看到你写的简称，想起了当年我还是小土豆时候的笑话：当年去四大面试，面试官跟我说SM，SM什么的，说的特坦然。偶面部虽然保持镇静，但是心里极其震撼，想这个面试官也太NB了，公共场合就敢这么说。及至后来进去后，才发现原来他并不知道这个简称的意思，哈哈。类似的笑话还有同学介绍他表兄是GM，偶以为是通用汽车的。

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛这不但是给executive或者是board汇报的时候要简要，就是finance与其他部门老大沟通的时候也是要简要的。
简要就是，“简”洁，而且一言就集中“要"害。
我之前的一份工作：每个星期我的Banner都要给一个投行的小鬼（我们的老板是PE :-(）汇报上个星期的业绩。星期一一天我的Accountant把资料和报表准备好，我就开始抓耳挠腮的写总结了。经过一、两个月，终于摸清了小鬼的思路（这其中栽了很多跟头。。。。）：
- 总最简单最直接的“动词”+“数字”把他要关注的问题描述出来
- 要善于用bullet point形式。（老板没有时间看essay）
- 如果要发电邮的话：多用短句；多换行；有数字的时候，永远数字开始，然后加解释。。。这一切的目的就是让老板能在他的BB（现在恐怕是iPhone了）上只是上下scroll就能看完和看懂你的report
- 再赶，也要再读一遍，然后在发出去，有拼写的错误就不好了，要是有数字的错误就更难堪了（正好给了别人开玩笑的机会- CA stands for Cannot Add :-( ）
- 如Joyce在之后说的一样，准备被别人询问（回答不好就变成质问）。要点是:assumption, how much, what do you think，如果被问what do you recommend，那么就恭喜你，你的report被接受了。

咱们古语有云，好马长在腿上，好人长在嘴上。会计人员的真正挑战不在于算对数，而是在于在正确的时候准确的表达出一个恰当的故事更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛1. The art of being concise lies in thinking bottom up but speaking top-down.

People commonly gather and reason through great many details, then arrive at a conclusion. This is the thinking process. When you present before an SM, learn to speak your conclusion first, then if necesesary, support/defend with mid-level or bottom-level details depending on how detail-oriented your SM is. That is a top-down approach. It is a miraculous training towards an exectuive quality.

2. Stop saying, " I am sorry to bother you..." (SM would laugh in his mind and say silently, "Then don't!"), but simply say, "Do you have a moment to..." or " Can I have 15 minutes of your time to...". You are only subordinate to your SM structurally at work, but otherwise you are equal. Our Chinese modesty does not help us but only spoil certain SM boosting unecessary ego of theirs.

3. Stand on SM's plane and you will learn more. Supply your SM with a ground view of the forest, but start and end the conversation with his helicopter view. After all, your work is to facilitate his needs of information and ideas AT HIS LEVEL, not yours. Take this opportunity to train yourself to look at things using his perspetive and you will be a SM someday.

4. About delivery time. Allow me to slightly disagree with Joyce's suggestion. Those who make it to the corner office can artfully master the skill of "Under promise but over deliver". Borrow the wisdom of the famous monkey keeper. Instead of giving the monkeys 3 chestnuts in the morning and 4 in the afternoon, he managed the monkey's expectation by proposing 4 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Nothing in total change, but he effectively managed the monkeys' expectation and created artificial satisfaction in them. As to when exactly you should deliver your work, each case can be different. Some SM can be so easily spoiled and you need to carefully manage their expectation.

5. It may also be a good thing to do to do a one-minutes wrap-up at the end. Rephrase what you have discussed, what has been agreed upon, what to follow-up, when to meet next and what to achieve at next meeting. This reaffirm the SM of your understanding and is a good habbit to practice. If you need to complete the work leverage other staff's efforts, make sure you use your SM to make an annoucement.

6. I toally agree with Joyce on the last point. SM is a human being too. Be a bit away from our traditional Chinese chef-sub relationship and habit of showing excessive respect. Work is work. Go into his/her office knowing you are on a equal playing field workwise. Avoid being overly courteous. The real courtesy lies in understanding SM's needs, perspetive and urgency and work smartly (esp. know what is important to do, what is not, form his/her perspective) to support them.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net