The Executive Summary is approaching its third birthday. Having built a few media businesses before, I knew this one, aimed at CEOs and FTSE 350s, would take much longer to grow the audience.
That audience is now in full swing, with more than 2,000 CEOs and leaders from some genuinely global organisations reading every edition.
I'm really happy with how this is going and the feedback I get from you is just wonderful. Some of it is simply positive. Some of you write in to disagree, always politely and respectfully and we've ended up having coffee and a proper debate. I love that.
It's a real honour to write for you and that you read me.
And while most editions get at least a 40% open rate, the posts that draw the most feedback are always the family or personal ones. I write those the way I write everything for you, which is whatever happens to be on my mind. My children shape a lot of that, especially when the mayhem stops me writing something more professional.
I've tried to avoid being another news publication because there is already so much of it. Every other headline is Musk, Trump or how the UK has messed up again. The CEOs I talk to want wider perspective and context instead and how it relates to them on a daily basis. They like a point of view, or a direct route to understanding something.
Readers often ask about growth, business sticking points, marketing - and this year AI. I've become a broker of conversations as a result of this publication - and I've started delivering AI workshops because readers asked me to. I'm not the tech whizz - although I have got two servers running a fleet of agents - but I'm pretty good on perspective and strategy.
On timing, as you'll have noticed, the newsletter lands when it lands. I'd rather make sure each post is worth your time, and if I promised it every Wednesday at 11am I couldn't do it justice. You've told me many times you'd rather wait until I have something to say, and I'd rather make each one count.
I want to say a massive thank you to the partners who have supported me so far: Origina, Quetzel, The DPG, Giant Leap and Uniwire.
If you're interested in partnering with The Executive Summary, please get in touch.
Alongside it sits the City CIO Club, a private members' club for chief information officers of the UK's largest enterprise firms. And in the autumn you'll see more of the Board Table, a dinner and events club for business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs.
There's a lot we can do together, so if any of this is of interest, reply to this email and I'll talk you through it.
