The Pyramid Principle, created by Barbara Minto at McKinsey: organize your ideas into a pyramid — a single governing conclusion at the top, supported by layers beneath it.

Its iron rule is the 'governing point' (each idea governs the group below it): every idea on any level must be a summary of the group of ideas beneath it. A report, a single slide, or a whole speech should all be able to state the top of the pyramid in one sentence.

When you present, do it 'answer first': lead with the core conclusion, then unfold the supporting points, then back each point with evidence. That way the audience / reader grabs the main point right away — which is 'executive-friendly.'

The Pyramid Principle has been hugely influential in Chinese workplaces and official writing, where the Chinese edition is often distilled into a four-line mnemonic: 'answer first, governing point on top, group by category, logical progression' — corresponding to answer-first, each layer summarizing the layer below, MECE grouping, and logical ordering within a group.

It rhymes with the Chinese writing traditions of 'whole–parts–whole' and 'get to the point first,' but it puts extra weight on two things that tradition says little about: MECE (exhaustive, no gaps, no overlap) and 'think it all through bottom-up before you speak.'