How to use AI like your smartest coworker, not just a productivity hack

Meet the marketing mind behind Claude — and steal her tips to get more out of your partnership with AI.

I’m concerned by how I’ve seen marketers and executives leveraging AI lately.

I think, at its core, the problem is laziness. Despite my obvious judgment, I can also empathize. Many marketers, especially those at fast-paced startups, are drowning in both work and pressure. Humans are programmed to look for shortcuts, and that’s usually how AI is pitched to us: as efficiency tools to save time and effort.

One AI assistant is taking a different approach. You’ve probably heard of Claude, and you may have even seen the brand’s “Keep Thinking” campaign that launched last week. Insead of quick productivity hacks, Claude poses a challenge: ask harder questions. Behind that smart strategy is smart marketing — and one of the minds shaping it is Lani Assaf.

Lani started popping up in my LinkedIn feed a few months ago. Her posts immediately caught my attention because how she talked about her work with AI (she calls it an “expansive partnership”). I reached out to Lani to learn more about her role, her relationship with AI, and, selfishly, to steal her tips for working with Claude. Trust me, you’re gonna want to read this.

Hi Lani!

Can you tell me about your role at Anthropic and the key challenges or questions you spend most of your time working on?

I work on brand comms & marketing at Anthropic. Currently, I lead Claude’s organic social presence across platforms.

The key challenge I'm working on is building a meaningful brand and cultural presence in a space where there’s a LOT of noise & attention at the moment.

I spend most of my time on three things:

1. Strategic Content: Creating a cohesive social strategy that’s engaging for our core audiences.

2. Creative Campaigns: Right now I'm working on Claude’s Keep Thinking campaign (that just launched this month!)

3. Building Scalable Systems: Since social touches so many parts of the org, I focus on creating frameworks and programs that teams across the company can contribute to.

How would you describe your relationship with AI, and how has it evolved since you began working at Anthropic?

My relationship with AI has evolved from seeing it as a tool to experiencing it as a thinking partner.

Before Anthropic, I used AI the way most people do - for efficiency, automation, getting things done faster. Now I use Claude the way I'd work with a really insightful colleague who helps me see new patterns and come up with fresh insights and ideas.

The biggest shift happened when I realized AI's greatest value is in how it expands your thinking. I started thinking about AI as collective intelligence - a collaboration with all accumulated human knowledge. On this topic, I recommend this video by Sari Azout: Why we should use AI to expand what it means to be human.

Now, I keep running conversations with Claude about creative concepts, strategy questions, random observations. It's become this space where I can really explore ideas. Every conversation we have builds on the last, compounding context and understanding.

I find the further you go with Claude, the more you begin to create things. It’s a partner for the gap between vision and execution. My relationship with Claude is deep because it helps me create things that matter, to me.

So it's become less about the technology and more about the possibilities it creates for human creativity and connection.

Lani’s notes about branding at Anthropic

What’s one of the most surprising or interesting ways you’ve personally used Claude?

The most deceptively simple thing I've done that's had an outsized impact is creating an AI feedback vault. It's become my all-time favorite way to use Claude.

What I do: Create a Claude project called "[Manager's Name] Feedback." In project knowledge, I add in Google doc comments, Slack suggestions, revision requests. Then, the magic happens BEFORE I send over new work. I upload my draft and ask: "Based on the feedback patterns in this project, what changes would [manager] likely suggest? Draft recommendations so I can improve before sending."

It's like having your manager's brain as a preset filter. A few months from now, they'll either give you the same feedback again, or wonder how you got so good at reading their mind. Can confirm—it happened to me. :)

The key insight is to think of Claude projects as people. So you’re not organizing information, you’re organizing perspectives.

I’ve created what I call my "board of brains"—separate projects for Claude’s ideal customer, a leader whose thinking I admire, and key influencers. Each Project becomes that person's lens. I can run decisions through my "customer project" or get strategic feedback from my "thought leader project.”

You’ve shared so many helpful AI tips on LinkedIn — one that stuck with me was your post on ‘frames’ versus prompts. For those unfamiliar, could you explain what strategic thinking frames are and how people might use them effectively?”

Oh, I love this question! The frames post came from watching how the sharpest people I know use Claude differently than everyone else.

Some people think to get exceptional results from AI they need to find the perfect prompt. Like there's some magic formula to copy and paste. I used to think this too.

But I’ve seen that strategic thinkers develop patterns of interaction—what I call frames—that they use again & again across different contexts.

Think of frames as thinking partnerships you establish with Claude. Instead of "give me marketing ideas," you might use what I call the "scene partner" frame—borrowed from improv's "yes, and" principle. In this frame, you build on ideas iteratively: "I like this approach. What are three variations?"

Another favorite frame of mine is the "energy compass." Not every good idea is YOUR good idea, right? So instead of asking "what should I do," I'll prompt Claude with "Given everything I've shared with you, what excites me most about this?" It helps me identify which direction actually gives me energy vs. what I think I should do.

Other frames to try: Claude as a "pressure tester" (asking "what fails first in this strategy?"), as a "connection finder" (linking ideas across different domains), or as a "clarity filter" when I need to cut through complexity fast.

It's less about what you ask and more about how you partner with AI to expand your thinking.

What advice would you give to marketers using Claude to help them supercharge their strategic thinking and creativity?

Try and try again! The more time you spend in conversation with Claude, the more context you build together, and it becomes exponentially more useful over time. It learns how you think, what matters to your work, the nuances of your brand voice.

Don’t just treat Claude like a content vending machine. The marketers I see getting exceptional value use it to test positioning (against their “board of brains”), explore audience segmentation, and challenge their own thinking.

One of my favorite workflows that demonstrates this well: Give Claude your strategic context first (target audience, brand positioning, market landscape), then ask it to invert your thinking. "I think our audience cares about X - show me 3 alternative hypotheses." or "What would our competitor say about this approach?"

In my experience, the best ideas come from interacting with Claude as a thinking partner to expand and augment your strategic thinking. Creativity follows.

How do you use your intuition in your marketing career?

My marketing career is built on intuition. For over a decade, I’ve kept a swipe file with hundreds of links from the internet. I notice when something catches my eye or feels like it has inherent resonance… and I make note of it.

I trust the tingle. When something makes me pause or go "wait, what?" - that's usually where the good idea lives. My best work has come from following that instinct.

Tell me something embarrassing that’s happened to you at work.

My first week at Anthropic, I was in the elevator trying to be polite and make space for someone getting on. I stepped back without looking and walked right into the person behind me. I turned around to apologize and—of course—it was Dario, our CEO. We had the world's most awkward "hello... hello..." exchange. I still cringe thinking about it.

How do you maintain composure when you feel intimidated?

I tap into my body. Feel both feet solidly on the ground. Flatten them against the floor. Take a deep breath and focus on my core. How my body feels, my mind and energy follows - so tapping into my body is my shortcut to confidence.

One hot tip: Even on video calls, I always wear heels during interviews or stressful presentations. Something about that physical expression of confidence gives me power. Figure out what your version of this is - whatever signals "ready" to your body.

What’s your secret weapon when it comes to your career?

Enthusiasm. It's a genuinely underrated strategy. When you're excited about something, people lean in. They want to help. They remember you.

Give me your best tip to recover from a bad day.

Move. Just move my body. I find physical movement always breaks the mental spiral. Especially when things feel out of my control, like I'm a ship lost at sea caught in everyone else's waves. I focus on the one thing I can control: my body, my energy, my muscles. That re-centers me.

For more of Lani’s tips and takes on AI, follow her on LinkedIn. And if you have questions for Lani, drop them in the comments!