Write the CEO letter that opens my board pre-read
A concise CEO report for directors covering performance, key issues, and the decisions you need from the board.
The prompt
Help me write the CEO letter that opens my board meeting pre-read.
Period covered: [e.g. "Q2"]
Performance vs. plan: [KEY METRICS: revenue, burn or profit, cash runway, customers, headcount]
What went well: [FACTS]
What went badly or is at risk: [FACTS]
Strategic issues on my mind: [e.g. "pricing change", "a key hire", "competitor funding"]
Decisions or input I need from the board: [SPECIFIC asks]
Anything the board was promised last meeting: [COMMITMENTS and status]
Write a 1-2 page letter with these sections:
1. Summary in 3 sentences: how the quarter went and the one thing directors should focus on.
2. Scorecard table: Metric | Plan | Actual | Variance | Comment.
3. What's working and what isn't, with my diagnosis of why.
4. Follow-ups on last meeting's commitments: done, in progress, or dropped (and why).
5. The 2-3 strategic issues, each with options I'm weighing and my current leaning.
6. Asks of the board: decisions to approve, input wanted, and introductions or help.
Rules:
- Bad news comes in the first half, never buried. Boards lose trust when surprised.
- Every number comes from my inputs; mark gaps [ADD].
- No adjectives doing the work of data ("strong quarter").
Also list 5 questions a sharp independent director is likely to ask after reading it.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Leadership & Management prompts
What to fill in
- e.g. "Q2"
- FACTS
- e.g. "pricing change", "a key hire", "competitor funding"
- SPECIFIC asks
- COMMITMENTS and status
- ADD
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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