Executive growth memo

Executive Growth Memo

Translate the full operational context of the OS — scope audits, capacity models, margin simulations, campaign QA, control tower data — into a single executive-ready document that connects operational metrics to business objectives, frames risks as financial implications, and demands specific decisions.

How This Skill Orchestrates

This is the executive layer — the final synthesis point of the OS. It consumes everything upstream and produces the output that a CEO, CMO, CFO, or CRO actually reads.

1. Upstream context (Claude): Collect outputs from ALL skills used in the conversation — control tower health, margin data, scope findings, capacity model, CO status, campaign readiness
2. Script execution (scripts/scenario_calculator.py): Generate budget scenarios with Hill-curve diminishing returns modeling for the interactive calculator — lets C-levels model "what if I shift $X from working to non-working media?"
3. Reference lookup (references/executive_communication.md): Apply FACTS framework, C-level tone rules, audience adaptation (CEO vs. CMO vs. CFO vs. CRO), benchmark sources
4. Web search (Claude): When the user specifies market/industry/brand, search for current Nielsen, Kantar, WARC benchmarks to contextualize performance
5. Visual output (Visualizer): Render (a) executive results panel with KPI cards, (b) the FACTS memo, and (c) interactive budget scenario calculator — all as inline widgets

Model decision: No ML/DL. The scenario calculator uses a Hill saturation curve (diminishing returns) — this is the correct model for "what happens if I increase/decrease media spend?" It's a dose-response curve from pharmacology applied to marketing economics. The LLM handles narrative generation (executive layer of the model stack).

Quick Reference

Resource	Purpose	Usage
scripts/scenario_calculator.py	Budget scenario generator — Hill curve for diminishing returns on working media, 4 pre-built scenarios (±20% working media, optimize mix, -15% total cut), industry benchmarks (Nielsen/Kantar)	python scenario_calculator.py --input baseline.json --output scenarios.json
references/executive_communication.md	FACTS framework, memo template, C-level tone guide, audience adaptation (CEO/CMO/CFO/CRO), benchmark sources catalog, upstream context mapping	Read for memo structure and tone before generating any executive output

How to Use the Script

Build a baseline from upstream data, then generate scenarios:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, "<skill-path>/scripts")
from scenario_calculator import ScenarioCalculator

baseline = {
    "client_name": "AcmeAuto MX",
    "market": "Mexico",
    "industry": "automotive",
    "period": "Q3 2026",
    "budget_lines": [
        {"category": "working_media", "amount": 150000},
        {"category": "non_working_media", "amount": 45000},
        {"category": "agency_fees", "amount": 25000},
        {"category": "technology", "amount": 8000},
    ],
    "current_revenue": 520000,
    "current_conversions": 1200,
    "current_reach": 3500000,
    "current_cpa": 125,
    "current_roas": 3.5,
    "agency_margin_pct": 28,
}

calc = ScenarioCalculator(baseline)
result = calc.generate_scenarios()
# result.scenarios → 4 modeled scenarios with projected ROAS, CPA, revenue, delta vs. baseline
# result.benchmarks → industry comparison data

The scenarios power the interactive calculator widget — sliders let the C-level adjust working media % and see projected impact in real time.

Trigger Conditions

Activate this skill when:

• Leadership needs a summary of operational or campaign results
• The user needs to present to a CEO, CMO, CFO, or CRO
• Upstream skills have produced results that need executive framing
• The user asks for a "one-pager", "exec summary", or "board memo"
• The weekly-control-tower has been run and needs leadership escalation
• A major decision requires executive approval with supporting rationale

Memo Generation Process

Step 1 — Identify the Business Question

What is leadership being asked to understand, approve, or decide? Frame it as a question. If the user hasn't stated it, infer from context or ask.

Step 2 — Collect Upstream Context

Pull data from all skills used in the conversation. See references/executive_communication.md → "Upstream Context Mapping" for the exact field mapping. If the control tower was run, its health score and anomalies are the starting point. If margin simulation was run, its verdict and Monte Carlo data inform the risk section.

Step 3 — Separate Facts from Assumptions

Apply the FACTS framework. Read references/executive_communication.md → "The FACTS Framework". Every statement in the memo must be tagged as Fact (verified data), Assumption (belief), Consequence (implication), Takeaway (learning), or Step (action).

Step 4 — Connect to Business Objectives

Every metric must trace up to a business objective using the KPI cascade from weekly-control-tower/references/kpi_cascade.md:

• SOW metric → Marketing KPI → Financial KPI → Business objective
• "Email open rate increased 3pp" → "driving 12% more qualified leads" → "reducing CAC by $8" → "accelerating path to 50K new customers target"

Step 5 — Add Market/Industry Context

When the user specifies market, industry, or brand:

• Search web for current Nielsen, Kantar Worldpanel, WARC benchmarks
• Compare the client's performance against industry averages
• Frame as: "Client ROAS at 3.5x vs. automotive industry average of 2.8x (Nielsen) — outperforming by 25%"
• Use benchmark data from the scenario calculator as a fallback

Step 6 — Generate Budget Scenarios

Run the scenario calculator to produce 4 budget scenarios. These power the interactive calculator widget. The scenarios show what happens to ROAS, CPA, and revenue when the C-level adjusts budget allocation between working media, non-working media, and other cost lines.

