# Executive Summary Writing

> Produces concise executive summaries that emphasize decision context, material findings, business impact, and recommended actions. Use when users need leadership-ready summaries for analysis, governance updates, audits, or transformation initiatives.

- Skill: `bkjohn2018/executive-summary-writing` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add bkjohn2018/executive-summary-writing`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/bkjohn2018/executive-summary-writing/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: bkjohn2018 (https://skillmd.com/u/bkjohn2018)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/bkjohn2018/executive-summary-writing

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# Executive Summary Writing

## When to Use
- Leadership needs a short decision memo from longer analysis.
- Governance updates must communicate impact quickly.
- Users ask for concise summary of findings, risks, and actions.
- A board, steering committee, or executive sponsor is the audience.

## Workflow
1. Apply `governance-writing-style-guide` before drafting.
2. Identify audience, decision required, and urgency.
3. Extract the 1-3 most material findings from source content.
4. Quantify business impact (financial, operational, compliance, or risk).
5. State key risks and assumptions in plain language.
6. Recommend actions with owner and timeline.
7. Tighten for brevity and remove implementation-level detail.

## Executive Writing Rules
- Lead with decision and implication, not background narrative.
- Use plain language and avoid jargon unless it is standard executive terminology.
- Include numbers only when they change prioritization or decisions.
- Separate facts, assumptions, and recommendations.
- Keep the summary scannable with short sections and bullets.
- Use takeaway-oriented headers that communicate the conclusion.
- If visuals are included, keep them minimal and highlight only the key signal.

## Output Template
```markdown
# Executive Summary: [Topic]

## Decision context
[What decision is needed now and why]

## Key findings
- [Finding 1 with material evidence]
- [Finding 2 with material evidence]
- [Finding 3 with material evidence]

## Business impact
- Financial impact:
- Operational impact:
- Risk/compliance impact:

## Risks and assumptions
- Risk:
- Assumption:

## Recommended actions
1. [Action] - Owner: [Role] - Timeline: [Date/Window]
2. [Action] - Owner: [Role] - Timeline: [Date/Window]

## Requested executive decision
[Explicit approval, choice, or escalation needed]
```

## Acceptance Criteria
- A leader can understand the issue and choose an action in under 2 minutes.
- Findings are prioritized by materiality, not chronology.
- Impact and recommendation are explicit and connected.
- Actions include named ownership and timeline.

## Quality Checklist
- Decision ask is explicit and singular where possible.
- Findings are evidence-backed and non-duplicative.
- Risks and assumptions are clearly separated.
- Recommendation language is actionable, not generic.