jxnl/executive-communication

Executive Communication

Core Rule

Treat executive communication as a decision tool, not an activity log. Lead with the answer, make the implication clear, and state the ask or "no action needed" explicitly.

Workflow

1. Identify the audience and altitude: CEO/staff, functional executive, board, GTM, product, engineering, creative, finance, legal, or customer-facing leadership.
2. Identify the job of the message: decision, input, awareness, escalation, alignment, or record of progress.
3. Extract only material facts: what changed, current status, evidence, risks, owners, dates, and tradeoffs.
4. Write the first sentence as the whole point: what happened, why it matters, and what is needed.
5. Support with 2-4 grouped points, ordered by importance or decision impact.
6. End with the ask, next checkpoint, or "No action needed."

Style Rules

• Use answer-first structure: conclusion, then reasons, then details.
• Translate tasks into impact: customer, launch, revenue, reputation, risk, quality, cost, speed, or decision consequence.
• Prefer concrete evidence over process: numbers, dates, named customers, launch gates, approvals, blockers, links, owners, and source confidence.
• Keep the recipient's priorities visible. Do not send the same update to Product, GTM, Legal, Creative, and Finance without changing the lens.
• Use short paragraphs or flat bullets. Avoid nested bullets unless the destination format requires them.
• Avoid apology padding, cheerleading, vague optimism, and internal shorthand.
• Name uncertainty directly: "unconfirmed", "early signal", "needs validation", or "source is X".
• Do not hide bad news. State risk level, likely impact, owner, and mitigation.
• If the user asks to send in Slack or email, draft the final message in the channel's native style and use the relevant communication tool or skill after composing.

Ask Labels

Use one of these labels whenever possible:

• Decision needed: the recipient must choose, approve, or reject something.
• Input needed: the recipient should react, sanity-check, or fill a gap.
• Awareness only: no action needed, but the update affects judgment or context.
• Escalation: normal paths are blocked and executive help is needed.
• No action needed: informational update only.

Status Labels

Use consistent labels for recurring updates:

• Green: on track; no executive action needed.
• Yellow: material risk; owner has mitigation; executive should be aware.
• Red: off track or blocked; executive action may be needed.
• Blue: decision pending; progress depends on A/B choice.
• Gray: FYI or no meaningful change.

Always add the reason: Yellow because [specific risk], mitigated by [owner/action/date].

Templates

For concrete formats and examples, read references/templates.md when drafting or rewriting a Slack DM, email, weekly update, escalation, decision memo, or before/after rewrite.

Quality Bar

Before finalizing, check:

• The first sentence can stand alone.
• The ask is explicit.
• The recipient can tell what changed since the last update.
• Activity is translated into business or decision impact.
• Dates, owners, source links, and confidence are included where they matter.
• The update is shorter than the source material by at least an order of magnitude unless the user asked for a memo.