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Case Study: Chief Operating Officer

• Food & Beverage

Connect recently appointed a COO for a multi-billion listed US food group. A brief overview of this assignment is provided below.

To identify a Chief Operating Officer for a $multi-billion listed US Food Group, with the ability and potential to rapidly develop into the CEO role. Previous experience of managing diverse international operations, developing business across emerging and established markets, and attracting world class talent were pre-requisites for this challenging search. 

The Process

High performing executives from within the Food & Ingredients sector with appropriate international responsibility, and a track record of delivering sustainable growth, were identified and contacted. Connect combined a detailed search process alongside networking, utilising a global contact network to identify high potential Chief Operating Officers and early stage CEOs. A shortlist of fast-track international executives was presented, resulting in the stand out candidate progressing rapidly through the selection process. 

The appointment of a world class COO from a top 5 global food group and a process managed to ensure the candidate could start quickly and make an immediate impact. Promotion within the first 12 months has ensured all expectations from the original brief have been achieved.

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Second in Command: The Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer

• Nate Bennett
• Stephen A. Miles

Asking the question, “What makes a great COO?” is akin to asking “What makes a great candidate for U.S. vice president?” It all depends on the first name on the ticket—the CEO.

New research sheds light on this most contingent, and most mysterious, of C-suite jobs. After in-depth conversations with dozens of executives who have held the position and with CEOs who have worked with COOs, the authors have concluded that different views of the COO role arise from the different motives behind creating the position in the first place. There are seven basic reasons why companies decide to hire a COO: to implement the CEO’s strategy; to lead a particular initiative, such as a turnaround; to mentor a young, inexperienced CEO; to complement the strengths or make up for the weaknesses of the CEO; to provide a partner to the CEO; to test out a possible successor; or to stave off the defection of a highly valuable executive, particularly to a rival.

This tremendous variation implies that there is no standard set of great COO attributes, which makes finding suitable candidates difficult for companies and recruiters alike. Still, certain common success factors came up consistently in the interviews, the most important being building a high level of trust between CEO and COO. Trust comes from meeting obligations on both sides: The COO must truly support the CEO’s vision; keep ego in check; and exhibit strong execution, coaching, and coordination skills. The CEO must communicate faithfully, grant real authority and decision rights, and not stymie the COO’s career.

It’s surprising that COOs are not more common. They would be, the authors contend, if there were less confusion surrounding the role. As we continue to demystify that role, more companies will benefit from more effective leadership.

New research sheds light on this most mysterious of executives, at once so critical and so situational.

When Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle, and his chief operating officer, Ray Lane, parted ways in 2000, the event inspired the kind of breathless reporting usually reserved for celebrity divorces. Forbes.com reporter David Einstein wondered in print, “Did Lane quit or was he fired?” and wished he had “a clue as to why Ellison’s second banana for the past eight years suddenly was cleaning out his office.” Soon afterward, CNET News.com weighed in with this: “The story of Lane’s plight at one of the most powerful companies in technology is one of hubris, greed, betrayal and personal epiphany…” Readers were left with two puzzles to sort out. First: why Lane was leaving his position, given what seemed to be an unbroken string of admirable achievements. And second: why the event was wrapped in such drama. Executives change posts all the time, yet the story, with its hints of palace intrigue and titanic clashes, was inherently captivating.

• Nate Bennett is a professor with the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He is the author of Your Career Game and Riding Shotgun: The Role of the COO .
• SM Stephen A. Miles ( [email protected] ) is an Atlanta-based managing partner in the Leadership Consulting Practice of the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

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Challenges for the Chief Operating Officer and How to Overcome Them

What is the role of the chief operating officer.

Serving as the right-hand to the CEO, the chief operating officer is the critical connector for the organization. Whether acting as the bridge to the company’s strategy or the executor of the CEO’s vision and daily operations, the chief operating officer works to improve different levels of the organization.

A chief operating officer’s role involves driving different outcomes throughout the business hierarchy — improving efficiency, managing operations, connecting teams to strategy, incorporating new technology, and adapting to internal/external environments. 

Why is the chief operating officer key to successful business strategy?

The chief operating officer role is a model for balancing strategy with execution. Chief operating officers work in the gray area, ensuring execution-focused employees are in line with strategy while making the strategy itself accessible.

While operations may be in the job title, managing information is instrumental to the chief operating officer’s process. Information flows in the organization like streams into a river — it’s the chief operating officer's challenge to make sure these streams don’t clog up by focusing on communication, optimization, and decision making.

The chief operating officer's duties also include setting the tone for how a culture operates — this can be the difference between an autonomous, trusting culture and an intensive, bureaucratic culture. 

Chief operating officer: Main challenges

With such an intense focus on the day-to-day work, chief operating officers are guaranteed to face challenges with bridging strategy and execution. These five main challenges for chief operating officers are influenced by the future of work and the shift to digitalization : 

Inability to align

• Operational redundancy and inefficiencies

Poor engagement

• Rigid focus on data over impact
• Complex/outdated operating frameworks

The chief operating officer’s first unique challenge is aligning operations with the vision of the organization. In managing the micro day-to-day operations, the chief operating officer must bring practical execution into the macro scope of strategic vision.  

However, poor alignment isn't limited to overarching strategy and execution. Without connecting company, business, and functional strategy , the impact of your organization’s execution will be severely limited. Chief operating officers are tasked with the alignment of operations to multiple levels of strategy. 

Operational redundancy and inefficiency

Often a side effect of poor alignment, redundancies, and inefficiencies are the antitheses of effective operations. Chief operating officers face the challenges of teams duplicating work, working against each other unintentionally, or working on the wrong priorities.

At best, redundancies cause operations to take longer than needed and cost the organization more resources (time, budget, energy). At worst, they cause priorities to be missed or forgotten, putting the organization’s security in danger. 

Engagement impacts every part of the organization, from operational efficiency to retention and employee experience . In their quest to make operations more effective, chief operating officers face the question:

“How can we ensure everyone cares about the work they’re doing and what the organization wants to achieve?”

Poor engagement plagues every organization, impacting the morale and consistency of the business. Chief operating officers are challenged with building an operations process that doesn’t disengage teams in the pursuit of higher output. 

Reactive with data

As a chief operating officer, measuring results is an essential component of operations. However, a rigid focus on traditional data measures (KPIs, for example) limits the ability to adapt operations and drive what really matters — impact.

Since traditional data is often backward-looking, chief operating officers get a limited, lagging perspective on how operations are performing and, more importantly, what needs to change. A reactive focus is a major inhibitor for chief operating officers. 

Complex or outdated operating frameworks

The modern business world demands a focus on cross-functionality, growth, and agility in operations. Yet, chief operating officers are often equipped with outdated frameworks or models for managing operations.

These frameworks fail to align company vision, strategy, and execution, or complicate the strategy execution process to the point of paralysis by analysis. The chief operating officer is challenged in implementing a framework for the way businesses operate now, not 20 years ago. 

How to modernize operations as a chief operating officer

Here’s how chief operating officer can overcome their main challenges to improve operations, connect strategy with execution, and align teams within a company. 

Focus on the middle. Department strategy sits between company strategy and functional strategy in the hierarchy. With this in mind, department strategy may be neglected as the functional, day-to-day strategy is critical for execution, while company strategy is prioritized for most executive leaders. 

