What comes to mind when you hear the word “memo”? Is it Gary Cole’s obnoxious prodding about TPS reports in Office Space? Or maybe for my elder millennial peers out there, it’s Melanie Griffith typing away on a real-life 80’s typewriter in Working Girl?
Despite fond memories of your favorite office comedies of yesteryear, when I bring up the topic of memos it's usually met with an eye roll and a scramble to change the subject.
I get it. But I have news for the haters out there: Memos haven’t gone the way of the cubicle. They’re alive and well. They’re still used by savvy strategists — at both Fortune 500’s and Series A startups — as a way to quickly and comprehensively cover complex topics, build consensus, and drive action.
These days, there’s a strong preference for slides in the workplace. But I’ve been using one-page memos for years (decades!) as a secret weapon to help me:
Clarify my idea or argument,
Engage my audience (peers, leaders, or execs), and
Lead the group to a clear outcome (usually an approval).
In this post, I’ll make the case for why you, too, should ditch that deck and adopt one-page memos to drive faster and better decisions. I’ll cover key components, how and when to put them to use, and I’ll even share a plug-and-play template for you to try out.
About the Author
Before joining Reforge as an Operator in Residence, Kevin led brand and product marketing teams at high-growth startups like Upwork and Workrise. He began his career in nonprofit education, first as a classroom teacher and then with charter school networks, scaling marketing and operations to fuel growth.
A Brief History of the Memo
“Memo” is short for memorandum, and these bad boys have basically been around since dinosaurs (the Smithsonian has one from 1849). They haven’t yet gone extinct because they’re based on a simple human truth: We’re wired to communicate through narrative but we’re up against an ever-shortening attention span. The simple, repeatable, and limited structure of a memo lends itself well to a tight, uncomplicated storyline.
Memos have come in and out of fashion but were (somewhat) recently re-popularized by Jeff Bezos’ 2004 mandate that all Amazon employees had to write a 4+ page memo before presenting to executives. His rationale is compelling when making the case for memos over slides: “the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what's more important.”
While I agree with Jeff’s philosophy, I’m going to take it one step further and make the case for confining yourself to a one-page memo. One where the author is forced to be both compelling and concise. And one where your audience (that busy exec) won’t be too busy to actually read it.
It’s one page. That’s the magic of these things.
Use this free template to write your next memo and apply what you’ll learn in this article.
Sweating (The) Bullets: The Problem with Slide Decks
Before we start making magic, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Slide decks.
I, like many folks, made my first slide deck in early high school. We were taught that this was the superior tool to tell a story. Much like picture books and science fair trifolds from elementary school, the visual style of a slide deck was an engaging way to demonstrate what you learned.
These deck-building skills served us well, all along our educational paths — becoming a habit at best, and a security blanket at worst.
Post-graduation, we were all in for a rude awakening though. The world of business is a far cry from the land of academia. The pace is quick, the stakes are high, and there are usually competing ideas about how to get from point A to point B along the most efficient path possible.
So what do we do? We cling to the familiar. We fire up that shiny branded template in Google Slides and get started building a deck. Chances are, most of you have had an experience that goes a little something like this:
Almost two decades ago, I’m standing at the head of a conference table. Sweating bullets, thinking to myself, “The only thing standing in the way of this brilliant marketing strategy is a 20 minute pitch to the leadership team.”
I crafted detailed speaking notes. I practice-practice-practiced to avoid rambling. I started in my best power pose and — of course — the CEO interrupted me on slide two to ask how this strategy connected with our onboarding plans. An earnest question derailed my presentation and we spent the next 15 minutes pinballing through my deck. The carefully crafted narrative fell to the whim of a few curious execs.
We wrapped the meeting and I walked out of the room having no more clarity as to whether or not I was approved to launch my marketing strategy.
Sound familiar? Perfectly crafted bullets. Beautiful slides. Well-honed notes. Hours of prep and practice. And the entire thing is derailed by a question on slide two.
Decks are fantastic foils to show what you know but when you need to drive a quick (and unwavering) decision, a memo should be your weapon of choice.
Using a Memo to Help You Clarify, Engage, and Lead
With practice, a well-written one-page memo makes space for a much more efficient use of meeting time. They're an effective communication tool that can help you:
Clarify: Refine your thinking, pressure test your argument
Engage: Make a compelling case through narrative structure
Lead: Host effective meetings to drive faster, better decisions
Best of all, these three skills are core to garnering trust and respect with your peers and leadership team. A well-written memo demonstrates your ability to prioritize information and make judgment calls on what’s most important to communicate.
Nancy Van Brunt, a friend and colleague of mine, turned me on to one-page memos a decade ago. She shared a template from her MBA professor, Bill Pearce, and she convinced me that memos can help build professional credibility while also building a strong case. “If I tell you everything, it’s because I don’t know what to do with the information – I’m leaving it to you to find the point of my argument. But If I distill it down into one page, I’ve done the work to find the answer for you.”
Here’s how to get started writing a compelling one-page memo:
1. Clarify: Refine Your Thinking
The one-page length of this document forces you to refine your thinking because there’s only space for essential information. There isn’t room for flowery language or erroneous details that risk distracting your audience from the core of your recommendation. A one-page memo controls for the things that tend to get out-of-control in a deck.
Seemingly simple in nature (my mom has even built one!), slide decks promote missteps and misjudgments that tend to muddle a message, distract from the point, and confuse audiences into submission.
Here are a few moments when building a slide deck can start to muddle your message:
Inserting an image. Even better, adding a gif! I’ve seen plenty of wildly entertaining decks that are peppered with allegories and memes. While engaging (and far better than a deck full of line charts), I’m always left with a feeling of “that was a nice time” but not a clear understanding of the point being made.
