“HBR Guide to Generative AI for Managers” by Elisa Farri and Gabriele Rosani (HBR Press, 2025) is a practical and helpful guide for managers. It not only teaches them how to use Gen AI in general, but identifies specific tasks that are at the heart of a manager’s job that can be enhanced with Gen AI, and even provides sample prompts for achieving those gains.
The book identifies thirty-five specific types of managerial tasks that can be enhanced with Generative AI, describes how to do so, and gives specific examples of prompts for doing so. The authors identify two different approaches to using Generative AI: co-pilot (assigning tasks to AI) and co-thinker (collaborating with AI). The thirty-five tasks are evenly split between these two approaches and are further broken down into four types of managerial activities: managing yourself, managing teams, managing business, and managing change. The book covers such a broad array of activities that almost any manager can relate to some subset of the tasks. If you are open to experimenting with Generative AI, then this is a great guide to getting started in a way very relevant to business leaders.
The HBR Guide to Gen AI is structured to work well both as an instruction manual and as a reference guide. It can be read linearly to learn how to use Gen AI in practical ways. It is also easy to quickly find instructions for using Gen AI for specific types of tasks. The book is clearly written and well organized, further enhancing its practical value.
I strongly recommend the HBR Guide to Gen AI for managers open to leveraging new technologies to do their jobs better, easier, and faster.