How to Write an Executive Summary

http://articles.bplans.com/writing-an-executive-summary/
BY TIM BERRY

Your executive summary is the doorway to your business plan—this is the time to grab your reader’s attention and let them know what it is you do and why they should read the rest of your business plan or proposal. We’ll show you how to write an executive summary that sets your business plan apart from the stack.

Your executive summary is your pitch. You’ve heard of—and probably even given—an “elevator pitch”; write your business plan’s executive summary like it’s an elevator pitch that you’ve had the time to edit to perfection. It should introduce you, your business, and your product, but the purpose of writing an executive summary is also to deliver a hard sell. Convince your reader here that you have a great idea they should invest their time and money in.

Write it last. Even though the executive summary is at the beginning of a finished business plan, many experienced entrepreneurs (including me) choose to write the executive summary after they’ve written everything else. Ideally the executive summary is short—just a page or two—and highlights the points you’ve made elsewhere in your business plan, so if you save it for the end, it will be quick and easy.

What should an executive summary include?

For a standard business plan

In a standard business plan with a standard executive summary, the first paragraph of your executive summary should generally include your business’s name, its location, what product or service you sell, and the purpose of your plan.

Basically, the first paragraph is an introduction to what you—and your business plan—are all about. Another paragraph should highlight important points, such as projected sales and profits, unit sales, profitability, and keys to success.Include the news you don’t want anyone to miss. This is a good place to put a highlights chart—a bar chart that shows sales, gross margin and profits (before interest and taxes) for the next three years. You should also cite and explain those numbers in the text.

For an investor-ready business plan

If you’re looking for investment or a loan, say so in your executive summary.Specify the amount required, and in the case of an investment, specify the percent of equity ownership offered in return (leave loan details out of the executive summary).

And if you’re shopping around for capital, your executive summary should be persuasive. Make your prospective investor want to keep reading; convince them to invest in your new business idea.

For an internal plan, operations plan, or strategic plan

An internal plan—such as an annual operations plan or a strategic plan—doesn’t have to be as formal with its executive summary. Make the purpose of the plan clear, and make sure the highlights are covered, but you don’t necessarily need to repeat the business location, your product or service description, your team’s biographies or other details.

Choose from hundreds of executive summary examples

Every business plan begins with an executive summary. Take advantage of Bplans’ more than 500 examples of good business plans—all available online for free—to search for the sample plan that best fits your business’s profile, and then use that plan’s free example executive summary as a guide to help you through the process of writing your own.

How long should an executive summary be?

• Never waste words in an executive summary. Experts differ on how long an executive summary should be—some insist that it takes just a page or two, others recommend a more detailed summary, taking as much as ten pages, covering enough information to substitute for the plan itself—but although 50+ page business plans used to be common, investors and lenders these days expect a concise, focused plan.
• The best length for an executive summary is a single page. Emphasize the main points of your plan and keep it brief. You are luring your readers in to read more of the plan, not explaining every detail of your business. A helpful exercise in writing concisely is to try to make every point you want to make—such as the seven key elements of a pitch—in three sentences or fewer.
• Don’t confuse an executive summary with the summary memo. The executive summary is the first chapter in a business plan. The summary memo is a separate document, normally only five to 10 pages at most, which is used to substitute for the business plan with people who aren’t ready to see the whole plan yet.

Executive summary format

The standard executive summary format is about a page of writing, followed by easy-to-skim subsections that highlight your main points. These subsections are usually your financial chart—a bar chart that shows sales, gross margin and profits (before interest and taxes) for the next three years—followed by your main objectives (a numbered or bulleted list is best), your mission statement and your keys to success (i.e., what makes your business stand out from your competitors).

See a sample executive summary for a Washington, D.C., bakery or for an online pharmacy.

10 Books You Must Read to Strengthen Your Leadership Skills

http://www.lifehack.org/320382/10-books-you-must-read-strengthen-your-leadership-skills?ref=gp
BY ANDY PREISLER

Whether we disagree with their leadership styles or not, all true leaders have one thing in common. They are naturally curious people who are life-long learners, and they satiate their need for knowledge through reading books. If you are interested in bettering your leadership skills, you may wish to add reading to your list of daily habits. Better yet, you should considering adding these 10 books to your reading list. They are certain to help you boost your leadership skills quickly.

 1. The Leader Who had no Title – Robin Sharma

Robin Sharma has worked as a leadership consultant for multiple fortune 500 companies. In this book, he teaches his readers what he has taught employees at major corporations for years. This is an amazing book if you are ready to tear down the barriers of what a leader should be and who can become a leader. Did you know that you don’t need an official title to be a leader? You don’t even need people working underneath you. The author explains in detail how you can build the emotional and mental strength, among other personal traits (including compassion and purpose), to lead and influence people no matter where you are in your career path.

