13 ―

AI as a Negotiation Partner

Intro: GenAI is an excellent sparring partner for negotiation preparation. It can quickly test your strategies, spot weaknesses, and sharpen your pitch. The intersection of negotiations and AI is an expanding field; in 2025, MIT hosted an AI Negotiation Competition and a Summit.

Thought Leaders:

• Jared Curhan is a professor of Work and Organization Studies at MIT Sloan School of Management, specializing in the psychology of negotiation and conflict resolution. Jared is also the Co-Chair of the 2025 AI Negotiation Summit and author of Seven Lessons in AI & Negotiation.
• Casey Newton and Kevin Roose are tech reporters at the forefront of AI. In each episode of their podcast, Hard Fork, they partner—and often spar—on trending topics in the rapidly changing world of technology.

GenActIon:  Use the Voice function of your preferred GenAI App to have a short, 20-minute negotiation simulation.

Give the following prompt (as seen in an Ethan Mollik LinkedIn post about a year ago!): “I want to do deliberate practice about how to conduct negotiations. You will be my negotiation teacher. You will simulate a detailed scenario in which I have to engage in a negotiation to teach me BATNA [Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement]. You will fill the role of one party; I will fill the role of the other. You will ask for my response in each scenario step and wait until you receive it. After getting my response, you will respond in character, trying to focus on the learning objective. When I say Give me a Grade you will grade my response so far and give me detailed feedback about what to do better using the science of negotiation. To start, you will say Ready and wait for me. When I say go, you will start the negotiation. Describe the scenario, and afterwards, speak about the character's role until I say grade. Remember to wait for me to reply in each round. Don’t expect me to make up details outside the scenario. Tell me what I need to know.”

Tip: Negotiation is an entire field of study: to make the most of this exercise, let GenAI give you a brief primer on the most common negotiation concepts and theories.

Resources:

• “Hard Fork” is a podcast about a “future already here.” In each episode, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton delve into trending topics in the rapidly evolving world of technology.
• Grit and Growth Mindset Guide: Become familiar with being uncomfortable. Negotiating against GenAI may feel daunting, and you may feel doomed to be outpaced by a machine with seemingly unlimited information. However, the value of the exercise is in the process, not the outcome. 

Reflection: What surprised you? What do you want to keep exploring? What may be valuable for you? What isn’t?

― Day 14 ―

Reflections - AI Polarities

Intro: Polarities are interdependent opposites – where choices are not binary yes/no, but require us to hold two seemingly opposing ideas at the same time. As Betsy Miller describes, polarities appear in situations where choosing one or the other won’t bring you success: like needing to take care of yourself and prioritize the needs of others; making time to reflect while also acting decisively.

In the context of AI, polarities are ever present. AI offers a gateway to information and perspectives previously inaccessible, but it can also fall flat from its reliance on finite data sources. AI can develop network and energy efficiencies while also consuming significant amounts of energy. These tools can level the playing field by providing mentoring, counseling, career advice and can potentially entrench and deepen bias.

One of today’s AI thought leaders, Jaron Lanier, explains that AI can both widen access and opportunity, but also limit personalization and individual experience. These polarities call on us to keep our perspectives tuned to opposing forces that must exist together, something that requires an open, growth mindset, and the grit to grapple with it. It calls on us to use our moral compass and axes as we navigate AI polarities.What tension points, what do you see?

Thought Leaders:

• Alondra Nelson: Previously led the Office of Science and Technology Policy and now leads the Princeton Science, Technology, and Social Values Lab, which explores emerging scientific and technological phenomena and their intersections with the frustration and fulfillment of civil, political, and social rights.
• Jaron Lanier, computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, and technologist, wrote You Are Not a Gadget. This 2010 manifesto on technology explores how “the digitalization of music requires removing options and possibilities based on what was easiest to be represented and processed by the computer” because computers require abstractions. They are proxies, but too often we let the abstractions become our reality. “We have narrowed what we expect from the most commonplace forms of musical sound to make the technology adequate….You can't tell if a machine has gotten smarter or if you've just lowered your standards of intelligence to such a degree that the machine seems smart.”

GenAction: Compare different AI tools. Do they bring out different polarities?

Grit and Growth Guide: Effort without a Growth Mindset may lead individuals to put in tremendous effort without seeing results if they believe their ability is fixed. This can lead to frustration and burnout. Growth Mindset without Grit is not enough; individuals must also put in the effort and persevere through challenges to realize their full potential. Grit and growth mindset form a dynamic polarity where each aspect supports and strengthens the other.

Reflection: What surprised you? What do you want to keep exploring?What may be valuable for you?What isn’t?

Resources:

• Jaron Lanier, “How to Picture A.I.” published in the New Yorker in 2024
• Sasha Luccioni’s  TED Talk “AI is dangerous, but not for the reasons you think”
• Betsy Miller, “Opposites Attract” from Harvard Law Today on polarities

Links

Week One | Week Two | Week Three

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