The siren call of the “add a slide” button. The infinite nature of a slides-based presentation leads to 50-, 60-, 80-slide decks. There’s a common fallacy that you can make a stronger point with more information, but in reality, adding more slides just adds to the cognitive load on the audience. In tech, we’re continually talking about reducing friction for our customers. So why would we intentionally create friction when trying to “convert” execs to gain approval? The truth is: The smartest people in the room often use the fewest words.
Filling an appendix with “just in case” background information. In most of the presentations I’ve witnessed, a well-intentioned question from the audience leads to a wild goose chase through the appendix to find a graph, data point, or set of bullets. That information leads to more questions, which end up needing to be clarified with another slide in the appendix. Again, more information leads to confusion, not a stronger case.
Dropping talking points into the notes section as a pre-read. Almost every presentation I’ve joined has been accompanied by an optimistic “Here’s a pre-read!” email sent the day before the big meeting. But who are we kidding? Busy executives barely have time to eat lunch, how are they going to have the time to read through notes on 50 slides? The beauty of a slides-based presentation is the voiceover. And the best voiceovers are ones where the presenter can cover the main points but can also add in anecdotes based on their read of the room.
In my experience, the best ideas aren’t developed in isolation. Another benefit of the one-page format is that it’s easy to share with members of your team for input before you make your pitch to leadership. Once you have your initial draft, tighten your case even further by spending a few days before your meeting collecting comments and feedback from your peers. You're more likely to get focused and actionable feedback on a one-page document than if you ask your peers to review 50+ slides.
2. Engage: Build a Compelling Case
In order to approve a decision, your exec team needs to have a strong understanding of the context and rationale at the foundation of your recommendation. But they don’t need to know every single detail and data point.
A good story has a clear beginning, middle, and end. And a good one-page memo includes these six parts:
Summary
Context
Recommendation
Rationale
Rejected Alternate Solutions
Next Steps
The logical flow from one component to the next in a one-page memo format helps bring your audience along in your thought process. And the narrative structure allows you to build understanding in a logical, compelling way.
Here’s a quick overview of the key elements of our one-page memo template.
1. Summary
Your summary should open by telling your audience what to expect. Are you recommending approval? Are you asking for input? Prime your audience so they know what to look for and name anyone who’s aligned with your position. This section should be 3–4 sentences, max.
2. Context
Provide the details and facts that your argument is based in. This is the context within which you formed your opinion and are making your case. It’s very important that you only include details here that are generally accepted by your audience. Any questionable or debatable facts included here will distract from your point.
3. Recommendation
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. In plain language, explain what you want to do, by when, and the expected outcome. Make sure to flag any financial or operational impacts, if applicable.
4. Rationale
Make an argument for why the audience should agree with your position using your three (or four) most compelling reasons. You can attach and reference charts to help strengthen your case.
5. Rejected Alternate Solutions
In marketing and sales, we call this “objection handling.” Anticipate your audience asking “did you consider [an alternative]?” and explain why these two or three options aren’t as compelling. You can also reference colleagues who have helped you arrive at your recommendation to make your judgment less subjective.
6. Next Steps
List your time-bound next steps assuming approval or agreement. Yes, the purpose of this memo is to invite informed discussion and debate, but this section helps your audience understand the immediate impact of their approval.
Now that you have a solid argument and an easy-to-understand format, it’s time to put your memo to work.
Use this template to help you apply the structure Kevin just outlined.
3. Lead: Make the Most of Limited Time
If we’ve worked together before, you’re intimately familiar with my love of getting 👏 to 👏the 👏 point 👏.
I didn’t invent the phrase “this meeting could have been an email.” but I should win the Million-Miler status for its use. I’m not alone in having strong opinions around what makes a productive meeting, but here’s my nine-word rant:
A meeting should be a discussion, not a lecture.
When trying to get approval or support for an idea, the most productive use of time is discussion and debate, not a lecture delivered from a podium. Slides have their use, but nine times out of 10, the answer to getting buy in from busy execs is a one-page memo.
This point is pretty self-explanatory. Not only are you saving executives from reading 50+ slides before your meeting, you’re also saving them from either (a) interrupting your presentation, or (b) holding a question in their mind until you finish. Not only is concision in the best interest of the case you’re making, you’ll likely win trust and respect from execs simply by respecting their time.
After the Memo: Invite Discussion to Make Faster, Better Decisions
Meetings are an expensive use of time and resources. But when you make your case on one page, it can easily be read before your meeting, or even read during the first 10 minutes of your meeting as happens at Amazon.
Once your audience has had a chance to read your memo and understand your point of view, they’ll likely have questions. This is to be expected — you only had one page to make your case. I like to start meetings with a guiding question like: “What are your concerns about this recommendation?”
As you're facilitating the discussion, be wary of allowing it to slip into a Q&A session. Yes, you’re on the hook to answer questions about your recommendation, but you can also ask other participants for their input and opinion. Discussion and debate during a meeting both helps strengthen recommendations and decisions and it helps build buy in for the path forward. Execs are less likely to question a program or strategy a few months down the road if they’re given the time to process and understand out loud with their peers before they officially approve.
To conclude the meeting, make sure you voice the outcome and mention the next steps. Best case scenario, your recommendation is approved and you can get to work. But even if you don’t get the approval you seek, the discussion should give you the context and direction you need to revisit and adjust your recommendation. One that you can articulate in your next one-page memo.
Putting It All Together
Now’s your turn. Here’s your challenge: next time you feel the urge to duplicate that gorgeously-branded slide template, try a one-page memo instead. You’ll drive faster, better decisions as a result.
It will likely feel clunky at first. And maybe even a bit scary–remember learning how to ride a bike? This template can be your training wheels.
Download this free template to help craft your next memo.