board-pre-read

Board Pre-Read Skill

The best board meetings spend zero time on status because the board already read it. A pre-read sent

48+ hours ahead does that: it conveys the state of the business and, crucially, tells the board exactly

what input and decisions are needed — so the meeting is discussion and decisions, not a slide-reading

session. This skill structures that document.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• The headline — the one thing the board should take away this period (good or bad).
• Metrics vs. plan — the key numbers against the plan/forecast (revenue, growth, burn, runway, the north-star).
• What changed — major wins, misses, and shifts since last meeting.
• Decisions/asks — what you actually need from the board (approval, input, introductions).

Output Format

Board Pre-Read — [company], [month/quarter]

Sent: [date, ≥48h before the meeting]

1. TL;DR — 3–5 bullets: the state of the business, the headline, runway, and the decisions you're bringing. A busy board member should get the gist from this alone.

2. Metrics dashboard — the core numbers vs. plan, with the trend and a one-line "so what" each. Show misses honestly — boards trust founders who surface bad news first.

| Metric | This period | vs. plan | Trend | Note |

|---|---|---|---|---|

3. What's working — the 2–3 things going well and why (so they can be doubled down on).

4. What's not — the 2–3 problems, what you're doing about them, and where you want the board's help. Candour here is the whole game.

5. Decisions & asks — explicit: "We're asking the board to approve X" / "We'd value input on Y" / "We need intros to Z." Tie each to the agenda.

6. Risks & watch-items — the top risks to the plan and runway, and the leading indicators you're watching.

Appendix — detail, financials, and supporting data (linked, not inline).

Quality Checks

• [ ] It's genuinely a pre-read — sent ahead, readable without a presenter
• [ ] The TL;DR stands alone for a time-pressed director
• [ ] Metrics are shown vs. plan, with misses surfaced honestly (not buried)
• [ ] The decisions/asks for the board are explicit and tied to the agenda
• [ ] Runway and the top risks are stated plainly

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not save bad news for the live meeting — boards punish surprises; lead with the hard numbers
• [ ] Do not send a deck to be read aloud — a pre-read is prose/dashboards designed for solo reading
• [ ] Do not omit the asks — if the board doesn't know what you need, the meeting defaults to status theatre
• [ ] Do not vanity-metric the dashboard — show the numbers that govern the business, against plan
• [ ] Do not inline 40 pages of appendix — link the detail; keep the core pre-read tight

Based On

Board-management practice — pre-circulated reading, metrics-vs-plan transparency, and decision-focused agendas.