Practical templates for CEOs
Six structures to turn management thinking into decisions and everyday work.
01 / CEO mandate
Align the expectations of owners, the board and the chief executive.
- Purpose of the role and planning horizon
- Five outcomes and success criteria
- CEO decisions / board decisions / delegated decisions
- Constraints: capital, risk, people, reputation
- Process for performance assessment and mandate review
02 / Decision memo
Shorten discussions and preserve the reasoning behind the choice.
- What decision is needed and by which date
- Decision owner and people to consult
- Alternatives, including taking no action
- Facts, assumptions, cost of error and reversibility
- Chosen option, implementation owner and review date
03 / Portfolio of strategic bets
Connect strategy to money, people and attention.
- The bet and the customer problem
- Expected impact and key assumption
- Capital, team and scarce capabilities
- Next stage and evidence required for continued funding
- Stopping condition and resources available for reallocation
04 / CEO performance dashboard
See the state of the business and early signals at the same time.
- Outcomes: revenue, margin and cash flow—as appropriate to the business model
- Customer: retention, quality, repeat use
- Execution: cycle time, reliability, bottlenecks
- People: key roles, succession, team health
- For each metric: owner, source and threshold for action
05 / Authority matrix
Clarify who decides, who is involved and when escalation is needed.
- Decision type and outcome owner
- Who prepares alternatives, who is consulted and who makes the choice
- Limits on budget, risk and independent action
- When the issue moves to the CEO or board
- How decisions are recorded, consequences reviewed and rules revised
06 / Management calendar
Connect daily signals to long-term bets.
- Weekly: deviations, blockers, decisions across functions
- Monthly: economics, customers, people, change portfolio
- Quarterly: strategic assumptions and resource reallocation
- Separately: board, key customers, succession, personal learning
- For each meeting: the decision it should produce and the preparation required
The templates are currently available as text structures on this page. Downloadable or copyable files have not yet been published.