Using the department level to bridge company and functional strategies will break alignment silos and fill in the strategy execution gap.

Reduce hierarchy. For each person that strategy must go through, the execution of that strategy becomes more unclear — people down the line become increasingly disconnected through communication chains. 

Simplifying the strategy execution process and reducing hierarchical decision-making is critical for consistent alignment.

Make strategy accessible. Teams may fail to align to strategy simply because they don’t know what the strategy is. 

Ensuring your operations framework clearly states the strategy, who is responsible for what, and what success looks like goes a long way in aligning your teams. 

Transparency first. Use a strategic framework that prioritizes transparency and the goals needed to achieve that strategy. 

This is the easiest way to eliminate redundancies, allowing individuals to easily connect to the outcomes that need to be achieved (versus working in silos and hoping they’re doing the right things).

Set clear priorities. Once a system of transparency has been established, teams need direction on where to go. 

Priorities bring focus and unity to team execution, building effective operations centered on outcomes, not busy work.

Review structure. Organizational hierarchies are inevitable, but as chief operating officer, you must consistently review and improve structures at each level of the organization. 

Are there unnecessary dependencies causing delays? Which areas of the business are lagging in development? As your business matures and transforms, needs will shift, making structural reviews a fundamental practice for any chief operating officer. 

As chief operating officer, it’s important not to let your teams conflate the idea of “more” work equating to “better” work. 

Identify areas for collaboration. For example, when teams are involved in creating their own goals and tactics, they’re more likely to stay engaged with the work. Chief operating officers should support open collaboration, whether it’s setting priorities, determining the path of execution, or assigning responsibility. 

Your teams will generate more ideas, enhance collective buy-in to strategy on the functional level, and reduce the number of dependencies, delays, and defects.

Target people inhibitors. Inefficiency has more consequences for the business than simple outputs. Employee morale suffers when their work is inevitably wasted due to a poor management process. 

As chief operating officer, you must ensure any management you have in place are necessary decision makers not complicating execution.

Push for autonomy. Research has shown that employees who feel responsible and accountable for the way they work are more engaged. 

With this in mind, chief operating officers should instill a framework enabling autonomy to give employees more power over when and how they work. Not only does this help employees be more fulfilled with their work, but it also leads to greater happiness which impacts employee engagement . 

Learn why flexible, autonomous teams will win in the future of work

Proactive decision making

Stay growth minded. A growth mentality as chief operating officer is about demonstrating the benefits of both success and failure, as well as encouraging both. 

With a growth-minded leader, teams won’t operate from a stance of fear and risk aversion, exponentially raising the ceiling for potential outcomes. Combined with future-thinking goals, a growth mentality is key to enabling proactive decision making.

Keep vision at the center. Corporate strategy isn’t meant to be a set-and-forget checklist item — it should guide the chief operating officer when working with departmental and functional decision making. 

The minutiae of day-to-day operations can cause even the best chief operating officer to lose focus and think reactively. The strategic vision of the organization, when informed by the right data, puts the power of alignment and proactivity back into operations.

Use future-thinking goal setting. Retrospective data measurements, like KPIs, have their place. As a chief operating officer, however, they should not be at the core of strategic decision making because they are backward-looking. 

KPIs inform what has happened, but to take control of operations, what will happen is more important. This only occurs when goals are structured around desired, measurable outcomes. 

Learn more about setting future-thinking goals

The Modern Operating Model

Focus on outcomes. While traditional frameworks focus on optimizing quantity and production, modern frameworks prioritize outcomes. 

With chief operating officers responsible for pushing operations strategy into the new era, evolving beyond outdated frameworks means redefining success. It’s no longer based on bureaucracy and volume of work, but on the measurable impact supported by real-time data.

Connect strategy and execution. Modern businesses are plagued with a this-or-that dilemma — create a data-driven and informed strategy , or focus on perfecting complex day-to-day operations. 

The chief operating officer is strategically positioned to close the strategy execution gap. By using a goal-setting framework to accomplish this, strategic objectives guide your teams while measurable results inform progress.  

Empowerment over control. In an outdated system, leadership has the tendency to micromanage each team’s decision-making process. The chief operating officer must fight against these tendencies in the macro strategy and empower teams to make their own decisions.

By aligning teams through corporate strategy and flattening the decision-making hierarchy, chief operating officers are primed to shift their organizations to a modern operating model. 

How to achieve better operations as chief operating officer

The core challenge as a chief operating officer is bridging strategy and execution in your organization. This can be solved by fixing alignment issues, reducing operational inefficiency, and engaging teams with data-driven decision making. 

While balancing strategy execution, managing operations, and driving outcomes without help is possible, the right platform assists with managing this work more effectively. 

A platform accomplishes this by targeting the core challenges as chief operating officer — efficiency, alignment, and driving outcomes. By focusing operating culture on open communication, trust, and the free flow of information, you can successfully modernize your operations.

Learn how a strategy execution platform streamlines your process 

Quantive empowers modern organizations to turn their ambitions into reality through strategic agility. It's where strategy, teams, and data come together to drive effective decision-making, streamline execution, and maximize performance.  

As your company navigates today’s competitive landscape, you need an Always-On Strategy to continuously bridge the gap between current and desired business outcomes. Quantive brings together the technology, expertise, and passion to transform your strategy from a static plan to a feedback-driven engine for growth.  

Whether you’re a visionary start-up, a mid-market business looking to conquer, or a large enterprise facing disruption, Quantive keeps you ahead – every step of the way. For more information, visit www.quantive.com . 

Additional resources

How to modernize operations with okrs as a chief operating officer, operations okr examples, strategy execution in 4 steps: keys to successful strategy, how top companies are closing the strategy execution gap, subscribe for our newsletter.

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How to hire a chief operating officer (COO)

In the bustling world of business, where CEOs, CMOs, and CTOs are treated as superstars and are often seen as the face of the organization, COOs work quietly in the shadows and make sure business operations are running as planned.

COOs, or chief operating officers, are the architects of operational excellence and are some of the most important figures in a company’s hierarchy. 

While a CEO might have ambitious visions about the business and the company, it’s usually the COO that brings those visions to fruition. Every organization past a certain size needs a skillful and experienced COO that can handle business operations and lead them to success.

If you’re a business owner wanting to know how to hire your next – or first – chief operating officer, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at COOs, what they do, and how you can streamline your COO recruitment process with the help of skills-based assessments .

Table of contents

What is a chief operating officer, chief operating officers’ hard skills, chief operating officers’ soft skills, how to test coo skills, coo interview questions: ask the right questions to find your next chief operating officer, where to find coos for hire, how much does a coo cost, chief operating officer (coo) job description template, hire the best chief operations officer for your business.

A chief operating officer, or COO, as they’re commonly known, is the glue that binds the various departments, teams, and functions of an organization – and makes sure that all elements are functioning smoothly. 

They are just below the CEO in a company’s hierarchical structure and play a crucial role in turning high-level strategies into actual projects, driving operational excellence, and creating a culture of collaboration and efficiency.

COOs play a pivotal role in achieving organizational success and realizing the long-term objectives of the company. They track the performance of employees, introduce process improvements, and manage several risks to enhance operational efficiency and ensure business continuity.

To be successful in their roles, COOs need several hard skills to enable them to build, manage, and optimize processes, create business strategies, manage budgets, and ensure the smooth communication between departments and business units.

