🦈 Shark Report AI Isn’t the Advantage. How You Use It Is.

Are you using AI to do things for you, or to think with you?

Most business owners are using AI. Very few are using it in a way that actually improves how they think. That gap is where the advantage is.

I see it every day. People asking AI to draft emails, summarize notes, generate lists.

That’s fine.

But it’s not what changes outcomes.

The shift happens when you stop asking AI to do things for you and start using it to think with you. For me, the biggest change has been simple. Before I start drafting anything, I ask ChatGPT:

“What questions should I be asking?”

That one shift changes everything.

It slows me down.
It broadens the lens.
It forces better thinking before better writing.

Kevin Daum, who will be leading an AI workshop for us on June 3, frames it simply:

• Do For Me → task execution
  • Think For Me → outsourcing thinking
  • Think With Me → working through ideas

Most people stay in the first two.

The value is in the third. 

 

What Level 3 Looks Like

This is not about better prompts.

It’s about better conversations.

• Bring the messy thinking
  Real situations. Incomplete. Unclear. High stakes.
• Stay in the dialogue
  Don’t take the first answer. Push it. Refine it. Challenge it.
• Separate thinking from output
  Clarity first. Then communication.
• Use it to widen perspective
  Not because you can’t think, but because you’re too close.
• You make the call
  AI sharpens judgment. It doesn’t replace it.

 

Where This Matters

Leaders today are dealing with:
• More information
• Faster decisions
• Higher pressure

The issue is not lack of tools.

It’s lack of clear thinking under pressure.

That’s where this shows up.

 

The Shark Sense Insight

Most people use AI to move faster.

Better leaders use it to think better.

One creates activity.

The other creates advantage.

 

Bottom Line

If you’re using AI to save time, you’re just getting started.

If you’re using AI to sharpen your thinking, you’re playing a different game.

The question is not:

How can AI help me get more done?

The better question is:

What questions should I be asking before I start?

That’s Level 3.

That’s where it gets interesting.

 

Event: AI as a Thinking Partner

Join us for a practical working session with Kevin Daum:

AI as a Thinking Partner: A Practical Working Session for Business Owners
Wednesday, June 3, 2026 | 8:00–11:00 AM
Southpoint Office Center
1650 W 82nd St, Minneapolis, MN
Main Floor Training Room