How to email like a CEO

Photo Credit: Pexels

TL;DR: Too long; didn’t read

There are many things CEOs care about, but arguably one of the most important things is their time. Whether they are running a Fortune 500 company or a startup, CEOs have a lot on their plate and in a global economy every second counts.

When I first entered the startup world I wrote novel like emails to my team members. This ended in long drawn out email chains that took up a great majority of my time as well as my team’s. I quickly learned to “filter out the fluff” and focus on the one or two key points I was trying to make.

Be concise

Spending time in email chains is not productive. Spending time on the phone is even less productive. While I personally only have a few years under my belt being CEO, in total my board of directors and chairman have over 30 years of international business experience as CEO’s or executive leaders. Communicating with them taught me quickly to transform my writing and make it even more compact, sometimes down to one-word emails.

Photo Credit: Pexels

One sure-fire way to get started is to cut out what I call “fluff.” Here’s an example

Hey Andrew, I just wanted to email you and tell you about an interesting opportunity. (Fluff: Don’t tell me what you are going to tell me, just tell me. Don’t say “hey” this isn’t AOL Instant Messenger.)

It’s great to meet you, my name is John Smith from Abc Inc. (Have we met?)

I spent a lot of time following your work and I really think that we can do some great business together. (Fluff: No one likes a brown noser, you’re wasting my time here I’m 5 seconds into this email and now I’m deleting it.)

Our company is from New York and we are funded by x,y,z. (Fluff: sorry doesn’t matter: what do you want with my time?)

We are working to do X. (Finally.)

We do it better than Facebook because 1,2,3. (Fluff: I’ll be the judge of that.)

I know a lot of people say X, but on the contrary, we believe Y. (Fluff: how can you help me or what can I do for you?)

I’d love to set up a call with you. (Probably not happening.)

Communicating like a CEO

Money is never fluff when emailing your co-founder