Let’s look at the most important hard skills every COO should have: 

Operational strategy 

A COO needs to have a sharp strategic mindset so that they can develop comprehensive operational plans to support the company’s overarching goals. They are responsible for:

Identifying growth opportunities

Keeping an eye on competitors

Analyzing market trends

Creating strategies that help increase efficiency, reduce costs, and drive revenue

Process optimization

Identifying bottlenecks and inefficiencies in different processes and across various departments is one of the main responsibilities of a COO. They should be adept at finding solutions to optimize business processes. This might require them to: 

Reengineer processes

Implement lean methodologies

Automate processes to streamline operations and improve productivity

Financial management

While they don’t have to take up a CFO’s (chief financial officer) responsibilities, a COO must have strong financial acumen. They have to manage budgets, allocate resources effectively, and make data-driven decisions that contribute to the overall financial health of the organization. 

Having skills in financial analysis, budget forecasting, risk assessment, and cost management can be very helpful for that. 

Project management

One of the fundamental responsibilities of a COO is to oversee large-scale projects that can impact the entire organization. 

To plan, execute, and monitor projects effectively, COOs must be familiar with project management methodologies such as Agile or Six Sigma. They need to make sure that every project is running on track and will be delivered within the allocated budget and on time.

Technical proficiency

As technologies advance every day and become an integral part of every modern business, it’s the duty of a COO to stay on top of new developments – especially the tools that help them do their work more efficiently. Examples include: 

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems

Data analytics tools

Issue tracking systems, and more

COOs are responsible for ensuring that business operations are efficient, which requires engaging with various stakeholders, from employees and department heads to external partners and sometimes even customers. For this, they need to be exceptional leaders, communicators, and decision makers.

Let’s look at COOs’ most important soft skills: 

A COO is a member of the executive team – and they must act like it. They oversee cross-functional teams across various departments and interact with employees and team leads regularly. 

For this reason, a COO must have effective leadership skills and the ability to inspire employees to do their best work while upholding ethical standards.

They also serve as mentors and coaches to their teams, so they must be adept in guiding professional growth and fostering skill development. That’s necessary to ensure that the organization’s talent pool remains strong.

Communication

Your COO must be able to communicate with clarity and conviction when they share the organization’s vision and expectations with diverse teams across departments. 

Active listening and the ability to adapt their communication style to different audiences will also help them to build trust and rapport with teams.

Delegation and conflict resolution

COOs handle teams with diverse talents and capabilities. A successful COO will know which team member can complete a certain task and delegate it to them accordingly. 

Doing this efficiently creates a sense of autonomy and accountability in the employee and fosters a culture of responsibility within the organization.

COOs might also often encounter conflicts. To solve them, it’s vital that they possess effective conflict-resolution skills, such as listening actively to different perspectives and finding win-win solutions that benefit the organization’s interest.

Decision-making

To grow, businesses must constantly evolve and transform – and COOs must be capable of making informed decisions even in complex and ambiguous situations. They should be able to adapt to changes, pivot their strategies during uncertain times, and lead teams through transitions.

Efficient decision-making involves seeing the big picture and understanding how each decision impacts the organization’s bottom line. 

They must be skillful in analyzing market trends, understanding competitors’ strategies, and making proactive operational choices that align with the company’s goals and values.

Cultural awareness

COOs should aim to create an inclusive environment by understanding and embracing cultural differences, especially in a global and diverse workforce. They need to have excellent emotional intelligence to effectively recognize and respond to the emotions of others. 

COOs with high cultural awareness can provide constructive feedback and nurture a positive workplace culture.

Becoming second-in-command doesn’t happen overnight. COOs have a wealth of experience under their belt and often have recommendations from founders and CEOs they work with. 

However, selecting a candidate based mostly on their resume and industry connections might not be the best strategy for finding the right COO for your company.

To assess the true potential of candidates and not interview everyone that ‘seems’ like a good fit, you can ask them to take a skills-based assessment. It will assess every candidate’s skills by the same criteria and enable you to make an unbiased list of those candidates who are most suitable for the job.

You can use TestGorilla’s pre-employment skills assessments to shortlist candidates quickly and without bias. 

For this, you can create your own assessment by combining five tests of your choice and give every candidate an equal opportunity to prove their skills. 

Some of the tests you can include in a COO assessment are:

Project management : Evaluate each candidate’s ability to manage project lifecycles, resources, and team members to reach business goals.

Business operations management : This test assesses candidates’ ability to plan, organize, and oversee operations and enhance teams’ productivity.

Leadership and people management : See whether candidates have the ability to influence and guide team members towards success.

Problem-solving : Use this test to measure candidates’ ability to define problems and analyze data available for making correct decisions.

Culture Add : Fill out a customized survey to build a Culture Add test that assesses your candidates’ alignment with your organization’s vision and values.

Once you identify the candidates who have the right skills for the role, it’s time to invite them to an interview for an in-depth evaluation of their suitability for the role. 

Here are some questions you can ask your COO candidates: 

How do you define success in the role of COO?

How would you align the operations of our business with our core vision and mission?

Describe a time when you had to make a tough decision that was unpopular with the company's employees.

Describe a company you've worked with that underwent significant change under your leadership.

How do you handle situations where your position is at odds with the CEO or founder's opinion?

How do you decide which operational changes to focus on first, especially in a fast-paced environment?

What's the role of an organization's culture in its operations?

How do you ensure that new processes you build are customer-centric?

How have you integrated new technologies or tools into a company's operations to improve efficiency?

Where do you see our industry heading in the next five years?

If you need more ideas, check out our 53 leadership interview questions and our 25 interview questions for executive roles . 

There are various recruitment avenues that you can explore to find a talented COO to lead your organization’s operations. Some of those are:

Internal promotions and referrals

Start by looking within your own organization. You should never overlook internal talent: Experienced managers in your organization might have exactly what it takes to step into a COO role. 

With the right internal mobility strategy , you won’t have to spend too much time and money on the COO hiring process – and the person you promote will already be familiar with the organization’s goals, values, and mission.

Additionally, you can also seek referrals from your existing employees. You never know who might be close to a potential COO that aligns perfectly with your company’s goals and culture.

Traditional job boards

If you can’t find the right person within your organization, then it’s time to go the traditional route of posting on job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, and industry-specific platforms. You can post a detailed description of the job, responsibilities, and minimum qualifications required.

Job boards give you access to a wide and diverse pool of talent. Ask candidates to complete a skills assessment to see who has the skills you need and then proceed to interview those who show the most promise.

Networking and industry groups

Attending networking events, industry conferences, and business seminars can be a great way to connect with potential COOs and interact with them. 

Some industries also have professional events that cater to managers and C-suite professionals specifically. This could give you access to experienced COOs that have already worked in your industry and are familiar with its nuances.

The salary of a COO can vary significantly depending on their experience, responsibilities, the organization’s size, and geographical location. COOs of large enterprises typically have higher salaries than those of smaller companies, but COOs of startups might also hold substantial stock options.

According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a COO in the USA is approx. $405,000 per year , which includes base pay and bonuses and stock options. The average base pay of a COO is $193,000 per year.

According to Indeed.com, COOs’ base pay range is lower, from $73,734 per year to $254,248 per year . 

This should give you an idea of how much you should offer your next chief operating officer depending on your company's size, the person’s experience, and where the company is located.

