How to Balance AI Tools and Personal Voice

You’re doing it. I’m doing it. Your friends are doing it. Even the leaders who deny it are doing it. Everyone’s experimenting with AI. But I keep hearing the same complaint: “It’s not as game-changing as I thought.” If AI is so powerful, why isn’t it doing more of your work? The #1 obstacle keeping you and your team from getting more out of AI? You're not bossing it around enough. AI doesn’t get tired and it doesn't push back. It doesn’t give you a side-eye when at 11:45 pm you demand seven rewrite options to compare while snacking in your bathrobe. Yet most people give it maybe one round of feedback—then complain it’s “meh.” The best AI users? They iterate. They refine. They make AI work for them. Here’s how: 1. Tweak AI's basic setting so it sounds like you AI-generated text can feel robotic or too formal. Fix that by teaching it your style from the start. Prompt: “Analyze the writing style below—tone, sentence structure, and word choice—and use it for all future responses.” (Paste a few of your own posts or emails.) Then, take the response and add it to Settings → Personalization → Custom Instructions. 2. Strip Out the Jargon Don’t let AI spew corporate-speak. Prompt: “Rewrite this so a smart high schooler could understand it—no buzzwords, no filler, just clear, compelling language.” or “Use human, ultra-clear language that’s straightforward and passes an AI detection test.” 3. Give It a Solid Outline AI thrives on structure. Instead of “Write me a whitepaper,” start with bullet points or a rough outline. Prompt: “Here’s my outline. Turn it into a first draft with strong examples, a compelling narrative, and clear takeaways.” Even better? Record yourself explaining your idea; paste the transcript so AI can capture your authentic voice. 4. Be Brutally Honest If the output feels off, don’t sugarcoat it. Prompt: “You’re too cheesy. Make this sound like a Fortune 500 executive wrote it.” or “Identify all weak, repetitive, or unclear text in this post and suggest stronger alternatives.” 5. Give it a tough crowd Polished isn’t enough—sometimes you need pushback. Prompt: “Pretend you’re a skeptical CFO who thinks this idea is a waste of money. Rewrite it to persuade them.” or “Act as a no-nonsense VC who doesn’t buy this pitch. Ask 5 hard questions that make me rethink my strategy.” 6. Flip the Script—AI Interviews You Sometimes the best answers come from sharper questions. Prompt: “You’re a seasoned journalist interviewing me on this topic. Ask thoughtful follow-ups to surface my best thinking.” This back-and-forth helps refine your ideas before you even start writing. The Bottom Line: AI isn’t the bottleneck—we are. If you don’t push it, you’ll keep getting mediocrity. But if you treat AI like a tireless assistant that thrives on feedback? You’ll unlock content and insights that truly move the needle. Once you work this way, there’s no going back.

We’re living in a world where AI can write, design, summarize, translate, and brainstorm, but it still can’t anticipate that your stakeholder will ask, ‘Can we make the CTA pop more?’ for the third time. But here’s the catch: AI can assist your voice, it shouldn’t replace it. If you’re navigating how to stand out without blending in with a sea of AI-generated sameness, here are a few ways I’ve been keeping things human. 1️⃣ Lead with your tone of voice Whether you’re writing a caption, an email, or a case study, your voice is your fingerprint. Use words you actually say. Embrace your quirks. 2️⃣ Design with personality Add colors, fonts, and layouts that match your energy. Whether your vibe is minimalist and moody or punchy and playful, your visuals can do a lot of talking before you even say a word. 3️⃣ Use AI as a co-pilot, not a ghostwriter I use AI to start the idea, not to be the idea. I edit, shape, and sprinkle in personality until it feels like something I’d say. 4️⃣ Show your face Whether it’s behind-the-scenes photos, messy sketches, or a video of you sharing your thoughts, that’s all you! 5️⃣ Inject YOU into the process Don’t just share the polished result, share the “why,” the lessons learned, or even the things that didn’t work. People connect to the human behind the pixels. AI can scale your ideas, but it’s your authenticity that makes people remember them. Curious to hear, how are you balancing AI support with staying true to your "brand”?

