Thank you for reading The Executive Summary. This newsletter turned three years old this month. It exists because you open it, reply to it and forward it on.
I will not lie. It has been a slog at times.
There have been plenty of mornings when I have got up to write something for you without knowing where this was going or how I would make a business out of it.
Build it and they will come, used to be the mantra for online media. I think building for CEOs is the hardest audience I have ever had to build.
This is my third media publishing business, after Greenbang and CoinDesk. It began in 2023 because I could see a slowdown coming in how companies engaged with the market.
Digital marketing, online funnels and cold email were losing their impact. Business was moving back towards relationships and towards meeting people in person.
For some years, I'd been pondering Kevin Kelly's essay 1,000 True Fans.
His argument is that if you can build an audience of 1,000 people who love your work, you will never have to worry about sales again.
I decided to test it. Having built two daily news publications, I had no appetite for the news treadmill again and a newsletter offered far more flexibility.
This time, I have aimed for quality of reader over volume so it's taken much longer to build the size of the audience. There aren't that many CEOs - especially in listed companies.
Engagement here has been remarkable, with open rates between 45 and 60 per cent. On reaching 1,000 subscribers more than 18 months ago, Kevin's theory was proving hard to confirm.
The readership was there, but the enquiries for messaging and storytelling work were thin. That was still all word of mouth.
So I carried on, but started to write more about other things I knew about - technology and AI.
That came easily, having been a reporter. I used to file five news stories a day plus the odd feature, having spent years watching how the US technology industry works and how almost every company responds to it. And having been a transformation director in FTSE firms, I knew how hard it was to get any technology to deliver value.
I'd also long believed that the CEO media space is poorly served.
Business media tends to be written with the business mask on, because business culture demands it.
People rarely call bullshit on things - and you're not really encouraged to have fun.
Life is too short not to speak your mind and enjoy your time on Earth.
We speak to our families and friends in a completely different way to the way we speak to colleagues and bosses. People are guarded.
But a newsletter lets you take the mask off, have some fun and say what the board really thinks.
The greatest joy in all of this has been writing, teaching, meeting people and hearing what they think. When I started in 2023 I had not written a proper article since my last journalistic piece in 2013 and I was rusty.
Today, on the back of The Executive Summary, I have run more than 12 workshops on AI and given nine after-dinner talks. Demand finally started to arrive for messaging and positioning support.
The City CIO Club, which has had tremendous attendance and recommendations, has been an excellent forumsin which to meet business leaders and help them learn.
What next?
The flow of enquiries from leadership teams asking for help with AI has grown to the point where the demand for the intersection between executive education and hackathon-style learning is very clear.
The Executive Summary is therefore moving into executive education, starting with The AI Leadership Hackathon, built for your next away day.
The chance to build a company that is AI native from day one is exciting and being able to share what we learn through courses led by practitioners who have done this before makes it better still.
Do look at the new website. A Kitkat will be drone-flown to anyone who spots errors.*
And while you're there, check out our courses across AI, growth and leadership on the education page. They accelerate what your team can do in a fun, engaging way - and they are led by practitioners.
The newsletter and all it's charming references remain yours. Cheeky, informative and free. If you could recommend it to your mates, I'd be grateful.
Wish me luck.
Dan
*In ten years.
For your next away day Is your board ready for AI? The AI Leadership Hackathon gets your board fluent in AI in a day, then makes it decide what to do about it. Your own agents, a new brand taken to market, an AI value proposition and every idea scored against the AI Strategy Triangle. Delivered by practitioners from The Executive Summary and the City CIO Club. Book the hackathon → See the full range |