Position: Chief operating officer (COO) for [industry and type of company, f.e. "a fintech startup"]

Location: [City, country]

At [ your company name ], we are dedicated to [ briefly describe the company's mission or primary function, e.g., "revolutionizing the personal finance industry with AI-powered solutions" ]. As we continue to grow and reshape our industry, we're looking for a skilled and experienced chief operations officer (COO) to join our executive team and support us in our growth.

As our next COO, you'll play a pivotal role in scaling the operations of our company, driving the execution of strategic business plans, and ensuring that our day-to-day activities align with our organizational goals.

Key responsibilities

As our next COO, your key responsibilities would be to: 

Develop, establish, and direct the execution of processes to support the company's objectives

Streamline current operational processes and introduce new systems and tools as necessary

Measure the effectiveness of all internal and external processes

Create and implement strategic plans to advance the company's mission and promote revenue, profitability, and growth

Lead and guide a team of managers to ensure that the organization can achieve its business goals

Help ensure compliance with all relevant regulations and laws

Analyze operations, identify areas of potential improvement, and manage change

Work closely with the CEO and all other members of our executive team to shape the future of the company 

Establish strong relationships with external partners and stakeholders

Identify business risks and ensure their management and mitigation 

Qualifications

To be successful in this role, you need the following qualifications: 

A bachelor's degree in Business, Management, or a related field; a master's degree or an MBA is a big plus

Proven experience as a COO or a similar leadership role, preferably in [ your specific industry ]

Demonstrable competency in strategic planning and business development

Working knowledge of data analysis and performance metrics

Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills

What we offer

We offer the following: 

A base salary of [ salary range ], plus stock options and performance bonuses

Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and 401(k) plans

The opportunity to shape the direction of a rapidly growing company, on track to becoming a market leader

An inclusive and dynamic company culture: Innovation and creativity are central to our success

How to apply

If you want to take your career to the next level and help us build the future of [ industry ], don't hesitate to get in touch with us. To apply, [ describe your application procedure here and mention skills tests ].

Hiring a COO is one of the first steps in building a successful and sustainable business that’s optimized for growth. Their expertise and knowledge come in handy for optimizing business processes and ensuring every operation is executed smoothly and till completion.

TestGorilla provides a series of tests to help you evaluate the skills and knowledge of every candidate for the role. You can streamline your COO hiring process with the help of our carefully curated tests (available in our test library ), or you can create a personalized assessment by adding custom questions and using asynchronous video interviews.

Start a free trial of TestGorilla to see for yourself what your hiring process can look like. The right COO for your business is just an assessment away.

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Chief Operating Officer: Role, Responsibilities and Case Studies

What Does COO Stand For and the Meaning?

Coo definition and meaning:.

COO stands for Chief Operating Officer, a key position in the C-suite of a company. The COO, often referred to as the Chief Operations Officer, is primarily responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of a business. According to Collins English Dictionary and Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the COO definition encompasses a role that is second in command within the company hierarchy, typically reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The COO’s role involves ensuring that business operations are efficient and effective, aligning with the company’s strategic goals and objectives.

Role of a Chief Operating Officer:

The role of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) is multifaceted, focusing on the management and optimization of a company’s internal operations. The COO is responsible for overseeing various departments such as production, marketing, and human resources, ensuring they operate cohesively to meet the company’s goals. They play a critical role in implementing business strategies, managing day-to-day operations, and driving operational excellence. The COO often serves as a link between the CEO and the rest of the company, translating the CEO’s vision into operational strategies and actions. Their role is pivotal in ensuring the smooth functioning of the business and in facilitating growth and profitability.

COO vs. CEO: Understanding the Differences:

The roles of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) are distinct yet complementary. The CEO, as the highest-ranking officer in a company, is responsible for making major corporate decisions, setting the company’s overall direction, and being the public face of the company. In contrast, the COO primarily focuses on the internal, operational aspects of the company. They oversee the execution of the company’s business strategies as laid out by the CEO. While the CEO is more focused on long-term goals and the external positioning of the company, the COO is deeply involved in the day-to-day management and operational efficiency. Together, the CEO and COO ensure that both the strategic and operational elements of the business align and function effectively.

COO’s Responsibility in Business Operations:

The COO’s responsibility in business operations is extensive and vital for the company’s success. They oversee the execution of business strategies, ensuring that the company’s operations are aligned with its strategic goals. The COO is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the company, optimizing processes, and ensuring operational excellence. They work closely with department heads and team leaders to streamline operations, improve productivity, and enhance the quality of products or services. The COO also plays a key role in decision-making processes, particularly in areas that affect the operational aspects of the business. Their deep understanding of the company’s operations allows them to make informed decisions that drive growth and efficiency.

COO Reports to the CEO: Understanding the Organizational Structure:

In most organizational structures, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This reporting relationship is crucial as it allows for seamless communication and coordination at the highest levels of management. The COO provides the CEO with insights into the operational aspects of the company, helping inform strategic decisions. In turn, the CEO provides overall direction and vision, which the COO translates into operational strategies and actions. This structure ensures that the company’s strategic goals are effectively implemented and that its operations are managed efficiently. The collaboration between the CEO and COO is fundamental to the success of the company, with each role complementing the other in driving the business forward.

How to Become a COO?

Developing the necessary leadership skills:.

To become a COO, developing strong leadership skills is essential. The COO role often involves being second in command within an organization, requiring the ability to lead and manage diverse teams effectively. Aspiring COOs should focus on honing skills such as strategic thinking, decision-making, communication, and problem-solving. Leadership in the COO role includes the ability to inspire and motivate employees, manage change, and drive the company’s vision forward. Additionally, COOs must possess a deep understanding of the business plan and how to implement it successfully. Developing these skills can involve a combination of formal training, mentorship, and practical experience in various senior management roles.

Obtaining a Master’s Degree in Business Administration:

Obtaining a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) is a common pathway for those aspiring to become a COO. An MBA provides a comprehensive understanding of business administration, covering key areas such as finance, marketing, human resources, and organizational behavior. This degree equips aspiring COOs with the necessary skill set and knowledge to handle the complexities of the COO position. Additionally, an MBA program offers opportunities to network with professionals and gain insights into different industries, which can be invaluable in a COO role. Depending on the company, an MBA can significantly enhance one’s prospects of advancing to executive positions like the COO.

Gaining Experience in Business Operations:

Gaining extensive experience in business operations is crucial for those aspiring to become COO. This experience allows individuals to understand the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of a business. Aspiring COOs should aim to work in various roles within an organization, such as in human resources, research and development, or finance, to develop a well-rounded understanding of how different departments function. Experience in senior management positions, such as an executive vice president, can provide valuable insights into strategic planning and execution. The COO is responsible for overseeing the execution of the company’s business strategy, making operational experience indispensable for the role.

Understanding the Salary Range of a COO:

The salary of a COO can vary widely depending on the company’s size, industry, and location. Generally, COOs command high salaries due to their significant responsibilities and the critical role they play in an organization. Aspiring COOs should research the salary ranges in their specific industry and geographical area to understand what to expect. Compensation for a COO may also include bonuses, stock options, and other benefits, reflecting the importance and demands of the position. Understanding these financial aspects can help individuals set realistic career goals and expectations as they work towards becoming a COO.