2.  Emotional Intelligence 2.0 – Travis Bradberry

You won’t find too many motivational books that include a testimonial by the Dalai Lama. Of course, that is only one reason to add this book to your reading list. You have probably heard of emotional intelligence. It is a measurement of your EQ that tells you how well you function and relate to others on an emotional level. The higher your EQ, the better you are able to lead others by becoming a more empathetic, socially aware individual.

3.  The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John C. Maxwell

This is another book with an impressive endorsement. This time, Stephen Covey steps in and provides a great forward. However, even without this endorsement, this is a great book. It uses compelling stories of leadership to help illustrate Maxwell’s 21 laws of leadership. You’ll be influenced and enlightened by the time you put this book down.

4.  Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek

A great leader isn’t a person who can get people to do what he or she wants. Anybody with power can do that, and power does not equal leadership. A great leader builds a team of people who want to succeed because they feel valued, that they are making a contribution, and that there own personal and professional development is a priority. This book is a great primer on obtaining success through treating people well.

5.  Principle-Centered Leadership – Stephen R. Covey

You can’t go wrong by picking up any of Covey’s books, but this one is especially inspirational. One of the most difficult challenges you will face as a leader is healing strife within your team. Through stories of great leaders, Stephen teaches you how to make people connect with one another and work together in even the most contentious of circumstances.

6.  Bold – Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis

Exponential technologies are technologies that have the ability to generate change and improve lives in ways that their creators could have never imagined. The personal computer and the internet are two examples of these technologies. In Bold, you will learn how to use exponential technology, especially the internet, to make your visions a reality.

7.  Drive - Daniel Pink

As you develop your leadership skills, one of the most important things that you will learn to do is motivate others. Unfortunately, many leaders don’t understand what it is that actually motivates people. Daniel Pink defines both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that drive motivation. Then, he provides helpful guidelines on using intrinsic motivation to produce and increase drive in ourselves and others.

8.   Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi

Effective leaders build relationships with their team members, peers, and others. In this book, Keith Ferrazzi not only explains the importance of developing meaningful relationships in the workplace and elsewhere, he also provides action steps you can take to make this happen. After reading this book, you will find yourself better prepared to make connections with others.

9.  Zero to One – Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

This is a book especially written for future leaders who are also entrepreneurs. All too many brilliant people come up with great, potentially world changing ideas, but thanks to conventional thinking, never let those ideas come to reality. Instead, they tame and reshape those ideas until they come to fruition as yet another uninspiring business. You don’t have to let that happen to you or your ideas. Read this book and learn to build your startup your way.

10.  The One Thing – Gary Keller

If you are struggling to find success as a leader, you may be trying to do too many things. The author, Gary Keller asks you to focus on one thing. This is the one thing that you can do right now that will make things easier and better. That is what should become your focus. When you are done reading this book, you will be able to apply this principle to all areas of your life.

Featured photo credit: Germán Poo-Caamaño via flickr.com

10 UNIQUE WAYS LEADERS BOND WITH EMPLOYEES

http://www.fastcompany.com/3050651/hit-the-ground-running/10-unique-ways-leaders-bond-with-employees
BY STEPHANIE VOZZA

At startups, it’s easy for leadership to connect with employees—they often just need to shout out to someone two desks down. But when companies grow beyond a few dozen employees, staying connected becomes a challenge.

Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager of Adobe’s Marketing Cloud, was struggling to find an effective way to communicate with the employees he oversees, and traditional methods weren’t working.

"There are too many emails and conference calls, and while these tools play a role in getting things done, they don’t resonate with all of a company’s objectives," he says. "We wanted to find a way to get everyone aligned and enlisted in the company vision."

So Rencher created Bradchat, a weekly vblog modeled after the web series Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis, where Rencher shares strategies and information, and interviews other Adobe leaders.

"It’s fun, informative, and irreverent, and it gives employees a sense of our personalities; those things don’t come across in the written word," he says.

Employees can leave comments within the video, participate in online forums, or contact Rencher directly via email, and all three have greatly improved engagement. "My email traffic jumped dramatically, and we’re getting thoughtful questions on the content within Bradchat," he says. "I feel like I am connecting personally, and it gives me an opportunity to really embrace what it means to embody Adobe values."

Bradchat is just one example of innovative ways leaders at large companies connect with employees. Here’s how nine other executives have improved engagement within their workplace:

1. START A BOOK CLUB

Mark Dankberg, CEO of the broadband services and technology company ViaSat, started Mark D’s Book Club, where employees can read books on business, strategy, leadership, and innovation. The idea was started as a way for the company’s global team to learn the same business concepts and language, think strategically together, and exchange ideas.

"It has become a way for the ViaSat employees to better know how we think, how we view the world, and how we make decisions," says Dankberg. "And it helps each employee be more prepared in shaping their own career development."

