The Six-Page Memo: Narrative over Slides

In many top tech companies (Amazon, Stripe, Square), meetings start in Silence. Everyone reads a memo for 20 minutes before a single word is spoken.

Why Memos?

Bullet points are "low-resolution." They hide complexity. A memo forces you to explain the Logic of your argument.

• Slides: "Growth is up 10%." (Why? How? Is it sustainable?)
• Memo: "Our 10% growth this quarter was driven by a 15% increase in organic search traffic, which offset a 5% dip in paid social..."

The Structure of a Great Memo

1. The Goal: What are we trying to achieve?
2. The Context: What is the current state of the world?
3. The Problem: Why is the status quo unacceptable?
4. The Proposal: What is the specific plan?
5. The Data: What evidence supports this plan?
6. The FAQ: Answer the questions you know they will ask.

Writing Style: "The Amazon Way"

• No Adjectives: Avoid "We had a huge success." Say "We increased revenue by $2M."
• Active Voice: Say "We decided..." not "It was decided..."
• Customer-Obsessed: Always start with how this helps the user.

Alex's Tip: Even if your company uses slides, write the memo first. It will make your slides 10x stronger because you'll actually know what you're talking about.

The recommendation

State your recommendation clearly, in one sentence:

• I recommend Option B.

Then give the rationale: It has the highest impact-to-cost ratio, and it is reversible if it underperforms.

Executives can override your recommendation, but they appreciate that you made one. A team member who always recommends is a future leader.

Stating risks

Executives respect honesty about risk. For each option, name the main risk:

• Option B risk: pulling two engineers may delay the mobile launch by one sprint. Mitigation: we prioritize the onboarding fix within normal sprint capacity.

Naming the risk and a mitigation shows maturity. Hiding risks destroys trust.

The ask

End with a clear ask:

• Can you approve Option B by Friday so we can start the reassignment on Monday?

A specific ask with a deadline converts the document into a decision.

Common mistakes

1. Open questions. What should we do? offloads your job to the executive.
2. No do-nothing option. Inaction is a choice; make it explicit.
3. No recommendation. Presenting options without recommending forces the executive to decide alone.

Practice

Frame a decision you face at work using the structure:

1. Context: _
2. Option A (do nothing): _
3. Option B: _
4. Recommendation + rationale: _
5. The ask: _

In the next lesson, you will learn the language of influence and persuasion at the executive level.