Altitude, director lenses, and Q&A
The altitude ladder
| Level | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Individual contributor | Am I hitting my number? |
| Manager | Is my team hitting its number, and could it without me? |
| Director | Is my function carrying its share of the plan? |
| Executive | What has to change across the company for growth to happen? |
A board operates at the top rung. Test every claim in the pre-read against it.
| Topic | A company-altitude answer | A function-altitude answer |
|---|---|---|
| The constraint | Names the one thing limiting the whole company, with evidence across functions | Reports the presenter's own metrics against target |
| The plan | Sequences work across functions, with owners and the trade-offs each accepts | Lists the presenter's team's priorities for the quarter |
| The board's role | Names a specific action the board is uniquely placed to take | Asks for patience |
A precise answer to the wrong question still costs credibility.
Diagnosing the constraint
A defensible constraint statement precedes any plan. Collect hypotheses from the board, the team, research, advisors, and the previous playbook. Test them against first-hand evidence only the leader can gather: live calls, deal reviews, win and loss forensics, customer conversations. Write one sentence: growth is limited by X, shown by two or three facts, which matters because of a company-level consequence. A new leader should reach this within the first month on incomplete information. Waiting for certainty costs a quarter.
Reporting progress in three tiers
| Tier | Question | Form | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | Are we doing the work? | Counts | Meetings held, certifications completed |
| Leading | Is the work converting? | Rates and speed | Stage conversion, win rate, velocity, ramp time |
| Outcome | Did it pay? | Results tied to the P&L | Bookings, net revenue retention, margin, revenue per commercial employee |
Where the chain breaks tells the board where the problem sits. Activity up and conversion flat means execution quality. Conversion up and outcomes flat past the expected lag means the diagnosis or the size of the bet is wrong. Bring that second pattern to the board as a learning, early.
Director lenses
| Director type | Lens | Prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Lead investor | Portfolio comparison, dilution, fundraise timing | How the company compares with peers at the same stage |
| Operator independent | Execution quality, team, learning speed | Evidence the team learns faster than the market changes |
| Financial independent | Unit economics, capital efficiency | The return on the next dollar |
| Chair | Governance, CEO development, board effectiveness | Whether the meeting will produce a decision |
| Observer | Pattern recognition, network | Where an introduction would change an outcome |
Anticipating questions
Generate questions from the data, not from a generic list. Scan for red flags first, then write the question each one triggers and the answer.
| Red flag in the data | The question it triggers |
|---|---|
| Revenue below plan two quarters running | Is the plan wrong or the execution? |
| Burn rising while growth is flat | When do we need to raise, and on what terms? |
| Activity green, conversion flat | Is this a skills problem or a targeting problem? |
| Conversion green, outcomes flat | Was the diagnosis right? |
| One customer above 15% of revenue | What is the concentration plan? |
| The same risk on three consecutive decks | Is anyone actually managing this? |
| A capital ask with no small-scale proof | What have you already tested? |
Prepare at least 15 questions. For each: the data source, the answer, and the one fact that supports it. Prepare honest answers with a structural fix, not explanations that minimize.