Prompting for Partnership: Our Journey into Intent, Pedagogy and the Emotional Contract

Good prompts aren’t just instructions—they’re specifications of intent, pedagogy, and the emotional contract.


I’ve been thinking about what separates mediocre AI interactions from transformative ones. It comes down to how we prompt.

“Intent” isn’t just what you want… it’s why and how.
“Pedagogy” is teaching the AI your approach.
“Emotional contract” defines the relationship.

Let’s break it down:
❌ “Write a product update”
✅ “Write a product update that reassures customers about our pivot while building excitement for what’s next.”
❌ “Analyze this data”
✅ “Analyze this data looking for outliers first, then patterns. Show me what contradicts our assumptions, not just what confirms them.”
❌ “Give me feedback”
✅ “Challenge my thinking here—I need a skeptical business partner, not a yes-person.”

The leaders who’ll thrive with AI won’t just issue commands—they’ll collaborate with it.


So… how are you prompting for partnership these days? Read more on my site or any of the site you can find my work

🌐 Official Site: walterreid.com – Walter Reid’s full archive and portfolio

📰 Substack: designedtobeunderstood.substack.com – long-form essays on AI and trust

🪶 Medium: @walterareid – cross-posted reflections and experiments

💬 Reddit Communities:

r/UnderstoodAI – Philosophical & practical AI alignment

r/AIPlaybook – Tactical frameworks & prompt design tools

r/BeUnderstood – AI guidance & human-AI communication

r/AdvancedLLM – CrewAI, LangChain, and agentic workflows

r/PromptPlaybook – Advanced prompting & context control

AI: Disrupting Industries and Transforming Lives

To say that artificial intelligence is changing the way many industries operate is an understatement. Whatever you feel about AI in general, it’s here to stay, and it will be taking a greater role in our personal and professional lives.

Even as I write this, we’re already seeing the shift in the ways value chains are created, resulting in fewer connections between “producers” and their “customers”. We’ve all now seen how AI-powered chatbots, such as ChatGPT, are already beginning to disintermediate many industries, providing automated services that would otherwise require human labor. Customer service, banking, education, healthcare, retail, and transportation are all industries that are being enabled and disrupted by AI-powered experiences. We’re seeing the development of “smart” solutions, allowing industries to gain insight into customers and provide them with personalized experiences. AI is revolutionizing the way these industries work, making them more efficient and providing customers with new, valuable services.

Customer service is one of the industries that is already being disrupted by this new technology. AI-chatbots can provide automated customer service, reducing the need for human customer service agents. Banking is another industry that is being disrupted by AI-powered chatbots. Imagine the simplicity of being offered just the data you need through automated and open banking services, such as account management, loan applications, and money transfers.

Education is yet another industry that is being disrupted by AI-powered chatbots. These chatbots can provide automated educational services, such as tutoring, course selection, and test preparation. Healthcare is also being disrupted by AI-powered chatbots, which can provide automated healthcare services, such as diagnosis, prescription, and appointment scheduling. Retail too is another industry that will benefit with AI product recommendation, order tracking and even returns managed without the need of a human representative.

Finally, transportation is being disrupted by AI-powered chatbots, which can provide automated transportation services, such as route planning, traffic updates, and ride-hailing. It is clear that artificial intelligence will have a major impact on many industries.

As AI continues to evolve, it is clear that it will have a major impact on many industries. AI-powered chatbots are already beginning to revolutionize the way many industries operate, providing automated services that would otherwise require human labor. It is important to stay informed about the latest developments in AI technology, as it is likely that AI will continue to disrupt more industries in the future. With AI, we can look forward to a future of increased efficiency, personalized experiences, and improved customer service.

✍️ Posted on LinkedIn as well: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-disrupting-industries-transforming-lives-walter-reid/

✍️ Written by Walter Reid at https://www.walterreid.com

🧠 Creator of Designed to Be Understood at (LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/designed-to-be-understood-7330631123846197249 and (Substack) https://designedtobeunderstood.substack.com

🧠 Check out more writing by Walter Reid (Medium) https://medium.com/@walterareid

🔧 He is also a (subreddit) creator and moderator at: r/AIPlaybook at https://www.reddit.com/r/AIPlaybook for more tactical frameworks and prompt design tools. r/AIPlaybook at https://www.reddit.com/r/BeUnderstood/ for additional AI guidance. r/AdvancedLLM at https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedLLM/ where we discuss LangChain and CrewAI as well as other Agentic AI topics for everyone. r/PromptPlaybook at https://www.reddit.com/r/PromptPlaybook/ where I show advanced techniques for the advanced prompt (and context) engineers. Finally r/UnderstoodAI https://www.reddit.com/r/UnderstoodAI/ where we confront the idea that LLMs don’t understand us — they model us. But what happens when we start believing the model?