The Executive Communication Skill Most Directors Ignore
- Maya Grossman
- Jun 3
- 4 min read
One of the easiest ways to quietly undermine your executive presence is in your email updates.
In fact, this is one of the most overlooked reasons strong performers stay invisible at senior levels.
In a world of 17-slide updates, the person who can summarize wins.
Because corporate is an inbox war zone.
Senior leaders are triaging fires, meetings, decisions, and a flood of “quick updates” that are anything but quick. Most of it is well-intentioned. A lot of it reads like corporate spam.
So they do what any sane person does:
They skim. They archive. They move on.
And here’s the part most Directors don’t realize:
A long update doesn’t make you look thorough.
It makes you look operational.
Senior leaders associate concise communication with clarity of thinking. They associate overloaded updates with unclear prioritization.
This connects directly to how perception is formed at the executive level, something I break down further here.
Because at the VP level, the expectation is not that you can regurgitate everything that happened.
The expectation is that you can summarize what matters, pull the signal from the noise, and state what you recommend.
If your update reads like a task list, you’re training leadership to see you as someone who executes. If your update reads like an executive brief, you’re training leadership to see you as someone who runs a business.
Communication trains leadership on how to categorize you.
Same project. Same results.
Completely different perception.
That’s the difference between a junior update and an executive one.
How Executive Communication Changes Leadership Perception
One of my clients wanted more visibility with her skip-level, a VP.
She was doing strong work, but it lived in the shadows. Her manager knew. Her team knew. The VP? Barely.
So she started sending updates in a new format, short, structured, and focused on what leadership actually cares about
Within a few weeks, the VP started replying with questions and comments.
Then he did something even better:
He invited her to schedule a monthly check-in call so he could hear more about her work.
That’s what happens when your update becomes a signal, not noise.
And this is also where self-advocacy becomes critical, a skill many leaders underutilize, which I expand on in How to Master the Art of Self-Promotion.
Visibility increases when leaders consistently see strategic judgment instead of operational reporting.
You stop being “one more person delivering.”
You start being someone leadership wants to stay close to.
Let me show you how you can do the same thing.
The BIR Framework For Executive Email Updates
Inside my program, I teach something called the BIR method.
It forces your thinking to level up before you hit send.
BIR = Bottom Line, Insight, Result.
A three-bullet update. And each bullet has a job.
B: Bottom Line
State your recommendation or POV in one clear sentence.
This is where most updates go wrong. People lead with context because they’re trying to be “thorough.”
Executives lead with the point.
“What do I recommend?”
“What decision or alignment do I need?”
“What is the headline?”
This is one of the clearest communication differences between managers and executives.
Check in:
One sentence. If it takes three, you don’t have a bottom line yet.
I: Insight
Share 1 to 2 key signals or data points that shaped your bottom line.
This is where you prove you’re not guessing, and you can make a judgment call.
“What’s the one number that matters?”
“What changed that informed this recommendation?”
“What’s the key risk or constraint?”
Check in:
2 to 3 insights max. If you have 6, you haven’t prioritized.
R: Result
Show the impact, trade-off, or business outcome.
This is the “executive” part.
Because VPs don’t just want information.
They want consequences.
“What does this protect or unlock?”
“What are we trading off?”
“What happens if we do nothing?”
Check in:
Connect upward. If there’s no impact on goals leadership cares about, it’s noise.
A Plug-And-Play Executive Update Template
Here’s what a strong BIR update actually looks like.
Subject: [Topic] Decision needed by [Day/Date]
Bottom line: I recommend [Option A] to achieve [desired outcome] by [date].
Insight: Key signals: [1 metric or signal] and [1 risk/constraint].
Result: This will [business impact/protection]. The trade-off is [what you give up]. I need [decision/approval/alignment] by [date].
Optional add-on (only if useful):
Details and supporting data: [link / doc / attachment]
Example:
Subject: [Project] Recommendation for next step
Bottom line: I recommend delaying launch by 2 weeks to reduce risk without losing adoption.
Insight: Early feedback shows meaningful onboarding drop-off, and we found a critical bug in testing that will impact first-run success.
Result: This protects Q3 targets and avoids a messy rollback, but we need alignment today so we can reset the timeline and comms.
That’s it.
No diary. No play-by-play. No “here’s everything we did this week.”
A clear, concise, and contextual update.
Why Executive Leaders Respond To This Format
Because it matches how senior leaders think.
Executives evaluate outcomes, not activity.
They want what changed and what it means.
Bottom line first signals ownership.
You’re not reporting. You’re leading.
Results force trade-offs and judgment.
Which is what separates “Junior updates” from “executive brief”.
You are demonstrating that you can absorb complexity and still create clarity for leadership.
And when you write like this consistently, leaders start coming to you differently.
This is also why being “good at your job” isn’t enough, perception matters just as much as performance.
They ask you questions that sound like:
“What do you recommend?”
“What’s the trade-off?”
“Walk me through the decision.”
That’s not just better communication.
That’s repositioning with your most important stakeholders.
It’s strategic visibility built through everyday interactions
How To Start Communicating Like A VP
Pull the last update you sent to a senior leader and evaluate it. Did you share too much context? Did you get the response you wanted? If a VP skimmed this in 10 seconds, would they see a doer…or a decision-maker?
Now, moving forward, use BIR for your updates so it’s clear you are communicating at the executive level.
I believe in you, and I’m rooting for you
Maya ❤️
