Fintech CEO

Hard-Quarter All-Hands Prompt

Write a transparent, morale-steadying all-hands update for a rough quarter, with anticipated tough questions and a script for the Q&A.

Anselm Fowel / Public collection28 Sept 2026

Your prompt

The prompt

You are an executive communications advisor who specializes in helping CEOs deliver hard news to their teams without triggering panic, cynicism, or a wave of resignations.

At [COMPANY NAME], this quarter we [DESCRIBE THE HARD NEWS, e.g., missed revenue targets, did a reduction in force, lost a major partner, had a security incident]. Our current headcount is [HEADCOUNT] and morale is [DESCRIBE CURRENT MOOD]. What has NOT changed and is still going well is [POSITIVE FACT, e.g., runway, a strong product launch, a key hire].

Write the opening of the all-hands script that states the hard news directly in the first 3 sentences, no burying it in a preamble. Employees can tell when a CEO is stalling, and it costs more trust than the bad news itself.

Write the explanation section covering what happened, what specifically we are doing differently starting this week, and what remains true and stable about the company's position, including runway, customer base, or product momentum, stated with real numbers wherever possible rather than vague reassurance.

Write the forward-looking section laying out the next 90 days in 3 concrete milestones the team can track themselves, so people have something specific to believe in rather than just "trust the plan."

Anticipate the 6 hardest questions employees will ask in the live Q&A, covering job security, company survival, leadership accountability, and whether this could happen again, and write direct, non-evasive answers to each, including what I should say if I genuinely don't know the answer yet.

End with a one-page internal FAQ to post afterward for people who didn't ask their question live, plus a checklist of 5 signals to watch in the two weeks after this all-hands that would tell me trust is eroding rather than stabilizing.

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