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A prompt is a question that is impossible to collaborate on. It points inward, asks for language, and leads to self-knowledge.
For example, what bores you?
Different people would have other answers. We can’t collaborate on what bores each person, only to ask why. When we do immediately and necessarily shift to talk about meaning, we expand our communication container.
Briefs always lead to collaboration (with another person or knowledge). They are anchored in a situation, and its physics. They must converge on a shared outcome.
For example, what is the secret of a work-life balance?
Experts will approach this from different angles, but the conversation must lead to a meeting on everyone’s direct opinion.
Through Thirdness, Critical Business School, and Being in Space, I have been developing prompts to bring people into meta-conversations and generative discourse spaces. I define generative value as one that persists after the conversation ends.
The scale between prompts and briefs helps start and navigate leadership, creativity, and personal fulfillment, especially with the growing importance of AI and language models.