Reports to the CEO: Building a Strong Working Relationship:

In most organizations, the COO reports directly to the CEO and often serves as the executor of the CEO’s vision. Building a strong working relationship with the CEO is crucial for a successful COO. This relationship involves clear communication, mutual respect, and an understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities. The COO and CEO must work closely to ensure that the company’s strategic objectives are effectively implemented. In some cases, the COO may be seen as the heir apparent to the CEO, making it even more important for these two roles to collaborate effectively. A strong partnership between the CEO and COO is essential for the smooth operation and success of the business.

What Are the Responsibilities of a COO?

Overseeing day-to-day operations:.

As the second-highest C-suite executive, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) is primarily responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of a company. This role involves managing the daily activities to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in all internal operations. The COO often acts as a second-in-command within the company, handling the operational details that keep the business running smoothly. Their responsibilities may include overseeing various departments such as production, marketing, and sales, ensuring that company strategies are implemented effectively. Successful COOs possess strong leadership skills and the ability to manage a wide range of operational tasks, from logistics to human resources, maintaining the quality and consistency of internal affairs.

Collaboration with the CEO and Other C-suite Executives:

The COO plays a vital role in collaborating with the CEO and other C-suite executives. This collaboration is essential for aligning the operational aspects of the business with the overall strategic vision. The COO and CEO work closely, with the COO often brought in to complement the CEO’s strengths and focus areas. In many cases, the COO’s responsibilities include working with senior executives like the vice president of operations and other team members to ensure that operational decisions support the company’s goals and objectives. This partnership is crucial for maintaining the balance between the strategic and operational sides of the business, ensuring that both short-term and long-term objectives are met.

Managing Business Operations: COO’s Role in Business Planning:

The COO plays a critical role in business planning, contributing to the development and execution of company strategies. They are often involved in setting operational goals and determining the best course of action to achieve these objectives. The COO’s role in business planning includes analyzing market trends, assessing operational capabilities, and identifying areas for improvement or growth. They are instrumental in implementing change within the company, acting as a change agent to drive innovation and efficiency. The COO ensures that the operational aspects of the business align with the overall strategic plan, making adjustments as necessary to respond to changing market conditions or internal challenges.

Identifying the Skill Set Required to Excel as a COO:

To excel as a COO, an individual must possess a specific set of skills suited for this dynamic role. Strong leadership skills are paramount, as COOs are often responsible for leading large teams and making critical operational decisions. They should have a deep understanding of the business and its industry, with the ability to analyze complex situations and develop effective solutions. Effective communication and collaboration skills are also essential, as COOs work closely with other C-suite executives and employees at all levels within the organization. Additionally, COOs need to be adaptable and resilient, capable of managing change and navigating the challenges that come with running the day-to-day operations of a business.

CEO vs COO: Understanding the Distinct Roles:

Understanding the distinct roles of the CEO and COO is crucial for grasping the dynamics of senior management within a company. The CEO, as the highest-ranking executive, is responsible for making major corporate decisions, setting the company’s overall direction, and representing the company to the external world. In contrast, the COO, typically the second-highest executive, focuses more on the internal management of the company. They are responsible for ensuring that the business operations are efficient and align with the strategic goals set by the CEO. While the CEO is more outward-facing, dealing with investors and the public, the COO is inward-looking, concentrating on the internal affairs and daily operations of the company. Together, they form a complementary team that drives the company forward.

Examples of Successful COOs in Well-known Companies

Case studies: examining seven different types of coos:.

The role of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) can vary significantly, with at least seven different types of COOs identified in various organizations. These range from the Executor, who focuses on executing the CEO’s vision, to the Change Agent, who is brought in to drive major transformations. Other types include the Mentor, often promoted internally and responsible for nurturing core teams; the MVP, who is groomed for the CEO position; and the Partner, who works closely with the CEO in a complementary role. There are also COOs like the Heir Apparent, positioned as the next in line for the CEO role, and the Ghost, who operates behind the scenes. Each type of COO brings unique strengths and focuses, addressing a range of issues within their organizations and contributing to their success in different ways.

COO’s Impact on Company Growth and Success:

The impact of a COO on a company’s growth and success is multifaceted and significant. A COO with strong analytical skills and extensive work experience can drive operational efficiencies, improve processes, and enhance overall performance. They often work closely with the CEO and other executives to align operational strategies with long-term goals, ensuring that the company stays on track towards achieving its objectives. COOs are also key problem solvers, adept at navigating complex challenges and leading their teams through periods of change. Their ability to manage people and teams effectively is crucial in delivering results that contribute to the company’s growth and success.

Learning from Notable COOs in the Industry:

There are numerous examples of COOs who have made significant contributions to their companies. For instance, the COO of HarperCollins played a pivotal role in steering the company through the digital transformation in the publishing industry. These COOs take on a variety of responsibilities, from overseeing day-to-day operations to implementing strategic initiatives. Learning from their experiences provides valuable insights into effective leadership and operational management. Many successful COOs share traits such as adaptability, strategic thinking, and the ability to inspire and lead teams, which are essential qualities for anyone aspiring to this role.

The Evolution of the COO Position in the U.S. Business Landscape:

The COO position has evolved considerably in the U.S. business landscape over the years. Traditionally, COOs were seen as the operations director, focusing primarily on managing internal processes and efficiencies. However, today’s COOs play a more strategic role, contributing to planning and executing long-term business strategies. This evolution reflects the changing nature of business, where operational leadership requires not just managing the present but also preparing for the future. Modern COOs are more involved in decision-making processes and often have a more visible presence both within and outside the organization.

COO vs. CFO: Distinguishing Between Key Executive Roles:

While both the COO and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) are key executive roles within a company, their responsibilities and focus areas differ significantly. The COO is primarily responsible for the day-to-day operations and the execution of the company’s business strategy. They oversee various departments and ensure that the company’s operational activities align with its strategic goals. On the other hand, the CFO focuses on the financial aspects of the company, managing its financial planning, risk management, and reporting. The CFO is crucial in providing financial insights that inform business decisions and strategies. While the COO ensures the effective operation of the business, the CFO ensures its financial health and stability.

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• UNICORNS & CASE STUDIES

Chief Operating Officer

Mana Search was retained by a fast-growing consumer finance provider, who were looking to appoint their first COO. Due to the rate that the business was growing this was a critical and time-sensitive hire – as the operations brief was being stretched between other members of the C-suite.

Industry Sector: Financial Services – Lending

Number of Employees: 51-200

Type:   Privately held

Founded: 2014

Key deliverables for this engagement included; Defining the strategic operating model for the business, both people & systems; Day-to-day management of internal and external operations, including call center, fraud & underwriting, customer service, collections and recoveries, complaints management; Sourcing of vendors and suppliers of professional services, systems and tools; Leading complex change, including integration of technical systems.

F rom discussing the clients requirement, an agreed profile was defined in conjunction with the CEO, a full map of the market was provided with over 50 individuals contacted, from this a suitable shortlist was presented with 3 available COO’s with a range of expertise ranging between 10 – 15 years having the expertise and knowledge of building an operations brief within a growing consumer financial services provider. The 3 shortlisted COOs had a strong background of both financial services operations within similar-sized organisations and having scaled at a similar rate and technical expertise either from an Analytics or a Data background. They were presented to our client within 10 days of commencing.