Stop asking AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to edit and rewrite your marketing copy, emails, or other assets. Instead, use them as collaborative partners to help you improve the quality of your work. Here's how 👇 Ask your AI tool to review your work as the editor you want it to be. Are you looking for copy edits for grammar? Changes to stay on brand? Adaptation for a specific vertical? The perspective of your target persona? Give it specific guidance and the skills to be that exact editor. Then provide all of the appropriate context needed to do a great job. Share your goals, audience, brand guidelines, purpose, and/or whatever else a human would need to know to do a good job on the edits. Now comes the magic - request the AI review your copy for suggested changes. Ask it to give you three things for every edit it suggests:   - The original copy you wrote.   - Its suggested revisions. - The reasoning behind each change it suggested. This method works so much better than just asking the AI to re-write your copy and make it better because when you edit using my before/after/why framework you'll get... 1️⃣. Higher-quality edits When the AI is required to explain its suggestions, it avoids making changes just for the sake of making changes. This leads to more thoughtful, meaningful, high-quality improvements. 2️⃣. YOU stay connected Applying the AI’s suggestions yourself keeps you actively involved. You won’t accidentally become complacent (it's so easy with AI!) and blindly accept poor edits that degrade rather than enhance the quality of work. 3️⃣. Critical thinking helps a lot Understanding the reasoning behind a suggestion helps you decide if you agree with the logic. Even if you don’t love the execution, you can adopt the thinking behind the suggestion and adjust the execution to fit your voice and goals. 4️⃣ . The AI may catch edits you might overlook AI can flag things you didn’t notice, giving you the chance to refine them in your own way. This approach works especially well with tools like Gemini in Google Docs, Copilot in Word, or ChatGPT and Claude in a chatbot environment. While it might take a little longer to apply the suggestions, the payoff in quality is well worth it. You'll get higher-quality results and a deeper understanding of your own work. We talk a lot about AI efficiency gains, but AI isn’t just about saving time. One of the biggest reasons to build AI skills is because it improves the quality - not just the speed - of work. In fact, CMOs whose marketing teams I've trained with AI skills over the last 2 years frequently tell me post-training that they can really see who is actively using AI because of the dramatic increase in the quality of their work (and how much better it is than other people's now)! So if you've been asking ChatGPT to re-write your copy for you, try this method with your next project instead, and see how much better it is!

AI doesn’t take your voice. It reveals whether you’ve found it. That’s the real opportunity and the real challenge. Because the tools are getting smarter. Faster. More impressive by the day. But the question AI keeps putting in front of us isn’t, "Can it do this for me?" It’s, "Do I actually know what I want to say?" Used well, AI is an amplifier. It elevates presence, sharpens messaging, expands reach. But used without intention, it becomes a mirror, reflecting every gap in clarity you didn’t slow down long enough to see. I’ve watched brilliant founders automate their voice before they ever understood it. I’ve seen executives hand off messaging to AI before they even knew what they stood for. Because that’s what happens when speed becomes the goal. When “posting consistently” matters more than “saying something worth hearing.” Here’s what I see every day on LinkedIn: 🔵 Posts written by AI with no soul  🔵 Leadership messages that are grammatically perfect but emotionally hollow  🔵 Founders scaling content while trust quietly disappears The tools are sharper than ever. But the thinking behind them? That’s what’s getting dull. AI can generate a message. But it can’t give it meaning. Only you can do that. And if you haven’t taken the time to define your voice, your values, and your story, AI will just cause confusion. At StandOut Authority, we don’t fear AI. We use it. But we use it after we’ve done the real work. The human work. That means:  🔵 Knowing what you want to be known for  🔵 Leading with clarity, not just content  🔵 Creating conversations, not just impressions Because if AI is going to amplify you, you’d better be damn sure you know who you are. You don’t need to post more. You need to post better. With a voice that’s unmistakably yours even if AI helps write the draft. The future of influence won’t belong to the fastest or the loudest, it will belong to the most intentional. The leaders who don’t just automate output but elevate meaning. #AI #Leadership #LinkedInStrategy #ExecutiveBranding #StandoutAuthority 

I coach leaders every week on how to create efficiencies in their recruiting, scale their voice and leadership using AI. Here’s the framework I teach: 1. Capture Record everything. I use Fathom for Zoom, Otter.ai on my phone, and Plaud for quick, hands-free moments. These tools turn your conversations into gold—emails, video scripts, newsletters, coaching frameworks. 2. Context Teach your AI who you are. I’ve uploaded my DISC, Myers-Briggs, top values, affirmations, beliefs, and the phrases I use in recruiting. When AI knows you, it speaks like you. 3. Commands Better inputs = better outputs. I coach people to save their best prompts and ask this often: “What command would get me that result?” 4. Co-Create This is where the magic happens. I use ChatGPT to create social content, emails, and playbooks. Use Gamma.app for visual decks NotebookLM to turn transcripts into podcasts, Grok to analyze loan officer production for tailored recruiting strategies. You don’t need to master AI. You need a system to partner with it. Start by capturing your voice… The rest flows from there.

AI won’t replace your best work — but comfort might. Let that sink in. Right now, there are two kinds of people: ✨ Those using #AI to free up time for better ideas, deeper thinking, braver decisions. 😴 And those stuck doing the same tasks, hoping nothing changes. Guess which group is moving faster? Here’s what’s actually working for people who win with AI — and stay human doing it: ✅ Start small, stay smart. Pick one tool. Master it. Don’t chase every shiny app until you’ve squeezed real value from the first. ✅ Use AI for the rough, you for the real. Let it draft the messy first version — but shape the final with your own voice, judgment, and intent. ✅ Keep a “what drains me?” list. Each week, note tasks that drain your energy. Automate the repeatable. Guard what brings you alive. ✅ Ask better questions. AI only gives what you ask for. Vague prompt = vague output. Clear prompt = gold. ✅ Never automate trust. Batch your admin. Protect your relationships. Always. Most people drown in AI tools and still feel behind. A few use them wisely and feel more free than ever. Which do you want to be? Subscribe to my free newsletter for clear, human insights every month. [https://lnkd.in/gCV3_Raw] Stay clear. Stay curious. Stay human. #Leadership #Productivity #GrowthMindset #EmmaShad #TechForGood