Early in my career, I went for a meeting with a foreign director I reported to that was visiting Nigeria for a project we were bidding for.
He was to meet with a top CEO in Nigeria and I had taken my time to prepare a briefing document, which I handed over to him.
He said, “Femi, do you want me to tell you the truth ?”
I said “Yes”.
He said “I won’t have the time to read that your document. Can you tell me what you have in that document in two minutes ?”
I did and we eventually won the project.
I didn’t understand him then as I felt he didn’t appreciate the work I had done on the briefing document.
Now, I understand.
Lesson: Decision makers don’t have time. You have to learn to “keep it short and simple (KISS)”.