The client appointed a COO within 21 days of briefing Mana Search, the COO has quickly added significant value to the organisation – taking the lead in all operations and working closely with the Risk and Engineering functions in integrating the technical systems into the operations. The customer service operation has grown by 200% which has been driven by the COO.

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Kathy Freeman Company | Executive Search | Investment Industry

Executive Search & Human Capital Consulting for Financial Services

Executive Search Case Study – Hiring A COO & CEO Successor

Kathy Freeman Godfrey March 23, 2021

This case study, based on one of Kathy Freeman Company’s successful search engagements, is intended to illustrate our unique approach to providing strategic advisory and executive search services to investment firms across the U.S.

Our Client:

A $5 billion independent wealth advisory firm that has served institutional fiduciaries and high net worth families for over three decades.

The Challenge:

The Founder & CEO was looking to hire the firm’s first Chief Operating Officer to streamline operations and eventually become the CEO’s successor. There were several fundamental challenges within this assignment:

• The CEO had never partnered with an executive search firm and was a bit skeptical about the process and path to success.
• Since the CEO wasn’t handing off any of his current responsibilities, the job description and mandate, along with the day-to-day role of the COO position, had to be carefully crafted from scratch.
• The skillsets and experience for a typical COO role were insufficient in this instance because this COO would be eventually elevated to CEO. As a result, we needed to factor in the competencies and intangibles required to become a CEO. Many operational executives don’t possess the leadership qualities and client-focused sensibility to become a CEO.
• The compensation package was at market for the COO role, but it didn’t include enough incentives for an executive being groomed for the CEO role.

Developing A Solution:

To properly define the position and support the CEO’s goal of identifying his succession plan, we did the following:

• Solidified the CEO’s succession timeline and determined which tasks he’d like to gradually hand off
• Identified the skills and experience required for this role as well as the areas the current CEO would develop
• Discussed the benefits of building a broad and inclusive slate of talent
• Confirmed the desired outcomes of the CEO and the Board of Directors in this new hire
• Conducted a cultural audit of the senior leadership team
• Benchmarked the role with the competitive landscape to ensure that the job description would be attractive
• Defined a compensation structure that made the opportunity compelling, given the competitive landscape for talent
• Discussed the benefit of leveraging a psychometric assessment tool for finalist candidates

Our Approach:

Our approach in a consulting engagement like this is to help educate a CEO about the market for talent. Since he had never hired a COO, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for in a potential successor. One of our goals was to present a broad slate of qualified candidates with operational skills and experience as well as leadership potential.

Next, we gathered input from the senior leadership team. We sought to identify operational deficiencies at the firm and potential areas of improvement. We then translated these insights into a position description.

During the process, it became clear that this particular search was more challenging than the standard COO search – many of the operational executives we interviewed didn’t have the DNA to become a CEO. Leadership dynamism is an intangible that isn’t apparent in someone’s resume. It requires engagement and dialogue. Many COO candidates were lacking the client-facing skills and experience required to become CEO. As a result, we reconvened with the CEO to determine his willingness to coach a potential successor.

We ultimately presented candidates from FinTech, the U.S. Military, Wealth Management, and Investment Management. Some were less experienced but within our client’s preferred compensation range. Others had the operational expertise but came from outside of the wealth management industry. Still, others had the experience and skillsets but needed a compensation package that was more than our client was inclined to consider.

Initially, the CEO was attracted to a highly polished COO candidate from outside the industry who was within the compensation budget. Ultimately, this candidate decided against working in an entrepreneurial environment and dropped out of consideration. The next candidate our client became interested in was outside of the compensation budget. Our client stepped up to meet the candidate’s compensation needs, but for personal reasons, this individual had to withdraw from consideration. Other candidates were within the compensation parameters but didn’t possess the CEO capabilities our client desired.

At that point, we recommended that the CEO increase the total compensation to attract stronger candidates. He consented which gave us the latitude to engage new candidates and re-engage with those who originally told us they needed more compensation.

Now armed with a more competitive compensation package, the finalist candidates during the second stage of the search were exceptionally strong operationally and possessed the right DNA to be the CEO’s successor. Our client ultimately hired an operations executive who worked locally within the industry. She brought extensive experience with the front office, back office, products, building and leading teams, and working directly with clients.

Key Takeaways:

After the search was completed, our client realized he was unaware of the numerous facets that needed to be addressed during this succession planning search. He recognized he didn’t understand the competitive landscape for talent and the compensation level required for this type of role. He also acknowledged that he underestimated the challenge of finding a COO with the skillsets necessary to step in as his successor.

Using our consultative approach, we conducted a complete assessment of the market and analyzed the talent pool by backgrounds, skills, and compensation requirements. To make sure this succession hire would be successful, it was crucial that our client had a deep understanding of the inherent trade-offs in identifying the perfect fit.

About Kathy Freeman Company

Kathy Freeman Company is a U.S. based strategic advisor to the investment industry and a national, retained, executive search firm. Named a Forbes Top 250 Executive Recruiting Firm in 2018 & 2019.

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COO Role: Responsibilities & Significance of COOs

• C-Suite CEO COO CHRO

Demystifying the COO Role: Exploring the Responsibilities & Significance of a Chief Operating Officer

In the journey of every organization, there comes a time when discussions arise about the possibility of hiring a second-in-command or a Chief Operations Officer (COO). However, the role of a COO is often shrouded in ambiguity and misconceptions, making the process of finding the right candidate a challenging task.

While we have previously explored the topic of how to hire a COO, there is another aspect that often proves more problematic for CEOs – clearly defining the role of a COO and understanding its inherent value.

Chief Operating Officer Search Firm

Before delving into the specifics of what qualities and skills to look for in a COO, it is crucial to question the necessity of such a hire and the value they can bring to the organization. Unfortunately, these vital inquiries often remain unanswered, leading to confusion and uncertainty in the hiring process.

In this article, we aim to address this predicament by shedding light on the significance of the COO role and its value within an organization. By understanding the specific contributions a COO can make, CEOs can better assess whether this position is truly necessary for their organization’s growth and success.

By clarifying the purpose and benefits of having a COO, organizations can make informed decisions and navigate the hiring process with greater clarity and purpose. We will explore the key responsibilities and strategic advantages a COO brings to the table, debunking misconceptions along the way.

Join us as we unravel the enigma surrounding the COO role, providing CEOs and organizations with valuable insights to help them make well-informed decisions when considering the addition of a Chief Operations Officer to their leadership team.

Experts agree that the role of the COO is one of the most misunderstood and least defined in the C-suite. It can be challenging to extrapolate specific trends from the reasons that companies and CEOs give for bringing on operations chiefs. This, in turn, makes the question of what a COO is expected to do a very difficult one to answer. 

Here, we discuss this challenge and put forth the proposition that, perhaps, instead of screening and interviewing a COO on the basis of a set category of requirements, it may be more beneficial to consider a list of end results you want to achieve and then working back from there. 

The COO Role: What Does a COO Do in a Company? 

Answering this question is often part of the problem. No one can tell with any degree of certainty exactly what a COO should be doing in an organization. Part of this is due to the limited understanding we have of the role, with Accenture describing it as “perhaps one of the least understood roles in business today.”

