I spent six hours writing an executive brief on our competitive position. Eight pages of analysis, charts, market data, and recommendations. I was proud of how comprehensive it was.
I sent it to our CEO and CRO on a Tuesday morning with the subject line: "Competitive Analysis and Recommendations."
Two days later, neither had responded. I followed up on Slack: "Did you get a chance to review the competitive brief?"
CEO: "Yep, skimmed it. Can you send me the TL;DR?"
I'd spent six hours writing a brief he wanted summarized in three sentences.
That's when I learned the uncomfortable truth: Executives don't read briefs—they scan them for decisions they need to make.
If your brief doesn't make the decision obvious in 30 seconds, it doesn't get read. It gets skimmed, filed away, and forgotten.
I rewrote that eight-page brief as a one-page document. The CEO read it in three minutes, forwarded it to the entire exec team, and we had a decision by end of day.
Same information. Different format. Completely different outcome.
Why Eight-Page Briefs Don't Get Read (Even When They're Good)
Executives receive 50-100 emails per day. They're in back-to-back meetings. They're making high-stakes decisions under time pressure.
An eight-page brief requires 20-30 minutes of focused reading time. Most executives don't have 20-30 consecutive minutes for deep reading. They have 3-minute gaps between meetings where they're scanning emails on their phone.
Your comprehensive brief—no matter how good—gets skimmed or ignored because it doesn't fit into their workflow.
The executives who read your brief are the ones with time to read. The busiest executives—the ones making the biggest decisions—won't read it.
That's the paradox: You're writing briefs for the people least likely to read them.
The solution isn't to write shorter briefs. It's to write briefs optimized for scanning, not reading.
The One-Page Format That Actually Gets Read
After my eight-page brief got the "send me the TL;DR" response, I rebuilt it using a format I learned from a former McKinsey consultant on our team.
The format fits on one page and answers four questions:
1. What's the situation? (2-3 sentences)
2. What's the problem? (1-2 sentences)
3. What are the options? (3-4 bullet points)
4. What do you recommend and why? (2-3 sentences)
That's it. Everything else is appendix.
Here's how I rewrote my competitive brief:
COMPETITIVE BRIEF: Enterprise Market Position
Situation: We're losing 73% of enterprise deals ($500K+ ACV) to Competitor X. Enterprise represents 40% of our pipeline but only 12% of closed revenue. This gap is widening—enterprise win rate declined from 31% to 27% over the last two quarters.
Problem: We lack SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA certifications that enterprise buyers require. 18 of our last 20 enterprise losses cited compliance gaps as the primary reason. We're spending significant sales capacity on deals we can't win.
Options:
- Invest $600K over 9 months to obtain required certifications (estimated enterprise win rate improvement: 27% → 45%)
- Reposition away from enterprise and focus on mid-market ($100K-$400K ACV) where we win 58% of deals
- Partner with compliance platform to offer bundled solution (estimated cost: $200K, 6-month timeline)
Recommendation: Pursue option 3 (partnership). This gives us enterprise credibility at 1/3 the cost and 2/3 the timeline of building compliance in-house, while maintaining flexibility to build our own solution later if the market justifies it. Decision needed by April 15 to make enterprise quota in Q3.
One page. 250 words. CEO read it in two minutes and forwarded it to the exec team with the note: "This is the kind of brief I need. Let's discuss in Monday's meeting."
What Makes a One-Page Brief Work (The Elements That Matter)
Element 1: Lead with business impact, not background
Don't start with: "Our competitive landscape has evolved significantly over the past 18 months. Competitor X raised a $50M Series B and has been aggressively expanding into enterprise..."
Start with: "We're losing 73% of enterprise deals to Competitor X. Enterprise represents 40% of pipeline but only 12% of revenue."
Executives care about business impact first, context second. If the business impact doesn't grab their attention in the first sentence, they won't read the rest.
Element 2: Frame the problem as a decision, not an observation
Don't write: "We're seeing increased competitive pressure in enterprise and lack some certifications that buyers are asking for."
Write: "We lack SOC 2 Type II certification that 90% of enterprise buyers require. We need to decide whether to invest $600K to obtain it or reposition away from enterprise."
The first version is an observation. The second version is a decision that demands action.
Executives don't read briefs to learn things—they read briefs to make decisions. Frame your brief around the decision you need.
Element 3: Present options with clear trade-offs
Don't write: "We should invest in compliance certifications to compete in enterprise."
Write: "Three options:
- Build certifications in-house: $600K, 9 months, win rate improvement to 45%
- Reposition to mid-market: $0 cost, immediate, sacrifice $8M enterprise TAM
- Partner for compliance: $200K, 6 months, win rate improvement to 38-42%"
Executives think in trade-offs: cost vs. benefit, time vs. impact, risk vs. reward. Show your work on the options you considered.
Element 4: Make a clear recommendation with one-sentence rationale
Don't write: "All three options have merit and we should evaluate which makes the most sense for our strategic priorities."
Write: "Recommendation: Partner for compliance. This delivers 70% of the win rate improvement at 1/3 the cost and half the timeline of building in-house."
Executives appreciate clear recommendations backed by logic. Don't hedge. Make a call and defend it.
The Appendix Strategy (How to Include Details Without Destroying Brevity)
The one-page brief format doesn't mean you throw away all your analysis. It means you put it in an appendix.
Page 1: The one-page brief (situation, problem, options, recommendation)
Pages 2+: Supporting details, data, charts, and analysis
The exec can read page 1 in 90 seconds and make a decision. If they want more detail, it's in the appendix. But they can act without reading the appendix.
This format respects their time while still providing rigor.
