---
name: executive-communication
description: Draft, rewrite, or critique executive-facing communication so it is answer-first, concise, evidence-backed, audience-specific, and explicit about decisions or asks. Use for leadership updates, launch/status readouts, board or staff prep, escalation notes, Slack/email updates to executives, PR/FAQ summaries, weekly business updates, and turning messy project context into a clear executive narrative.
---

# 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.