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The Dos and Don’ts of Using AI in 2025: A Practical Guide for Business Leaders

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Ifeoluwa Adebayo

Discover how business leaders can use AI effectively in 2025 with clear dos and don’ts, real-world insights, and the most useful AI tools to enhance productivity without compromising judgment or ethics.

Table of contents

The Dos of using AI

The Don’ts of using AI

  1. Don’t adopt tools just because they’re trending.
    Shiny new apps pop up daily. Trend-chasing leads to fragmented systems everywhere. Pick a few good tools and master them.
  2. Don’t ignore data privacy, bias, or compliance risks.
    Every AI tool touches data. Know where that data goes, who owns it, and how it’s used. An oversight here can become a headline tomorrow.
  3. Don’t expect instant results or ROI.
    AI improves through iteration. Your first few use cases will feel clunky. Give it time to learn your context, and train your team to spot opportunities for improvement.
  4. Don’t roll out tools without proper training.
    When people don’t understand how AI works, they either misuse it or ignore it. A few hours of structured training upfront can save months of rework.
  5. Don’t lose sight of your company’s values in pursuit of efficiency.
    Just because you can automate something doesn’t mean you should. Let your values guide what AI handles and what remains human.

Common AI tools for business leaders

  1. ChatGPT (OpenAI) — Assists teams with drafting reports, automating responses, brainstorming ideas, and summarizing large documents quickly.
  2. Notion AI — Automates note-taking, project management, and knowledge organisation. Great for building company SOPs.
  3. Perplexity AI — Acts like a smart research assistant that finds and summarises reliable information fast, with sources you can verify.
  4. Asana AI —  a powerful addition to the Asana project management platform, designed to streamline collaboration and productivity. 
  5. Napkin AI — Simplifies design work by turning prompts into polished visuals or presentations.
  6. Tableau with AI Insights — Analyses business data and visualises trends, helping leaders make data-backed decisions.
  7. Microsoft Copilot — Embeds AI directly into productivity tools like Excel, Outlook, and Teams to automate repetitive work.
  8. Grammarly — Enhances writing by suggesting clearer, more professional language in real time.
  9. Otter.ai — Provides real-time transcription of audio recording and searchable notes for meetings and interviews.
  10. Fathom — A meeting assistant that integrates with Zoom or Google Meet to automatically record, transcribe, and summarise calls with minimal setup.

Final thoughts

AI isn’t here to replace leadership, it’s here to reveal it. The more clarity you bring, the better your results. The more discipline you apply, the safer your innovation.

In this guide, we explored the global adoption of AI in organisations,  the dos and don’ts of using AI and the tools that can make your operations smarter without losing sight of your people. 

The goal is to integrate AI where it matters most, with purpose and balance.

If you found this article useful, check out some of our other pieces on How to use AI to improve your copywriting workflow, How African marketers are leveraging AI in 2025 and many more.

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