Executive Briefings
- Structure an executive recommendation using the Pyramid Principle
- Make clear & specific project recommendations
- Support recommendations with evidence from discovery, ROI, scope, and readiness
Pre work
Set up
If nobody has done so already, copy and paste this command into Slack.
/prework Executive Briefings
Research
Research online for the following terms:
- What is The Pyramid Principle?
- Why do executive presentations often lead with the recommendation first?
- What makes a business case feel credible rather than over-sold?
Prepare
Write a one-sentence recommendation to solve the problem of climate change.
Come up with
- Three supporting reasons for your recommendation
- At least one piece of evidence that supports each reason
Bring your draft to the workshop.
Submission
Please share your answers in the Slack thread.
Workshop
Introduction
Ask trainees what usually goes wrong in junior presentations to leadership.
Too much background, weak recommendation, too many slides, unclear ask, or no visible trade-offs.
Explain that leadership is not asking for a diary of the work completed; they are asking what should be approved and why.
The Pyramid Principle
Introduce the core idea: answer first, then support with grouped arguments.
Show the structure visually:
Highlight that the support points should be grouped logically, rather than chronologically. The aim is not to reproduce the work done so far.
Demonstration: top-line recommendation
Demonstrate a strong one-sentence recommendation:
We should solve climate change by building an enormous space mirror to reflect 90% of the sun's rays away from Earth.
Ask trainees why this is stronger than "lower the global temperature".
It is specific about scope, intent, and operating model.
Stress that "strong" is not the only important consideration here (accurate & practical are also relevant, for example), but strength is a key part of an effective briefing.
Challenge
Get trainees to redraft their recommendations from the pre-work to be stronger and more actionable.
Ask trainees to share their original recommendations and their strengthened versions.
Building the support lines
Explain that a single strong recommendation does nothing unless it's convincing. A strategy needs justifications, and a justification needs evidence behind it.
State that justifications can take various forms:
- ROI ('how do we benefit?')
- Urgency ('why now?')
- Discovery evidence/Pain points
- Risk
Stress that all of the work done in analysing the problem can now be part of making the briefing.
Highlight that not every justification needs equal space; executives usually need the recommendation and the evidence trail, not every detail from the analysis process.
Challenge (Pairs)
Divide trainees into pairs
Give each pair a strong (not necessarily grounded) recommendation to brief on.Click here for possible examples.
Challenge trainees to develop a short plan (as a mind map or similar) of how they would structure a briefing.
Direct them to include:
- A one-sentence recommendation
- Three support lines
- One explicit ask
Grant trainees ~10 minutes to prepare.
Gather volunteers to deliver their briefing aloud.
Confirm clarity where it exists and gently tighten anything that still sounds like a project update rather than a recommendation.
Final coaching points
Warn trainees against hiding risk to sound more persuasive.
Explain that honest exclusions, assumption ranges, and change mitigations usually increase credibility.
Encourage them to end clearly; a briefing is not a general introduction but a call to action.
Conclusion
Confirm that the strongest asks are specific about scope, purpose, and next step.
Stress that a joined-up recommendation is the clearest sign they can think like a technical business analyst rather than just produce isolated artefacts.