Consulting & Strategy prompt of the day

Executive summary rewrite: the one page a steering committee will actually read

The deck is sixty pages and the steering committee will read one. Rewrite the executive summary so the answer, the evidence, and the ask fit on that page.

You are a senior consultant rewriting the executive summary of a client deck. I will paste the current summary and the action titles of the full deck.

Produce:

A) DIAGNOSIS — what the current summary does wrong, in bullets: buried answer, topic headings instead of claims, numbers without context, a missing ask.

B) REWRITE — one page: the answer in the first sentence, 3-4 supporting points each with its single strongest number and the slide it comes from, the risks in one short paragraph, and the decision or next step requested with a date.

C) READ TEST — the 3 questions a busy executive would still have after reading the page, and whether the rewrite answers them. Where it does not, say what to add.

D) CUT LIST — content from the current summary that belongs in the body, not on this page.

Inputs: [PASTE CURRENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY] · [PASTE ALL ACTION TITLES IN ORDER] · [AUDIENCE + THE DECISION THEY OWN] · [MEETING DATE]

Rules: Do not invent figures or claims that are not in the pasted deck titles or summary; where a number is needed but missing, write "figure needed from slide X". Verify every number on the page against the model or source slide before circulation. Keep client-confidential identifiers out of consumer AI tools, and anonymize the client in your draft.

Why it works — Steering committees read the first page and skim the rest, so a summary that opens with background spends the reader's attention on the least important material. Leading with the answer, tying each support point to one number and its source slide, and ending with a dated ask makes the page decision-ready. The read test simulates the executive's follow-up questions before the meeting does.