How to add 10 years to your professional age

Give a crisp, firm, flexible update to sound like an exec

👋 Hi, it’s Greg and Taylor. Welcome to our newsletter on everything you wish your CEO told you about how to get ahead.

I had a call with an agency last week to discuss their progress against our goals. I was hoping for a blunt assessment of where we are (and how I can help them do better, as I can be the problem slowing them down).

Instead they gave what I call an “activity update” – aka, “here’s a list of everything we’ve done and a list of everything we’ll do next.”

I get why they did this. They want to show me they’ve been working hard, even if the results aren’t what I want to see (aka “efforts over results”).

Giving this kind of update is a junior move. As a CEO, I know that many projects go off track, hit dead ends, fail, etc. – I’m not scared of hearing there are problems. But there’s nothing more frustrating than hearing a list of activities and having to parse for myself whether they’re working or not.

When your boss, client, or board member asks for an update, give them a crisp, firm, and flexible update that includes four parts.

Giving updates might seem tactical, but using this formula has helped me build trust with countless boards, other execs, and clients (even when the news is, “We failed to hit plan … again.”).

– Greg

How to give a crisp, specific update on your feet

It’s easier to give a good update in Slack or email, because you have time to arrange your thoughts. But you’re also probably in these situations all the time:

• Your client asks for an update on an initiative you weren’t planning to cover

• Your boss says “what’s the status of [random program]?”

• Someone in a meeting says, “Why are we even doing [an initiative that you manage]?”

Most people react one of three ways:

• They riff out loud. They ramble as they remind themselves of the information in real time, which comes across un-confident and confusing.

• They punt to the future. They say “give me a day and I’ll get back to you,” which comes across as if they don’t have a strong grasp of the topic.

• They give an activity update. They list all the tasks that have been done and have yet to be done, which makes them seem un-strategic (see above).

Here’s the four-part checklist I expect leaders to hit when giving an update.

For this example, let’s say I asked my marketing lead “what’s this discount we’re doing for young professionals?”

1. Tell me what’s happening. Don’t over-explain – this should take you 30 seconds. Be specific, and focus more on “what it is” than “how this came to be” / “all the activities you’ve been doing to make it happen.”

And don’t respond to “why are we doing this?” with “because you suggested it” – if you didn’t agree, you should have pushed back earlier.

✅ Do this: “It’s a 70% discount from our standard price for people under 30. We implemented it to drive volume with younger buyers who can’t afford the full price membership.”

🚫 Not this: “It’s a pricing tier for young professionals. You had originally suggested we launch a lower price for students, but then we all decided that it should include people in the first five years of their careers.”

2. Share your POV on how the project is doing. Give a blunt, concise perspective on whether the initiative is working and if it’s accomplished what we wanted. Reference data if you have it, but the data can be directional and approximate. If the person is asking you, they want your honest assessment based on your proximity to the project.

✅ Do this: “Right now about 5% of monthly sales come from this discount, so it doesn’t seem to be opening up access to younger buyers as we’d hoped.”

🚫 Not this: “It’s doing OK. I’d have to go back and get the exact numbers – let me circle back when I have something for you.”

3. Present options for what to do next. Provide 2-3 options for how the initiative should move forward based on your POV (one option can include “continue as planned.”). The important thing here is to show that you’re open to change – more on this below.

✅ Do this: “We could continue to run the discount and test ways to get in front of a younger audience; we could test a different price; or we could discontinue it.”

🚫 Not this: “We need to offer it as a pricing tier because otherwise members will be annoyed with us. We are now focusing on another pricing tier test.”

4. Recommend a path forward. Be clear about which option you recommend and give a brief rationale for the option you prefer.

✅ Do this: “I think we should discontinue it as it doesn’t get much use, and instead offer a lower pricing tier based on product access rather than age.”

🚫 Not this: “What do you want to do with it?”

Firm, but flexible

Throughout your response, you should be firm but flexible.

Firm means you have confidence in your point of view. You don’t need to be senior to be firm – you just need to know what you’re talking about. Often, a junior member of our team will present an informed POV, and it changes my mind.

Flexible means you’re open to change. I lose confidence in people who aren’t firm, but I get really frustrated with people who aren’t flexible. It usually sounds like, “We can’t do that because …” or “People will freak out if we …”

You can use a few verbal ‘signals’ to convey firmness and flexibility:

• “Without new data, I would recommend this”

• “I’m leaning toward this, based on what we know today”

• “In absence of better priorities, I’d put this first”

Here’s an example of a “firm but flexible” response I received last week in Slack.

This response is short and tight (she doesn’t riff or give me lots of background to justify her proposal). She has one supporting piece of evidence that portrays confidence (comps from PwC and Accenture) but she also signals she’s open to ultimately changing the proposal (“the fee doesn’t have to be aligned to that of ACN or PwC”).

Our advice

Most people we interact with don’t do this – they give activity updates, or riff and meander as they think out loud, or fall back on “getting back to you.” Then they’re frustrated when projects aren’t approved quickly, or their audience loses interest and confidence.

So if you want to increase your effectiveness and your strategic stock, put the four components to a crisp update on a post-it note on your desk, or into your personal prompt library. And start practicing five-minute, firm but flexible updates when you’re asked about a project (or even when you aren’t).

Have a great week,

Greg & Taylor