How I’m using AI tools to lead more effectively, and how you can too

If you’ve ever walked away from a meeting replaying the entire conversation in your head, this blog post is for you.

As social impact leaders —whether you're running an NGO, leading a CSR team, or guiding a hybrid model— you know that our work demands more than just strategy. It calls for empathy, clarity, and often, hard truths delivered well. That’s exactly the tightrope I walked recently on a Diagnostic & Roadmap delivery call with a long-standing nonprofit client.

Their goal? Raise an endowment and hire their first full-time Executive Director. A major milestone after 20+ years of volunteer-powered work.

As I dug in, it became clear that a fundraising strategy wasn't going to get them to this goal. The real challenges?

• Lack of impact data and testimonies

• A website that wasn’t inspiring potential donors’ trust

• A board that needed strengthening

• A revenue model that wasn’t positioning them for sustained funding

So, I told them the truth: they needed to pause and refresh. They needed to create some space between how the founder had done things in the past and the energy, vision and tools that could enable the organization to fly tomorrow. 

I framed it carefully, but I could see the weight of my words landing.

Was I too harsh? Could I have delivered it better?

After the call, I did something I’ve started doing more often: I asked ChatGPT for feedback.

How AI tools for nonprofits can support your leadership

After that call, I opened ChatGPT and typed:

Hey chatGPT, how did i come across in this client delivery call? could i have shared my critical insights in a more productive or digestible way?

After Chatgpt listed out what I did well and what I could have done better, it gave me this final takeaway:

Final Takeaway: You Came Across as a Strategic, Honest, and Supportive Partner

Would your insights have been more digestible? Perhaps slightly, with more acknowledgment of emotional resistance and a sharper breakdown of the six-month goal.

Were they productive? Absolutely—you provided clarity, direction, and a compelling case for change.

AI can’t replace human judgment, but it can be a thought partner— a gut check to refine our approach, challenge blind spots, and help us be better leaders.

ChatGPT’s response was affirming and useful. 

That’s what I love about using AI tools for nonprofits, corporate social impact, and for social impact work more broadly. They don’t replace our wisdom. But they do act as a fast, low-cost mirror— one that helps us refine delivery, strengthen clarity, and reduce unnecessary self-doubt.

AI for leadership: A new kind of thought partner

Whether you're managing a complex CSR portfolio or holding strategy meetings with overstretched nonprofit teams, leadership in the social impact space is emotionally layered and politically charged.

That’s where AI for leadership becomes transformative. Think of tools like ChatGPT as your behind-the-scenes co-pilot: a second set of eyes on your message, a lens into how your words might land, a fast editor when you’re stuck at the 80% mark.

In this case, ChatGPT boiled my entire call down to this reframing:

“They’re ready for growth, but their structure hasn’t caught up with their vision yet.”

That gave me peace of mind. I closed my laptop not with lingering doubt but with reinforced clarity and conviction.

AI self awareness isn’t just reflective— it’s strategic

Let’s be real: leadership can feel isolating. Whether you're a nonprofit ED or a corporate social impact director, you’re constantly wondering if you got it “right.”

That’s where AI self awareness uses come in. I now use ChatGPT to debrief not just what I said, but how I said it. I ask:

• Did my message align with the organization’s readiness?
  

• How might this have been perceived emotionally?
  

• What’s a more empowering way to say the same thing?

The neutrality of AI gives me space to reflect without judgment. And that’s priceless.

In this case, ChatGPT reminded me: “Your instinct was right. Your execution was strong. Just lead with more softness next time.” 

With this in hand, I closed my computer at the end of the day knowing that I had delivered honest, strategic advice in a way that was both clear and constructive.

The client then proved ChatGPT right

The next morning, I got an email from my client:

Subject: Thank you
Body: “I found myself energized and hopeful after our meeting yesterday.”

That email confirmed what I felt— and what ChatGPT helped me see:

Telling the truth, when delivered with compassion and strategy, is energizing. It builds trust. And it moves people forward.

Why AI and consulting are better together

This isn’t a one-off. I’ve started integrating AI into my everyday advising, training, and coaching. From developing stakeholder communications to strengthening analysis and prepping client debriefs, AI and consulting are better together.

Used wisely, AI supports:
✅ Reflective leadership
✅ Emotionally intelligent communication
✅ Strategic clarity
✅ Faster decision-making

Especially on small or stretched teams— AI tools for nonprofits, corporate social impact and everything in between offer an edge that used to only be available to well-funded organizations. Now, it’s at your fingertips.

Try it yourself: Quick wins for integrating AI into your leadership

Here are some real prompts I’ve used and that you can adapt for your own leadership context:

• “What’s the most respectful way to acknowledge a partner’s delay without throwing blame?”
  

• “How might this proposal message land with a skeptical funder?”
  

• “What strategic opportunities am I missing here?”
  

• Or steal this full prompt I wrote to find grant funders that are perfect for you. 

You’ll be surprised how effective even a 5-minute AI brainstorm can be.

A quick guide to strong prompts (because AI is only as good as your prompt)

To really benefit from AI tools for nonprofits, corporate social impact, and beyond, you need to speak its language. With ChatGPT, you do this by always having these 5 parts in your prompt:

🧩 Role: Tell it who you want it to “act as”
🧩 Context: Share the full picture— what’s happening and why
🧩 Task: Be crystal clear about what you want help with
🧩 Output specifics: Need bullet points? An email? A confident tone? Say so.
🧩 Inputs: Paste in or attach your draft, call transcript, notes or whatever else you are giving it to do the task. 

Example:

“Act as a fundraising advisor. I just finished a board call with mixed reactions about our new campaign. Can you help me draft a follow-up email that reassures them, highlights key takeaways, and lays out the next steps clearly? I am attaching the meeting transcript.”

Even better? Take 10 minutes right now to permanently train ChatGPT on you and your writing style. Then, everything it gives you in the future will be more grounded in you and your work and written in your tone of voice. Steal this prompt:

"For your memory,
Here’s what my organization does…
Here are examples of how I usually speak/write..."
My audience is typically ___ and they care about ___..." 

Click the submit arrow and you will then see on the screen “Memory updated” and now Chatgpt will base all its future work for you off of that! 

Protip: Give feedback to Chatgpt if you don’t like what it gave you. It is like an intern, and learns from your feedback. 

Protecting confidentiality

Concerned about privacy? Smart.

Use Temporary Chat mode (ChatGPT’s incognito setting) for sensitive conversations, and avoid using names or specific identifiers when pasting in content. I often just refer to “a board member” or “a donor” or depersonalize databases, and still get great results.

Final thoughts: You don’t need to be a techie to lead with AI

If you’re a social impact leader navigating a world of tight timelines, complex decisions, and evolving stakeholder expectations, AI can help. Not to replace your brain or voice, but to strengthen them.

When we combine AI tools for nonprofits, corporate social impact leaders and beyond with emotional intelligence and clear strategy, we unlock a new layer of leadership: more confident, more grounded, and more effective.

And this very blog post? 50% me, 50% ChatGPT. That co-creation let me reflect, write, and post it— without staying up until midnight. The cartoon-style image of me in this blog post? 80% AI, 20% me.

PS: I share more practical stories and guidance like this on LinkedIn. Come say hi.

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