Happy Wednesday! This is the first edition of The Comms Stack — I’m thrilled you’re here! Have suggestions for a future issue? Want to share something you’ve learned, or have something you can’t figure out that you’d like me to take a crack at? Just reply to this email with your feedback — I’ll read it!

For today, we’ll explore:

And more! Let’s get started 😀

Dan

I’m excited to share something new I learned recently because it’s genuinely useful — and kind of a mind shift. It’s called reverse prompting, and I’ve been told that it’s a technique used by OpenAI’s engineers — the people literally building ChatGPT.

Reverse prompting is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of writing a prompt and asking your fave AI chatbot to draft something for you, you’re going to give that chatbot something you’ve already written and turn it into a prompt you can use later.

Let me explain. 👇

Say you’re working in internal comms, supporting the CMO. Every month, she sends out an email to the team celebrating big wins, announcing new hires, sharing plans for the upcoming month, and more. Crafting that message is a thoughtful, collaborative process — and the final result is almost always strong. It reflects the right tone, the right structure, and the right level of detail. It’s some of your best work!

What if you could repeat this almost every single time?

With reverse prompting, you can. Save a handful of those great emails and upload them to your chatbot of choice with a simple instruction:

The chatbot will give you a prompt that — literally! — is modeled after your best work, and asks you the key questions that will help it build a solid first draft next time you’re writing that monthly email. And those first versions will sound like the best version of you, not a chatbot. 🎯🚀

AI is increasingly important for our work — that’s why you’re here, right? The Great Learning Academy is here to help. For a single monthly subscription, you get access to their whole library of courses, including a half-dozen (so far!) dedicated to improving your use of generative AI.

Last week, Cision released a 40-page report on how communications teams are evolving to meet the world around us. There’s a lot of AI-specific findings in there — get the full report here and give it a read. I did, and here are my five AI-specific takeaways and some predictions:

Most communications pros — perhaps 90%! — already use AI for everyday work like brainstorming ideas, drafting copy, or doing background research. On the other hand, very few teams aren’t using AI at all, which means it’s quickly becoming as normal as spellcheck or Google.

What’s next: It may take a year or two, but “AI-optional” workflows will quietly disappear. New tools will assume AI is on by default, and comms pros who don’t use it will feel like they’re working without internet access. The differentiator won’t be using AI — it’ll be whether you’ve built good habits, prompts, and guardrails around it.

AI is taking on the most time-consuming early steps of writing and planning. This gives people more time to focus on judgment, tone, and what will actually land with the audience. (That’s good news — our value comes from strategy, not stenography!)

What’s next: Teams will start designing workflows that explicitly begin at “version two.” First drafts will be expected to come from AI (or at least been run through them), while humans focus on shaping the angle, stress-testing the message, and tailoring it for different audiences. Writing from scratch may even become the exception, not the norm.

This is the one I’m most excited about. I’ve always found it hard to measure the impact of great comms work — I think AI is going to change that. And I’m not alone. Leaders want to know what communications work accomplished, not just what went out the door. AI can help summarize media coverage, spot patterns, and explain why it matters. For example, after a product launch, AI pulls together coverage and drafts a short summary explaining what people are saying and how it supports business goals.

What’s next: This is just the beginning. This isn’t in the Cision report, but I think bespoke, vibe-coded analytics dashboards are going to be big.

This is the bad news. Tight budgets and lean teams are the biggest challenge heading into 2026. AI acts like an extra set of hands, helping teams move faster without adding staff — even though we could probably use that (human) help. We’re seeing smaller, one- or two-person comms team being asked to use AI to draft social posts, prep media pitches, and research reporters—tasks that used to require multiple roles.

What’s next: AI might become thought of as a headcount substitute — not officially, but functionally. Small teams will be expected to cover more ground, faster, with leadership assuming AI fills the gaps. But it also may become such a huge force multiplier that demand for comms expertise grows, leading to increased headcount. (That’s the hope!)

Even with all this technology, the most important skills haven’t changed. Storytelling, relationships, and good judgment are still what separate great communicators from average ones. For example, AI can suggest talking points, but a human still knows how to build trust with a reporter or tell a story that feels authentic. And curiosity — which is already a superpower and differentiator — will become even more important in comms.

What’s next: As AI-generated content becomes more common, human judgment will become more visible — and more valuable. Teams that invest in relationships, trust, and taste will stand out in a sea of competent but forgettable output. Ironically, AI will make the human parts of communications more important, not less.

Some other recent news from the AI and Comms space:

I’m kind of obsessed with reverse prompting… to the point where I woke up in the middle of the night and came up with the framework for the prompt below. (Thankfully, I keep a notepad on my nightstand!) I realized that we can use reverse prompting in a really cool way — one that lets you anticipate the edits you’ll get from your manager, stakeholder, or whomever typically edits your work, and make the changes before they even ask for them.

It’s three short paragraphs that you can download below, and it packs a punch! The output you’ll get from ChatGPT, Claude, etc. will be robust and effective. But don’t take it as-is! I recommend you continue the conversation with the chatbot to fine-tune it, adding a deeper strategic layer to the prompt it suggests.

Download the prompt ⬇

I don’t remember how I discovered Granola — the app, not the stuff you put in yogurt. But wow, am I glad I did.

I’m easily distracted and when I’m on a call, I, uh… sometimes zone out a bit. Having someone — or in this case, something — take notes for me? It’s great. Granola just sits in the background, listening, and at the end? I hit “Generate Notes” and it does exactly that. It’s become part of my workflow; every morning, I review the “next steps” section it generates, helping me to stay on track.

I’m on the free plan right now and that’s been sufficient for my needs. Give it a try.

With AdQuick, you can now easily plan, deploy and measure campaigns just as easily as digital ads, making them a no-brainer to add to your team’s toolbox.

You can learn more at www.AdQuick.com

This isn’t AI-related, but maybe it’s AI proof? At least for now?

Inkwell Games has become a part of my morning routine. Every day, they drop two fresh logic puzzles that wake up your brain without feeling like homework. Best of all? They’re seriously fun.

There’s Fields, where you paint colorful regions that can’t touch, and Stars, a Sudoku-meets-Minesweeper challenge to place stars just right. Mondays start easy, but by the weekend? You’ll be sweating over those grids in the best way possible. My first week, I needed help by Wednesday — now I’m crushing Thursday and Friday on my own (well, mostly).

That’s the beauty of Inkwell. The puzzles don’t suck you into endless loops — they build your focus and logic muscle, then let you go. When you’ve solved the day’s challenges, you’re done ‘til tomorrow. It’s a great way to take a break between meetings (or during, if you have Granola rocking the note-taking! 😉)

And of course, you can always reply to this email with your thoughts!

Until next Wednesday,

Dan