Hello!

I took my first training on generative AI precisely 2 years ago, and it is time to reflect. Since then, I’ve developed my own way to make generative AI fit into my work and life as a non-techie.

Now I see it is the right approach. I have the chance to coach each week 2 to 3 leaders in health care to see how they or their team use generative AI. The biggest mistake I’m seeing today is treating generative AI like a superhero tool instead of what it truly is—a team.

It’s what I teach in my coaching, and I’ll share with you one of the core concepts that my students and coaches say shifts how they see AI’s potential in their work.

You’ll learn:

Why treating AI as a team (not a tool) drives real value
The three key misconceptions blocking AI adoption
How to build and organize your AI dream team with four key profiles

"Success with AI isn't about delegating tasks to a tool; it's about developing a collaborative relationship with new kind of team members"

Get comfortable for your 5 minutes of sparks to hack.

✨ Spark

✏ What most people get wrong

Here are the 3 prominent parallel people do with GenAI:

"AI is a tool".
"AI is a new teammate".
"AI makes you a superhero".

They are ALL wrong.

It's not about adding a new technical tool to an existing team and process. It is about people.

AI is also not a new team member. It is way more than that, AI is a team,I will come to that in a minute.

It doesn't make the people "superheroes" (I see that lately a lot 😡). AI is no magic, there is no shortcut, and it is not fast and easy to "change" with AI.

✏ Look at GenAI as a Team

So here is the foundational shift that transformed how you can use AI:

AI is not a tool—it’s a team.
You don’t use it, you hire it.
You don’t prompt, you train and give it feedback.

You don’t select tools, you build a new AI organizational chart around you.

I know my approach works because I see the impact on my students. See what Elaine said (she is part of ScaleU )

The good news is that a study published this week confirms this view 😅.

✏ Individuals working with AI performed just as well as teams without AI,

The Digital Data Design Institute of Harvard conducted a pre-registered, randomized controlled trial of 776 professionals at Procter and Gamble (I will give you the link at the end in the resource section).

Studies show that individuals working with AI performed just as well as teams without AI. "This suggests that AI effectively replicated the performance benefits of having a human teammate" – one person with AI could match what previously required two-person collaboration.

The research also shows that expertise boundaries vanish when AI enters the picture. Without AI, they see clear professional silos—R&D specialists propose technical solutions while Commercial specialists suggest market-focused ideas. But with AI assistance, both groups produced balanced solutions that integrated technical and commercial perspectives. The distinction between specialists virtually disappeared.

Their conclusion "To successfully use AI, organizations will need to change their analogies. Our findings suggest AI sometimes functions more like a teammate than a tool. While not human, it replicates core benefits of teamwork—improved performance, expertise sharing, and positive emotional experiences. This teammate perspective should make organizations think differently about AI."

So, now start treating GenAI as a team you design and lead. I will show you how.

AI doesn’t replace you—it reports to you.

✨ Hack

Imagine AI as different team members, each bringing unique capabilities to support your success. These profiles exist on a continuum – from handling tasks you're expert at but don't have time for, to providing knowledge in areas where you need external expertise.

This is your team of 4 AI profiles.

✏ Your Trainee/Personal Assistant

Your AI trainee takes care of time-consuming tasks you know how to do but shouldn’t spend time on. Think market research, document translation, proofreading, and summarizing reports.

✏ Your amplifier

Your AI amplifier doesn’t replace your expertise—it extends it. It understands your frameworks and mental models, helping you scale your methodologies across different contexts.

✏ Your Coach and Trainer

This profile supports your professional development in areas where you have foundation knowledge but want to grow. It helps you with learning new frameworks, motivation, and preparing for challenging conversations.

✏ Your Expert Consultants

This fills knowledge gaps with domain-specific insights, giving you expert advice on regulations, contracts, and data analysis—just as you’d consult a specialized team member.

✏ You are a team of 5

Just as you’d build a human team, focus on selecting GenAI profiles that complement your strengths and fill capability gaps.You build new capabilities through an AI team structure.

Prompts are job descriptions. Feedback is management.

You are a team of 5: you and your 4 AI profiles.

That's it for today!

See you in two weeks. Keep the spark alive, and be intentional :)

What's up with me?

I've been way too busy in February and March. Just in the last 10 days, I had 5 days leading open innovation programs in digital health and sustainability, teaching business model to phD students. and moderating a full day of pitch practice for a company internal innovation challenge. I've been to most of the biggest cities in Switzerland, Zurich, Luzern, Basel, Bern... Very early start, but I could enjoy the ride in the train and kind of work peacefully. So I've been very active on social media during my train commute in the morning ;), and leveraged my AI dream team to do the work with me.

✨ Resources:
→ The cybernetic teammate here

→ My 6-week coaching program to learn how to make the most of GenAI , you can join until Monday, 31st March.

Let me know if you liked this edition or if you tried these tips. I respond to every person who writes to me!

Spark to Hack ✧

GenAI is not a tool, it is a team. How this mindset shift will help you master GenAI - StoH # 39