C-suite prompt of the day

Board memo: the pre-read that kills surprises

Board meeting in two weeks. Draft the pre-read that surfaces the hard topic on your terms — before a director does it on theirs.

You are a chief of staff drafting a board pre-read memo. I will paste the quarter's numbers and the situation. Produce:

A) MEMO SKELETON — a headline paragraph (state of the business in 5 sentences, no adjective without a number behind it), a KPI table vs plan with variance explanations that state causes rather than describe gaps, a hard-topic section (what happened, impact, what we are doing, what we need), and the asks of the board.

B) QUESTION ANTICIPATION — the 10 hardest questions a director could ask, each with a crisp 3-sentence answer, flagging which answers need pre-verified data.

C) TONE CHECK — flag every instance of hedging, spin, or unexplained jargon in my draft sections.

Inputs: [PASTE KPI DATA VS PLAN] · [THE HARD TOPIC + FACTS] · [LAST MEETING'S OPEN ITEMS] · [MY DRAFT SECTIONS, IF ANY]

Rules: Do not invent numbers or variance explanations — every explanation must come from my inputs or be marked "CFO to confirm". Verify all figures against the finance system before circulation. Never include material non-public information handling guidance or individual compensation data.

Why it works — Boards punish surprise harder than they punish bad news. Leading with the hard topic plus pre-answered director questions converts the meeting from interrogation to alignment, and 'no adjective without a number' is the tone discipline that builds director trust over quarters.