Executive Summary: Will That Be in the First Person or Third Person?
If I had my way, every executive summary would be in first person. But then the world hasn’t gotten around to seeing it my way, yet. Whether you write your executive summary in the first person or third person usually depends on your relationship with the client. It’s like this. The larger the organization, the more likely the third person will be used – a more formal tone. The more familiar you are with the client, and the better the relationship, there’s a good chance your executive summary can be written in the first person and be more informal and conversational. For entrepreneurs, this tends to be truer with small business clients with whom they have worked and built relationships. But – keep this in mind. Whether you use the first person or the third person in your executive summary, the choice is relationship driven. If you have a great relationship with the senior management of a major organization, you might use the first person. That is – I,...