Stakeholder & executive communication
Translate AI reality up, down and sideways.
Much of the role is translation: turning AI reality into language engineers, product, execs and risk can each act on. The same update, framed three ways, is a core skill — and writing well is your highest-leverage scaling tool.
Key ideas
- 1
Match the audience: engineers want precision and evidence; product wants outcomes, cost and timelines; execs/risk want a one-page decision with options and trade-offs.
- 2
Lead with the answer (BLUF — bottom line up front), then support it. Execs read the first two lines.
- 3
Quantify honestly and conservatively; attach a number and a way to verify. Trust is your currency.
- 4
Written artifacts scale you: a crisp one-pager or decision memo travels to rooms you're not in.
- 5
Manage up with no surprises: regular, short status to your sponsor; surface risks early, never bury them.
The three registers
- To engineers: show code/evals, be precise, invite critique.
- To product/business: outcomes, risk, cost, timeline — no jargon.
- To execs/risk/legal: one page; decision, options, trade-offs, recommendation.
Make it land
- Use the inverted pyramid: conclusion first, detail below.
- Pair every claim with evidence and a confidence level.
- Tell a before/after story with one memorable number.
Watch
Do the work
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An exec asks about an AI initiative. Best format?
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