While this sounds incongruous at first pass (considering that companies and their officers have been subjects of unrelenting study for decades), it does make sense because:

• The COO role is at every single company , when compared with other roles, like the CMO , CFO , or the all-pervasive CEO. In fact, at various points in time, certain companies drop the role entirely and divide up the responsibilities amongst other offices, while some only return to fill the role after hiatuses of varying lengths, as Microsoft did. 
• COO responsibilities typically have an amorphous nature . That is another reason why there is so much uncertainty surrounding the COO role. In fact, Ernst & Young described this trait as being “chameleon-like”, the pinnacle of adaptability, which should be a more relevant trait in a great COO than a “single set of skills that can be easily identified in any business.” As a result, understanding exactly what they should be doing can be unclear, largely because they are so good at fulfilling different roles. 

What a COO Does: The CEO & COO Relationship

What is a C-Suite Executive? CEO vs. CFO vs. COO

The COO often acts as a trusted second to the CEO, the yin to their yang.

In this position, an operations chief may carry out various responsibilities, depending on what is needed.

However, whatever those job descriptions may look like, their overall responsibility is often to supplement the skills, abilities, duties, or goals of the CEO. 

In other words, the professional CEO and COO relationship that the head of an organization wants can be pivotal in defining what the chief operating officer role ultimately looks like at a company.

What Value Does a COO Bring to Your Organization?

The job of a CEO can often be a tough one, and while in this role, there is often so much to do. While a lot of those tasks can be handled by other members of the C-suite, organizations can sometimes find themselves needing an enterprise-wide operational view in dealing with these problems. 

Since the CEO will typically have a lot on their plate, our executive recruiters often see companies choose to bring on a COO at this point to provide that extra operational guidance. This frees up the CEO to pursue strategic tasks such as leading the company into the future and other public-facing roles. However, this is just one of the ways that chief operating officers typically add value to organizations. 

According to a Harvard Business Review article, there are at least seven other ways in which COOs can be brought on to add value, including by (but not limited to):

• Catalyzing firm-wide change
• Retaining a valuable lower-level officer
• Recruiting a more experienced hand to mentor the CEO
• Procuring an executor to transform operations

For Linda Kozlowski , former COO at Etsy, the value that a COO brings is in business operations, particularly “how you operate your business, think about strategy, and move the business forward in growth.” Although she admits that the “role is custom to every company and requires deep self-awareness from the CEO and founder to outline the specific skills and qualities they need in a partner.”

Therefore, at the core of it, the value that a COO brings largely depends on how clear the vision for their intervention is and how this is communicated in prospecting for and finding the right candidate. 

What Should the CEO & COO Dynamic Look Like?

As explained earlier, the CEO and COO will typically maintain a close working relationship. Therefore, one of the most important things to get right during the recruitment process is to ensure that this is a hire both individuals are comfortable about. 

There needs to be a healthy degree of trust and chemistry between CEO and COO . There should be a(n):

• Honest, open relationship between the CEO and the COO
• Ability for the CEO & COO to function as complementary roles to each other
• A solid to strong level of comfort in exchanging ideas and working with each other 

The chief operating officer should also be versatile enough to adequately hold the ship when the CEO is not in office. As Kozlowski emphasizes, “the most successful COOs are Jacks – or Jills of all trades.” In addition, the COO “should exude similar leadership traits to the ones you possess so the team feels confident relying on them – and the business doesn’t skip a beat.”

One red flag to look out for in this relationship is a potential tussle for relevance or power with the CEO. The COO absolutely needs to be someone who recognizes that “their job is to run the plays, not call them.” The CEO also should be willing to share the spotlight so they and the COO can function as a truly effective team. 

Discover More About COOs & How to Set Them Up for Success

• COO Qualifications
• How to Find a COO for Your Company
• How a Private Equity COO & CFO Can Work Together
• 15 Important Questions to Ask When Interviewing a COO
• Average COO Salary & Compensation Packages

Need professional advice or assistance? Get answers and information right now from one of the nation’s top COO recruiters .

Great COOs: How to Hire a Highly Functional & Effective COO

COO Performance Metrics: How to Measure the Effectiveness of your COO

With a clearer idea of the COO’s role in mind, identifying what organizations want or need in their chief of operations becomes easier. Kozlowski advises conducting a bit of self-assessment on the part of the CEO in fleshing out this part.

Here are the questions to ask and answer to determine what would make a great COO for your company. 

What Am I Drawn to?

A great COO will have the most impact when they are not trampling on the same space as the CEO. Instead, knowing what tasks you prefer to be doing as CEO allows you to identify what tasks your COO will be doing instead, giving you both space to work. 

What Do I Procrastinate On?

Just as you have identified what you prefer to do, also identify what you prefer not to. Often, we procrastinate tasks for various reasons including lack of time. But while you truly may not have enough time for those tasks, the problem may be more a matter of interest or even a skills gap that you’re unwilling to admit. If that’s the case, then these are likely the tasks you want your COO to be skilled in. 

What Do I Wish I Knew & Liked?

Amongst those things you delay, there are a few you wish you did better. A great COO can come in as a mentor or instructor and guide you in these over the long term while also providing those skills right now. 

It also makes sense to seek input from your executive team and board of directors on these questions. Having that broad insight will help you create an accurate picture that you can then draw on in identifying what the perfect COO will look like for you. 

CAOs vs COOs: Discover the Difference

A chief administrative officer is responsible for day-to-day operations while a chief operating officer is an executive position responsible for improving efficiency. Specifically:

• The CAO typically reports to the chief executive officer, acting as a go-between for the CEO and upper management while taking on the daily operations of the company and fielding questions from management.
• The COO often works with personnel management, sales, and production, engaging with these departments to find opportunities to optimize efficiency.

Hiring a CAO vs a COO

Carefully review the tasks typically assigned to a CAO versus a COO to determine which position is most important to your company. You may need to hire a chief operating officer and a chief administrative officer, but understanding the difference between the CAO vs. the COO roles will help you prioritize the positions and focus on the pain points of your business. 

Final Thoughts on the Role of a Great COO

Prospecting for a COO is never an easy one, and it’s even harder when you’ve never had one. But with a clear idea of what value you expect a COO to bring to yourself as a CEO and your organization as a whole, you will be in a better position to make a hire that not only helps your company grow but that also helps you become a better leader.

Private Equity Executive Search Firm

National COO Executive Search Firm | Cowen Partners

Retained Executive Search Firm

At Cowen Partners, we stand at the forefront of the executive search industry, empowering companies to thrive and excel in their growth, revenue, and market presence. We specialize in identifying exceptional leaders and placing them in key positions to drive success. Our team of seasoned executive recruiters collaborates with organizations of all sizes, encompassing both public and private enterprises, pre-IPO ventures, and non-profit entities. Through a meticulous and discerning approach, we unite handpicked candidates, with companies in pursuit of the most exceptional executive talent, representing the top 1%. With the support of our experienced senior partners, we execute a diligent and efficient executive search process, ensuring leadership placements within a remarkable six-week timeframe.

Executive search placements span the entire  C-suite :  CEOs ,  CFOs ,  COOs ,  CMOs ,  CIO/ CTOs ,  CHROs ,  CLOs , and leadership roles including VPs, Directors, and more.

