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Executive support · Work sample: fictional scenario, synthetic data

Rebuild a CEO's week after nine conflicting requests

Nine requests, 18 clashes and a hard stop: a conflict log, a rebuilt week and the messages to send.

Logged 18 conflicts across nine requests, settled them in 14 documented decisions, and drafted one summary email to the CEO.

Time taken
2 h
Tools
Excel
AI used
Claude
Skills
Calendar management, Prioritization, Time zones, Stakeholder messaging
Date
Adjusted calendar for Monday 5 to Friday 9, with moved or new meetings shaded green and unchanged meetings shaded blue

As it arrived

It is Sat 3. Nine requests have landed for CEO Dana Whitfield's week of Mon 5. The board chair wants to move the Q3 board meeting to Wed 7, which knocks on to a VP interview, the sales pipeline review and Thursday's deep work.

Quick look

The email to the CEO: the TrailMart call is protected, the other changes are confirmed, and two items need her approval
The one short summary email to Dana, 186 words

Deliverables

The details

Dana’s standing rules: deep work, protected lunch, buffers after long meetings, a Thursday 4:45 PM hard stop, no COO 1:1 canceled two weeks running, and vendors routed to Operations. External messages need her approval. She is flying 3:00–5:00 PM ET and wants one short summary.

Deadlines: Kevin Cho (TrailMart, the number one account) locks his calendar at 8:00 PM ET today. Ellen Shaw needs the board answer by Monday 12:00 PM ET.

My approach

  1. Log. Listed every request and every clash, rule risk and knock-on.
  2. Rank. Ranked by priority: board and investor first, then TrailMart, then the VP hire, leadership, 1:1s and vendors.
  3. Resolve. For each conflict, compared two options and recorded the choice, the reason and the rule.
  4. Rebuild. Rebuilt the week and checked it for overlaps and the Thursday 4:45 stop.
  5. Communicate. Drafted each message, split by send now and needs Dana, plus one short email to Dana.

The hardest call: sending Kevin a time-only offer under Dana’s “protect that call” text instead of waiting for her to land. I flagged it to her as an FYI.

What I delivered

One workbook with seven sheets:

  • Requests: the nine incoming requests, converted to ET and ranked.
  • Conflict log: every clash, rule risk and dependency, by ID (C01 to C18).
  • Working calendar: the original week with conflicts marked.
  • Resolution log: options, decision and reasoning for each conflict.
  • Adjusted calendar: the final week.
  • Messages: outgoing messages and their status.
  • Dana summary: the email to Dana, under 200 words.

What I’d do with more time

Check every time in every message against the calendar before sending. I’d also keep the workbook simpler from the start.

How I used AI

Claude created this practice simulation. I used Claude in Excel to work faster, directing the work and reviewing everything it produced.