The President's Daily Brief

I’ve always had good success stealing concepts from one domain, and applying them to another.

Want to learn how to gain weight?

Look at sumo wrestlers.

Want to learn how to run well organized inventory systems?

Study grocery store operations.

This methodology applies to many things - even if seemingly unrelated.

So in that spirit I was reading “Gatekeepers” a fascinating book about the history of Chief of Staffs at the White House.

Is there any more busy executive in the world, than the President?

A million things to do, tons of people trying to get on his calendar, competing priorities.

I think studying how their day is organized can provide opportunities for how we should organized our lives as executives.

One staple of the President’s Calendar is his Daily Brief.

The President's Daily Brief (PDB) is a highly classified document that is designed to provide the President of the United States with a concise and authoritative report on national security issues.

The PDB is customized to the president's preferences in both content and format, ensuring that the nation's leader receives the most relevant and actionable information in a clear and efficient manner.

This got me thinking - why don’t I have a daily brief?

So, in that spirit - I started running an experiment over the last few weeks.

What would “Jon’s Daily Brief” look like?

So, I designed one.

This was mine this morning, from my new assistant M.

She starts her day at 0600 PST, and this is sent to me at 0730 PST.

I blanked some stuff out cause…you know… secret stuff…

This is going to be built upon; other companies, other data points, etc

It isn’t the same every day - and it can include things like reports, long form documents, closing loops on projects - etc

Here are 3 tips, if you want to build something like this yourself:

• Customization: Just as the PDB is customized for the President, make your daily brief tailored to your role and responsibilities. You can put in personal stuff, family stuff, finance, ops - whatever.

• Relevance: The info included should be the most relevant to your day-to-day operations, allowing you to quickly grasp the essentials.

• Accessibility: Having all links and resources in one place. God help you if you send me a google doc, and haven’t given me sharing privileges.

What do you think?

Useful?

We shall see.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

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Passage of the Week:

I know many Arabs criticized you, but I am not one of them. The agency was the part of America that I liked the best, the part that understood the way the world is.

It is easy to have the ideals of a twenty-year-old, but you need the cunning of a fifty-year-old to achieve them.

When I met you and Mr. Rogers, I thought, Maybe there is a chance. Maybe these Americans have the toughness. I thought:

These men are cynical enough to do good. And that was when I began to think that America truly could liberate the Arab world.

I was wrong. Americans are not hard men. Even the CIA has a soft heart.

You want so much to achieve good and make the world better, but you do not have the stomach for it. And you do not Know your limitations.

You are innocence itself.

You are the agents of innocence.

That is why you make so much mischief.

You come into a place like Lebanon as if you were missionaries.

You convince people to put aside their old customs and allegiances and to break the bonds that hold the country together.

With your money and your schools and your cigarettes and music, you convince us that we can be like you.

But we can’t.

And when the real trouble begins, you are gone.

And you leave your friends, the ones who trusted you most, to die.

I will tell you what it is.

You urge us to open up the windows of heaven.

But you do not realize that the downpour will come rushing through and drown us all

- David Ignatius in Agents of Innocence