How to Use AI to Improve Executive Decisions: 5 Practical Uses and 3 Rules
By Pedro Sonda, dooop
Executives can use AI to improve decisions in five ways: preparing meetings and important conversations, synthesizing reports and long documents, exploring scenarios and alternatives, testing their own arguments, and monitoring signals from the market, competitors, and regulation. Three rules keep usage safe: verify numbers at the source, do not expose confidential information in unapproved tools, and keep the decision with the accountable person. AI improves preparation; the decision remains with the executive.
Updated October 2026.
Why Preparation Is the Weak Point of Decisions
Microsoft recorded that 80% of workers say they do not have enough time or energy to do their own work (Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025). For executives, this often means decisions are made with little preparation: reports half-read, alternatives barely explored, risks discussed hastily. In McKinsey’s research, 50% of respondents say AI helps them make better decisions (McKinsey, 2026).
Interpretation: AI contributes more to decision preparation, gathering information and alternatives, than to the decision itself, which remains with the executive.
dooop Framework: The 5 Executive Uses
| # | Use | What to Ask AI | Generic Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prepare meetings | Summary of history, open points, likely questions | Before a meeting with a strategic client, consolidate emails, minutes, and recent indicators |
| 2 | Synthesize information | Summary of long documents with numbers and sources | Summarize an 80-page sector report into one page, with the three main conclusions |
| 3 | Explore scenarios | Alternatives, assumptions, and consequences of each | List scenarios for expansion into a new region and what would need to be true in each |
| 4 | Test arguments | The best opposing argument; a pre-mortem | "Imagine this decision failed in 18 months. What are the most likely causes?" |
| 5 | Monitor signals | Tracking news, competitors, and regulation | Weekly summary of regulatory changes affecting the sector |
Use 4 in Detail: The Best Use, and the Least Practiced
Teams tend to agree with the leader. AI does not have this constraint. Asking for the best argument against the preferred decision, or a pre-mortem, helps reveal risks the room would not raise. The value is in broadening the debate, not transferring the decision.
The 3 Rules
Rule 1: Verify Numbers at the Source
AI can err while appearing correct. In an experiment with 758 BCG consultants, those who used AI on tasks outside its strengths had a 19 percentage point lower chance of reaching the correct answer (Dell'Acqua et al., 2023). Every number supporting a decision must be checked in the original document.
Rule 2: Protect Confidential Information
Strategic plans, client data, and market information must not be entered into tools without corporate contracts and adequate privacy settings. The company’s AI policy should specify which tools can receive which types of information.
Rule 3: The Decision Remains with the Accountable Person
A Microsoft Research study with 319 knowledge professionals found that greater trust in AI was associated with less critical thinking (Lee et al., 2025). For executives, this means using AI to broaden analysis and keep judgment active. See AI Does Not Replace Judgment: What This Means for Leaders.
From Individual Use to the Decision System
The five uses start individually. Over time, they can become boardroom practices:
- Standardized briefings before board meetings, prepared with AI and reviewed by the team.
- Mandatory pre-mortem for decisions above a certain value.
- Shared monitoring of external signals, discussed in monthly rituals.
For the organizational dimension of decision support, see How to Use AI for Analysis and Decision Support.
What to Do Now
- Choose a relevant decision this month and use uses 3 and 4 before deciding.
- Define, with IT, which tools can receive confidential information.
- Experiment for four weeks and evaluate if preparation improved.
To prepare leadership to use AI with discernment, learn about dooop’s program at dooop.com.br/liderancas-com-foco-em-ia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do executives need to learn how to write prompts? They need to learn how to properly formulate the problem: objective, context, constraints, and quality criteria. This matters more than prompt-writing tricks.
Can AI replace consultants and advisors? It can accelerate part of the preparation work but does not replace contextual knowledge, relationships, and responsibility for recommendations.
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About dooop
dooop is a consultancy based in Caxias do Sul (RS) that prepares leaders and organizations to transform artificial intelligence into business capability, with strategy, governance, and training.