Step 7 — Produce the Memo

Generate the memo following the template from references/executive_communication.md. Adapt tone for the target audience (CEO/CMO/CFO/CRO). Apply all C-level tone rules — lead with numbers, no jargon, state the ask, time-bound everything.

Output Format

Produce the executive memo in THREE forms: (1) results panel (Visualizer), (2) FACTS memo (Visualizer), and (3) interactive scenario calculator (Visualizer). Follow with a markdown version.

1. Results Panel (Visual Artifact)

Render a high-visual results panel as an inline HTML widget:

• A header with client name, period, and overall health badge from control tower
• A KPI card row — 4-6 key metrics with current value, target, WoW delta, and vs. benchmark comparison. Color-coded (green above target, red below)
• A trend sparkline or delta bar for each KPI showing direction
• A benchmark comparison row — client value vs. industry average (Nielsen/Kantar) with variance badge

2. FACTS Memo (Visual Artifact)

Render the executive memo as a clean, typographic inline widget:

• Situation block — neutral gray background, 2-3 sentences
• Key Finding — highlighted with accent border, the single most important insight
• Business Implication — quantified impact with trend projection
• Risks & Learnings — bullet list with market/industry context badges
• Required Decision — framed as a clear question with options
• Recommended Action — bold, direct, with expected impact
• Next Steps — numbered with owner + deadline

3. Interactive Scenario Calculator (Visual Artifact)

Render an interactive HTML widget with:

• Sliders for each budget line (working media, non-working, agency fees, technology)
• Live-updating output cards showing projected ROAS, CPA, revenue, and reach as sliders move
• Baseline comparison — always show delta vs. current baseline
• Benchmark line — industry average ROAS/CPA displayed for reference
• A "Send this scenario" button via sendPrompt() that captures the slider values and asks Claude to model it further

The calculator uses the Hill curve from the scenario script for diminishing returns modeling. Include a note: "Projections use a diminishing-returns model calibrated from current performance. Actual results may vary."

Use CSS variables for all widgets. Keep each widget compact and readable.

Markdown Report (Fallback)

After the visual artifacts, produce the full memo as markdown for copy-paste:

## 📋 EXECUTIVE GROWTH MEMO — [Client] — [Period]

### Situation
[2-3 sentences]

### Key finding
[The single most important insight]

### Business implication
[Quantified impact + projection]

### Risks & learnings
[Bullets with market context and benchmark comparisons]

### Required decision
[Clear question with options]

### Recommended action
[Direct recommendation with expected impact]

### Budget scenarios
| Scenario | Working media | ROAS | CPA | Revenue | Δ vs. baseline |
|----------|--------------|------|-----|---------|---------------|
[4 scenario rows from calculator]

Industry benchmark: [source] — avg ROAS [X]x, avg CPA $[Y]

### Next steps
1. [Action] — [Owner] — [Deadline]

Examples

Example 1 — Performance update for CMO:

User: "Prep an exec memo for the CMO on this month's media performance. ROAS dropped from 4.2 to 3.1."

→ FACTS memo: Situation (ROAS decline), Key Finding (audience saturation on Meta prospecting), Business Implication ($85K revenue at risk if trend continues), Risks (CPA above industry avg per Nielsen), Decision (reallocate budget or refresh creative?), Action (shift 20% to TikTok + new creative test). Interactive calculator shows the reallocation scenario.

Example 2 — Risk escalation for CEO:

User: "The CEO needs to know about the margin situation on the ACME account. We ran margin-simulation and it showed 10% margin with 7 leakage sources."

→ Claude pulls margin-simulation context. Memo frames as: $20K/mo at risk, 3 structural leakage sources, adjusted margin is -71%. Decision: approve scope restructuring + change order. Calculator shows impact of fixing top 3 leakage sources.

Example 3 — Full OS synthesis:

User has run scope-audit → fte-capacity-sizing → margin-simulation → weekly-control-tower → now asks for exec memo.

→ Claude synthesizes ALL upstream outputs. Health 52%, margin drift -8pp, 2 blockers, CPA anomaly. Memo connects everything: scope exposure → capacity strain → margin erosion → performance decline → business objective at risk. Decision: restructure scope + approve CO + reallocate media budget. Calculator models 3 restructuring scenarios.

Skill Chaining

Direction	Skill	Connection
Upstream	ALL skills	This is the terminal skill — it consumes everything
Downstream	change-order-generator	If the memo recommends a scope change
Downstream	margin-simulation	If the CEO wants to model a different fee structure
Downstream	fte-capacity-sizing	If the memo recommends team restructuring