pitch unfairly

Jerry Maguire's Mission Statement

Everyone applauded the memo. One person followed. Read-ahead memo, 1996, rebuilt as a live deck you can play and steal. More in Templates, everyday work.

Sports Management International deck, first slide Play the deck
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  • 10 slides
  • A copy on every desk
  • Fired about a week later
  • 1 colleague, 1 client, 1 goldfish

Steal the read-ahead memo structure

10 slides, one job each, in this order. Swap in your story and keep the order.

  1. 01
    Designed coverThe title is the claim, and the cover says it is a read-ahead and when to read it by.
  2. 02
    The one paragraphThe conclusion and the decision asked for, in the first paragraph, so a skimmer still knows what you want.
  3. 03
    The situationA few facts the reader half-knows already, plus one story that makes them feel it.
  4. 04
    What we believeThe two or three principles the proposal follows from, so disagreement has somewhere to land.
  5. 05
    The proposalSpecific changes with an owner each, and the author goes first as the pilot.
  6. 06
    What it costsThe honest downside, shown plainly before anyone has to ask for it.
  7. 07
    What changes on MondayThe first week, line by line, with an owner and a date on each.
  8. 08
    ObjectionsThe questions readers will ask, in their words, each answered in a line.
  9. 09
    The decisionWho decides, by when, and the options, including a smaller yes like a pilot.
  10. 10
    The follow-upA week later, report who acted on it, not who applauded.
What good everyday work do, and where they fail
  • Answer first: lead with the conclusion, then the evidence (Minto). In a controlled study, sentence headlines with visual evidence beat topic titles with bullets on comprehension (Garner, Alley et al. 2013).
  • Status has fixed meanings: green is on track, amber means a risk with a fix in hand, red means we need help (Atlassian).
  • Show progress as movement since last time, not a list of activity.
  • Every risk has an owner and a date; every ask names who must decide.
  • Roadmaps show confidence by horizon (Now, Next, Later), with dates only where they are real.
  • Activity instead of outcomes
  • Everything green until it is suddenly red
  • The conclusion on the last slide
  • A roadmap of promised dates nobody believes

The deck, slide by slide

Each one opens the live deck at that slide.

  1. Sports Management International deck, slide 1: The future of our business is fewer clients. 01The future of our business is fewer clients.
  2. Sports Management International deck, slide 2: Read this one. We should take fewer clients. 02Read this one. We should take fewer clients.
  3. Sports Management International deck, slide 3: We grew the client list and stopped returning the calls. 03We grew the client list and stopped returning the calls.
  4. Sports Management International deck, slide 4: The job is people, and the money follows them. 04The job is people, and the money follows them.
  5. Sports Management International deck, slide 5: Fewer clients, more attention, starting with my own list. 05Fewer clients, more attention, starting with my own list.
  6. Sports Management International deck, slide 6: Fewer clients means less money, and this memo says so. 06Fewer clients means less money, and this memo says so.
  7. Sports Management International deck, slide 7: On Monday, every call gets returned. 07On Monday, every call gets returned.
  8. Sports Management International deck, slide 8: You have four objections. Here are the answers. 08You have four objections. Here are the answers.
  9. Sports Management International deck, slide 9: The partners decide by Friday: approve, pilot, or say no. 09The partners decide by Friday: approve, pilot, or say no.
  10. Sports Management International deck, slide 10: Everyone applauded the memo. One person followed. 10Everyone applauded the memo. One person followed.
What really happened, and what the 2026 rebuild changes

What really happened, 1996

  1. Jerry Maguire is a star agent at Sports Management International, the agency that signs everyone
  2. An injured hockey client's son tells him what he thinks of him, and it sticks
  3. At a conference in Miami he stays up all night writing a mission statement: The Things We Think and Do Not Say
  4. It argues for fewer clients, less money, and more personal attention
  5. He has it printed and bound overnight and puts a copy in every mailbox
  6. The next morning the office applauds him
  7. About a week later his protege Bob Sugar fires him over lunch
  8. Jerry and Sugar race through the phones; Jerry keeps one client, Rod Tidwell
  9. He asks who is coming with him; only Dorothy Boyd follows, and he takes the office goldfish
  10. Rod makes him shout "Show me the money!" before he agrees to stay

Read the real story the film by Cameron Crowe, via Wikipedia

What the rebuild changes

  • Highlight the line that matters. The summary is one paragraph. Click a sentence and the highlighter says whether it is context or the ask; the decision is the one already marked.
  • Slide the cost. Drag from today's client list to the proposal and watch commission fall while attention and calls returned rise. The memo says the cost out loud.
  • Answers under the black bar. Four objections, the things people think and do not say, each answer redacted until you press the question. One of them is the client who wants to see the money.
  • Count who followed. Play the week: a copy on every desk, applause from every desk, then the lights go out on all but one. A follow-up counts who acted, not who clapped.

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