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Write a two-minute all-hands opening without corporate clichés

  • For Executives
  • You practice Getting the tone right
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Write the opening of your all-hands as spoken text, plain text, 8 sentences, under 130 words. Beat 1 (sentences 1-2): one honest fact about the year with a number. Beat 2 (sentences 3-5): what went wrong, in plain words. Beat 3 (sentences 6-8): what changes next quarter. Do not use the words journey, excited, synergy, exciting or unprecedented, and do not blame a named person.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Clichés. The AI says 'journey' and 'exciting'. Try: Say: "Ban journey, excited, synergy, exciting, unprecedented."
  • Blaming a person. The AI names Marcus. Try: Say: "Don't name anyone for the QA gap."
  • Missing the three beats. The AI writes a rally speech with no numbers. Try: Say: "Three beats: fact with a number, what went wrong, what changes."
  • Markdown. The AI uses bullets. Try: Say: "Plain text, spoken sentences."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each sentence: "each sentence under 16 words."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each part instead, for example: "each line under 12 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Beats
  • Sentence count
  • Bans words
  • No blame
  • Spoken

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