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Using Brief

A CEO's week in Brief

A CEO's week runs on other people's follow-through. Eight to thirteen meetings a day, prep done in the car between them, and a senior team that still drops a follow-up after the meeting ends. The work you hand off is the work that slips.

This is a working week in Brief for a CEO or founder, in prompts that run today. The heaviest section is the one that matters most: checking that what you delegated is actually getting done.

Before you start

These prompts assume your email and calendar are connected, and Slack or Microsoft Teams if your team works there. A prompt that names Excel, SharePoint, Salesforce or another outside system needs that system connected through Composio first. See Connecting Brief to other systems with Composio.

Each Ask Brief link opens chat with the prompt already typed in. Change the names to yours, then send it. A prompt that starts with "Create an agent" sets up an agent: type it once and it runs from then on.

Before the day starts

Talk me through today.

The daily brief read aloud, then a conversation about it. Ask by voice in the car or on a walk. See Using Brief by voice. Ask Brief

Of everything on my plate today, what can only I do? Rank it and tell me what to hand off and to whom.

A forced ranking with a column for who should take each item, not a longer list. Uses the Prioritize skill. Ask Brief

Into meetings

Prep me for the board meeting on Thursday: what each director has raised with me since the last one, what I committed to, and which decisions they're expecting.

Each director's open threads and your promises to them, before you walk in. Uses the Prep for Meeting skill. Ask Brief

Write up today's leadership meeting: the decisions, who owns each action, and a follow-up email to the attendees.

The recap that otherwise never gets written. The follow-up lands in your drafts for you to review. Uses the Post-Meeting Follow-up skill. Ask Brief

The inbox and the message stream

Create an agent called Board Watch. When any of these four directors emails me, tell me what they're asking and whether it touches something I've already promised them. [list the four addresses]

A push notification the moment a director writes, read against your open commitments. Ask Brief

Triage my inbox since yesterday afternoon. Respond now, FYI, or delegate, and for the delegate pile, say to whom.

Your email sorted, with a name against everything that should not be yours. Uses the Triage Inbox skill. Ask Brief

Following through on what you delegated

Who owes me something this week, and what's already late?

The other half of every promise, with the late ones first. Ask it in WhatsApp and it works between meetings. Ask Brief

Run a team health status report on my direct reports: what I've handed each of them in the last two weeks, what's done, and what's quietly stalled.

A private read on your delegation, person by person. It is for you, not a report to anyone. Uses the Status Report skill. Ask Brief

Draft a short, specific nudge to each person who owes me something past due. Use my voice.

One draft per person in your email drafts, ready to review and send. Uses the Draft in Voice skill. Ask Brief

End of the week

Reflect on my week: what I closed, what slipped, and what I keep moving to next week.

The pattern behind the slips, not only the list. Uses the Reflect on Week skill. Ask Brief

We're deciding whether to open a second plant. Frame the decision, name the options I haven't considered, and then pre-mortem the one you'd pick.

A recommendation rather than a menu, then the reasons it might fail. Uses the Decision Framing and Pre-Mortem skills. Ask Brief

Pull the Q4 targets from the Board Pack workbook in OneDrive and tell me where we're behind, and which of my open commitments bear on each gap.

Your numbers read against your promises. Needs Excel connected through Composio. Ask Brief