How to Write an Executive Summary

Most people read the first few lines and stop. A good executive summary is written for exactly that reader.

6 min readFull guide coming soon

The short version

An executive summary isn't a shortened version of your document. It's the whole argument, squeezed into a few lines.

Use a simple flow: here's the situation, here's what changed, here's what we should do, and here's why. Keep it under 200 words. Cut every sentence that doesn't help the reader decide.

Test it by asking: if this were the only thing someone read, would they know what to do?

Try it now. Put this into practice with the Recommendation Builder (coming soon).

What the full guide will cover

Who actually reads executive summaries
Situation, complication, answer
What to cut
Formatting for skim readers
Before and after examples

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