2. REACH OUT TO THEIR FAMILIES

When Indra Nooyi was named CEO of PepsiCo in 2006, she discovered the sense of pride her parents had at her accomplishment when they began inviting people over to meet her when she would visit.

"It dawned on me that all of my executives who worked for me are also doing a damn good job, but I’d never told their parents what a great job their parents had done for them. I’d never done that," she told Fortune magazine in 2014. So Nooyi wrote them letters. "I said, 'Therefore, I’m writing to thank you for the gift of your son, who is doing this at PepsiCo, and what a wonderful job this person is doing.’"

Nooyi says she was surprised when parents wrote back, and the gesture created emotion and loyalty.

3. GO ON A MOTORCYCLE TOUR

Harry Herington, CEO of information service provider NIC Inc., increases employee engagement by visiting NIC branches across the company via motorcycle. He calls his initiative "Ask the CEO," and the idea was born to foster open communication within the company in the aftermath of the 2001 Enron scandal. 

"How do you get someone to trust you? You look them in the eye," says Herington, who hosts a dinner during his visit where the employees can ask him business and nonbusiness questions.

4. KNOCK DOWN OFFICE WALLS

Meg Whitman sent a message to Hewlett-Packard employees when she became CEO in 2011, and immediately got rid of the executive suite of offices. Leaders were relocated to cubicles throughout the office.

Kegan Schouwenburg, CEO of SOLS, the New York City-based startup that creates 3-D-printed orthotic insoles, doesn’t believe in the C-suite either. She maintains a connection with her employees by sitting with them.

"A CEO has to serve the team, and it’s important to me to be present and not isolate myself," she says. "Sitting alongside my colleagues allows unfettered exchange of ideas and collaboration, and preserves the culture we’ve worked so hard to cultivate."

5. GIVE EVERYONE YOUR CELL PHONE NUMBER

Charles Phillips, CEO of the software company Infor, calls his management approach "flat," and he provides his cell phone number to all Infor employees, encouraging them to call or text when they wish.

This informal style of engaging employees not only inspires more direct interaction among the entire workforce, but helps to break down traditional notions of hierarchy.

6. TALK ABOUT DREAMS OVER COCKTAILS

Mark Josephson, CEO of Bitly, connects with his employees on a daily basis by sitting at the tables and desks throughout the company office, but it’s his Cocktails & Dreams meetings where he finds some of the best engagement. Every week, someone is nominated to be a bartender and everyone in the company grabs a drink together. The casual setting gives Josephson a chance to update the staff on the current happenings, goals, and wins.

"We meet weekly to share updates and progress as a company. We celebrate wins and acknowledge losses. It's ultimately a great way to recap the week and set the stage for the following week," he says.

7. PLAN THE WEEK TOGETHER

Alexia Bregman, cofounder and CEO of the natural energy drink company Vuka, looks for innovative ways to connect with employees, and one thing she and her cofounder/husband Darian Bregman did was to implement WOMP, which stands for What’s On My Plate.

Each employee meets weekly with Bregman to create a to-do list. "We don’t really mind where or when these are completed, but when we meet the following week, we look at that list again and see how each individual employee is doing," Bregman says. "It’s a great way of giving employees autonomy while still staying on top of what they’re doing without micromanaging."

8. START A COMPANY MICROBREWERY

While some CEOs grab a beer with their staff, Andrew Fingerman of PhotoShelterbrews it. Each month, he purchases supplies and team members stay in the office after hours to "move the beer along."

There's a huge benefit to making beer together, Fingerman says: "Because group members range across teams and seniority, inevitably we talk about work challenges and ideas," he says. "We also get to know each other as friends. It brings us closer together, and some very innovative ideas have emerged."

9. HOLD FAMILY DINNERS

Cohesive teams are like Italian families, says Brent Smart, CEO of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Each month, he selects 20 employees across all departments for a "family dinner" followed by drinks and karaoke. The casual setting helps staff members get to know Smart as well as each other on a more personal basis.

"An Italian family dinner is a metaphor for the type of culture we need at Saatchi to be a great creative agency," says Smart. "Everyone around one big table, different disciplines and talent surrounding a business problem, lots of debate, opinions, and passion."

10. PLAY GAMES

Nihal Parthasarathi, CEO and cofounder of CourseHorse, a New York-based company that connects people with classes in their area, wanted to create a team environment, and he decided games were the fastest way to bonding.

Every week, the team gathers in Washington Square Park or Central Park to play lawn and board games, such as bocce, KanJam, Cards Against Humanity, and Settlers of Catan.

"I’ve discovered the best way to connect personally with employees is through gameplay," says Parthasarathi. "It creates a fun environment and levels the playing field so we can just connect as people."