Laura K Spencer, Ed.D.

Tag: #cultureofthinking

  • How AI Helps Leaders Uncover Blind Spots and Build a Culture of Thinking

    How AI Helps Leaders Uncover Blind Spots and Build a Culture of Thinking

    I was working with a new leader recently who said, “I know I’m missing something, but I can’t tell what it is.”

    She wasn’t lacking skill.

    She was bumping up against the part of leadership nobody likes to admit.

    Our brain fills in missing pieces without asking permission.

    That’s a blind spot.

    Not the thing you didn’t notice, but the meaning you assigned without realizing it.

    This is exactly where Cultures of Thinking shows up in real leadership work.

    Ron Ritchhart talks about creating a culture where people examine their own thinking, question their interpretations, and stay open to multiple perspectives.

    But leaders rarely do this for themselves.

    They are too busy moving on to the next thing.

    Here’s the good news.

    You don’t need an AI note taker or a perfect transcript to start seeing your blind spots.

    You just need a way to challenge your own first read of a situation.

    Here’s what I showed her.

    After a meeting that felt heavy, instead of replaying every detail, I asked her to write a few sentences about what she thought happened.

    Not the whole moment.

    Just her interpretation.

    Then I had her ask AI:

    “What’s another possible interpretation of this situation?”

    That’s it.

    No magic.

    No pretending AI “knows” the meeting better than she does.

    AI simply widened her lens.

    It offered alternatives she hadn’t considered:

    “Maybe the questions showed engagement, not doubt.”

    “Maybe the tension was about workload, not your leadership.”

    “Maybe the silence meant processing, not disagreement.”

    She looked at the screen and said, “I didn’t even think of that.”

    And that moment is the core of a Culture of Thinking.

    Not the right answer.

    Not the perfect insight.

    Just the willingness to look at your own thinking and stretch it a little.

    Blind spots aren’t signs of weakness.

    They’re signs that our assumptions are running ahead of us.

    AI helps you pause long enough to ask,

    “What else could be true?”

    If you’ve ever walked away from a meeting feeling uneasy but unsure why, this kind of thinking might give you the clarity you didn’t realize you were missing.

  • Finding Clarity Again: How AI Helps Leaders Breathe, Pause, and Think

    Finding Clarity Again: How AI Helps Leaders Breathe, Pause, and Think

    In a directors meeting the other day, someone said something that hit everyone at once:

    “It’s a good time to come back to our values. It’s been busy. We need to get grounded again.”

    You could hear the collective sigh of agreement.

    Because when things get too busy, it shows. You feel it in the way people talk, decide, rush.

    Busy takes over, and thinking goes out the window.

    Not because leaders don’t know how to think, but because they are reacting to everything thrown at them. All day. Every day.

    Years ago, I went through a comprehensive training with Ron Ritchhart on Cultures of Thinking and later attended Harvard’s Project Zero Summer Institute. The biggest lesson I walked away with?

    Your culture isn’t what you say you believe. It’s whatever your behavior proves you believe.

    And if i’m being honest, most leaders unintentionally show that speed matters more than clarity.

    “Just get it done” becomes the vibe.

    This is where AI has actually helped me slow down.

    Not to do the work for me.

    To force a pause.

    Simple example:

    If I’m about to send a decision or a tough email, I’ll drop it into AI and ask,

    “What assumptions am I making here?”

    Ten seconds later, it shows me the exact things I would have missed because I was rushing.

    It’s not magic.

    It’s a brake pedal.

    If we want teams that think, not just react, we have to model that pause ourselves.

    This is the first post in a short series on how leaders can use AI to create cultures where thinking actually happens.

    My question to you:

    Where in your work would a simple pause actually help you right now?

    And who else would benefit from reading this? Have them subscribe to the blog!