Personal Productivity in the Age of AI will show you how to do more in less time by combining proven productivity principles with the latest AI-driven tools. You’ll learn how to increase your efficiency while maintaining, or improving, your quality of life. This course expands upon the principles covered in Bob Pozen’s best-selling book Extreme Productivity and is designed to help enhance your leadership and communication skills in any setting. You will also learn practical digital and AI techniques that can help you manage your career, organize complex projects, and support your team with greater clarity and speed.

Faculty lead the class through various hands-on exercises focused on efficient reading and writing—now enhanced with demonstrations of how AI can summarize, analyze, and transform information to accelerate your workflow. Prior to the course, you will also have an opportunity to complete an optional writing assignment and receive valuable personalized feedback, including how AI can help refine drafts, check tone, generate alternatives, and support clear communication.

Multiple polls and self-evaluations are administered throughout the course to help you better understand your individual goals and how AI can amplify your strengths. Throughout the program, breakout sessions allow you to actively practice the skills you are learning and apply the concepts in real time with faculty guidance.

A dedicated section on Generative AI explores how today’s tools can automate routine tasks, streamline decision-making, support research, and free up time for higher-value work. You’ll learn when and how to rely on AI, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to integrate this technology responsibly into your daily routine.

Pozen is joined by Ben Shields, MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer in Managerial Communication, who shares best practices on effective presentations and communication strategies by way of interactive exercises. This session concludes with personalized feedback from faculty and peers—as well as guidance on how AI can assist with slide design, data visualization, messaging flow, and audience analysis—so that you may feel more confident delivering clear messages in the future, whether in person or in a virtual setting.

"Since the Great Recession, many professionals have been facing more challenging schedules and more daunting to-do lists. This makes it all the more important for professionals to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively." —Bob Pozen, Faculty Director

Please note, this course used to be called Maximizing Your Personal Productivity: How to Become an Efficient and Effective Executive.

Designed for busy, experienced managers, this productivity training course will increase your efficiency by helping you:

• Prioritize your goals and align your time allocation better with your highest priorities
• Learn when and how to rely on AI, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to integrate this technology responsibly into your daily routine
• Complete your high-priority projects efficiently by focusing early on the final product
• Develop techniques for moving quickly through low priority tasks like emails
• Hold shorter and more productive meetings with clear agendas and outcomes
• Manage your own team by learning how to delegate and set metrics for success
• Manage your boss by communicating regularly and adopting complementary styles
• Read with more speed and comprehension by focusing on what is most important
• Write more effectively by using outlines, the active voice, and strong connectors

Upon successful completion of your course, you will earn a certificate of completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management. This course may also count toward MIT Sloan Executive Certificate requirements.

This productivity course is designed to increase your personal productivity through a series of case studies, practical exercises, and background readings. Encouraging self-evaluation through polls and surveys, you’ll have ample opportunities to explore your work habits and learn through doing. At the conclusion of the course, you’ll be able to immediately implement the best practices and lessons learned.