What goes in the appendix:
- Detailed financial models
- Competitive feature comparisons
- Market research data
- Customer quotes and win/loss analysis
- Implementation timelines
What stays on page 1:
- The decision you need
- The business impact
- The options and trade-offs
- Your recommendation
I've written dozens of briefs with 1-page summaries and 5-page appendices. Executives read page 1. They reference the appendix when someone challenges the recommendation. But they make the decision based on page 1.
How to Write a One-Page Brief in 30 Minutes
The mistake I used to make: I'd start writing and see where the brief took me. Three hours later, I'd have an eight-page document that wandered.
Now I use a 30-minute process:
Minutes 0-10: Define the decision
What decision does the executive need to make? Write it as a question.
Not: "An overview of our competitive position."
Yes: "Should we invest $600K in compliance certifications to compete in enterprise?"
Minutes 10-15: Identify the 3-4 options
What are the realistic choices? Write one sentence per option with the key trade-off.
Option 1: Build certifications ($600K, 9 months, high impact) Option 2: Reposition away from enterprise ($0, immediate, sacrifice TAM) Option 3: Partner for compliance ($200K, 6 months, medium impact)
Minutes 15-20: Draft your recommendation
Which option do you recommend and why? Write 2-3 sentences.
"Recommendation: Partner for compliance. Delivers 70% of the impact at 1/3 the cost. Maintains flexibility to build in-house later if market justifies investment."
Minutes 20-30: Write situation and problem
Now that you know your recommendation, write the context that sets it up.
"Situation: We're losing 73% of enterprise deals..." "Problem: We lack certifications that buyers require..."
Total: 30 minutes. You have a draft brief that fits on one page.
The key is starting with the decision and recommendation, then writing the context to support it. Most people write chronologically (background → problem → options → recommendation) and end up with 8 pages.
Write backward (recommendation → options → problem → situation) and you stay focused.
Common Mistakes That Make Briefs Unreadable
Mistake 1: Burying the recommendation on page 6
You spend five pages on background and analysis before getting to your recommendation. By page 6, the executive has stopped reading.
Fix: Put the recommendation on page 1, sentence 1 if possible.
"Recommendation: Invest $200K in compliance partnership to improve enterprise win rates from 27% to 40%. Here's why..."
Mistake 2: Presenting options without recommending one
You lay out three options and leave it to the executive to decide. That's not a brief—that's analysis paralysis.
Fix: Make a call. Recommend one option and explain why you chose it over the alternatives.
Executives can disagree with your recommendation, but they can't make a decision if you don't make one first.
Mistake 3: Writing in PMM language instead of business language
You write: "Our positioning lacks resonance in enterprise segments and our messaging framework doesn't address compliance-focused buyer personas."
Executive reads: "I have no idea what action you want me to take."
Fix: Translate PMM work into business outcomes.
"We're losing enterprise deals because we can't demonstrate compliance. Options: Build it, buy it, or reposition. I recommend buying via partnership."
Mistake 4: Including data without context
You drop charts and metrics into the brief without explaining what they mean or why they matter.
Fix: Every piece of data should answer "so what?"
Not: "Our enterprise win rate is 27%."
Yes: "Our enterprise win rate is 27%, down from 31% last quarter. At this trajectory, we'll miss enterprise revenue targets by $3.2M this year."
Mistake 5: Making the executive hunt for the decision you need
Your brief ends with "Please let me know your thoughts." The executive has no idea what action you're asking for.
Fix: End with a clear ask and deadline.
"Decision needed by April 15: Approve $200K budget for compliance partnership or choose alternative option. This timeline allows us to implement by Q3 and impact enterprise quota."
How to Test If Your Brief Will Get Read
Before sending your brief to executives, run this test:
Can someone read page 1 in 90 seconds and answer these questions:
- What decision am I being asked to make?
- Why does this matter to the business?
- What are my options?
- What does the author recommend and why?
- What do I need to decide and by when?
If the answer to any of those questions is "I'm not sure," rewrite page 1.
I show my briefs to a colleague outside my team and ask them to read page 1. Then I ask those five questions. If they can't answer them, I know executives won't read it.
This 5-minute test has saved me from sending dozens of briefs that would have been ignored.
When One-Page Briefs Actually Get Acted On
Three weeks after I sent my one-page competitive brief, the CEO forwarded it to our board with the note: "This is the kind of strategic analysis we're getting from our PMM team. Shows clear thinking on market positioning."
That brief got me invited to present at the next board meeting.
The lesson: One-page briefs don't just get read—they get shared.
Executives forward clear, concise briefs to their teams, their boards, and their networks. They can't forward eight-page documents because nobody will read them.
When you write a brief that fits on one page and makes a decision clear, executives use it. They reference it in meetings. They share it with stakeholders. They act on it.
The best executive briefs become the artifact that drives the decision. Two months after my brief, we partnered with a compliance platform. When the deal closed, the CEO referenced "the brief that laid out this strategy."
That brief had 250 words on page 1. It drove a $200K partnership decision.
That's the power of a brief that actually gets read.
Most PMMs write to demonstrate how much they know. They create comprehensive eight-page documents full of analysis.
Those briefs get skimmed and ignored.
The PMMs who influence executive decisions write one-page briefs that make decisions obvious:
- Lead with business impact
- Frame the problem as a decision
- Present options with trade-offs
- Make a clear recommendation
- Include details in appendix
Write your next executive brief in one page. Put the recommendation in the first three sentences. Make the decision you're asking for obvious.
Then watch it actually get read, shared, and acted on.
That's the difference between writing to inform and writing to influence.