Read more of our operations executive search resources to see why Cowen Partners is a top operations leadership search firm in Atlanta, St. Louis,  Anchorage , Denver,  New York City , Chicago,  Seattle , Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and beyond:

• COOs and Operations Leaders’ Role in an Organization
• Driving Efficiency and Productivity as an Operations Leader
• How to Measure the Effectiveness of your COO
• Private Equity Operating Partner
• 5 Critical Skills Your Next COO Should Possess
• Executive Compensation & Salary Guide | CEO, COO, CFO, CMO Salary
• Data-Driven Decision-Making in Business Analytics
• Moving From Theory to Practice When Recruiting for Executive Diversity
• Private Equity | How a COO and CFO Can Work Together
• COO Role: Understanding the Role & Value of a Chief Operating Officer
• How to Find a Great Private Equity Operating Partner
• Fastest-Growing C-Suite Roles in 2023

Cowen Partners Executive Search provides recruitment services to all major and minor industries including:

Accounting, Advertising, Aerospace & Defense, Biotechnology, Banking,  Credit Unions , Board and CEO Services, Computer Hardware, Construction, Consulting,  Consumer Products , Computer Software and Hardware, Education, Energy & Utilities,  Entertainment & Sports ,  Finance ,  Financial Services , Food Products, Government,  Human Resources ,  Health Care , Hospitality & Tourism, Insurance, Industrial, Internet & New Media, Legal, Tax, Crypto, Bitcoin,  Private Equity , Journalism & Publishing,  Marketing ,  Manufacturing , Medical Device, Non-Profit, Pharmaceutical,  Private Equity ,  Real Estate , Retail & Apparel,  Sales ,  Technology , Telecommunications and Transportation.

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One Shot, Two Hires: COO & CFO Combo

Company: confidential, position: chief operating officer + chief financial officer, industry: construction.

Case Study – Chief Operating Officer + Chief Financial Officer – Construction

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Chief Operating Officer for a large public school district

• Case Studies
• Chief Operating Officer

During a challenging time for schools, two Helbling team members joined forces to find a qualified leader with resilience and character.

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CAREER PLANNING

How to Become a COO 🚀 Your Path to Chief Operating Officer

July 13, 2020

So, you’ve got your eye on the Chief Operating Officer position? Way to shoot for the stars! The COO is second-in-command in most companies. It’s a unique position that’s largely considered one of the most challenging positions in the boardroom. 

We know you’ve got it in you, and we’re excited for you to take this step. To help you get there, we’ve put together this handy guide on how to become a COO. We’ll take a close look at:

• What it’s like to be one
• How to determine where you are in your path to becoming one
• The skills you should cultivate now in your career 

By the time you’re finished, you’ll know exactly what you need to do next to get the second-top job in the boardroom. Let’s go!

What is a COO?

The COO is responsible for the daily business operations of a company. You can think of the role as something similar to a high-powered general manager. You’ll directly report to the CEO and play an integral role in the leadership of the organization. 

If the CEO is the visionary leader, then the COO is the one who makes things happen. The CEO strategizes and sets goals for the organization — you’ll be the one to figure out how to make those plans a reality.

For example, if a CEO wants to expand the company by offering a new set of services, it will be your job to lead the discovery team to determine what departments, acquisitions, or investments the company will need to make.

As a result, you might see the COO sometimes called the operating director, managing director, or the “executive vice president of operations.” Whatever your title, you’ll be known as the one who gets things done.

The COO Works Closely with the CEO

As a COO, you’ll forge a close relationship with your counterpart, the CEO of your company. Most companies look for a COO that meets the specific needs of the CEO. That might mean: 

• Leadership with technical experience. A good COO complements the skills and abilities of the CEO. You’ll find this especially true in startups, where the COO often has more practical experience. Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg , is one such example.
• A successor. As second-in-command, you’ll have unique access and insights to the company. Many organizations reserve this position for successors as a result.
• Someone to handle all internal affairs. It’s not uncommon for CEOs to prefer their COOs to handle the internal operations of a company while the CEO functions as the company’s public face. 

The Job Outlook for the CEO’s Right-Hand Person

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top executives field on a whole is growing at 6 percent per year – about the same rate as other management positions. However, it’s extremely difficult to measure the position’s growth for three main reasons:

• It’s constantly changing. According to EY , the COO role is one of the most rapidly changing roles at the executive level. That’s why it can be difficult to pin down who and what the COO is.
• Companies hire or promote from within. When this happens, it’s called an “MVP” COO , someone who is promoted to keep them with the company.
• COOs are sometimes cofounders. This is especially true in the case of startups , where the COO was there from the start.

What this means for you: Be prepared to round out your education and experience as much as possible so that you can be flexible when the opportunity arises. The greater your ability to demonstrate leadership, business acumen, and industry insight, the stronger candidate you’ll become.

A Day in the Life of a COO

Officially, anything that involves the business or administrative functions of your company will fall under your responsibility. However, the COO’s role means different things to different people and organizations. Therefore, no two roles are ever quite the same. On any given day, expect to find yourself:

• Managing people or departments. You’ll take an active role in department operations, but you’ll also manage people directly. That may mean coaching employees to help them develop professionally or strategically promoting talent to retain them.
• Leading projects or initiatives. You’ll constantly look for ways to improve the company’s operations, making them more efficient, cost-effective, and performing better.
• Communicating strategy and policy to employees. COOs increasingly spend a lot of time managing the company’s overall culture . You’ll create policies, incentives, and an environment that fosters the desired culture. 
• Supporting your CEO. As the right-hand person, you may find yourself showing the ropes to a new CEO, providing insight or perspective on ideas, or even being a partner on initiatives where the CEO can’t take on everything alone.
• Undertaking industry-specific responsibilities. If you’re in healthcare, you may find yourself responsible for identifying new ways to deliver critical services to a demographic of patients. Likewise, if you’re serving an insurance company, the CEO may tap you for advice on creating strategies that address major current events as they unfold .
• Overseeing any business-related operations. In an interview of the COOs of Stripe, Infor, and Instagram, all three mentioned that they routinely oversee business functions as wide-ranging as marketing, advertising, and human resources, plus things like subscription revenues or services.
• Working very long hours. Excited to check your email at 6:30 AM? That’s the reality for Vera Quinn , the COO of Cydcor. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that half of all COOs report working more than 40 hours per week — all the more reason to make sure you love what you do!

Who Does the COO Work With Each Day?

Since all internal operations will fall under your responsibility, expect to have a lot of contact with people. In a small company or a startup, you may form relationships with all employees. In a larger corporation, you may primarily work with department heads and other executives.

Salary Statistics: What You Can Expect to Earn

According to PayScale, the median salary for a COO in 2023 is $146,420 . Aggregated data from Glassdoor indicates a similar average: $146,301 annually. 

When it comes to determining the salary of a Chief Operating Officer (COO), there are several factors that come into play. Some of the most important factors include the size of the company, the industry in which it operates, and the COO’s education level.

In general, the larger the company, the higher the salary that a COO can expect to receive. This is because larger companies typically have more complex operations and require a greater level of oversight and management. Additionally, larger companies often have larger budgets, which allows them to offer higher salaries to their top executives.

Industry is also an important factor when it comes to COO salaries. Some industries, such as technology and finance, tend to pay higher salaries than others. This is because these industries often require specialized knowledge and skills that are in high demand.

Finally, a COO’s education level can also impact their salary. Generally, COOs with advanced degrees, such as an MBA , can command higher salaries than those without. This is because an advanced degree demonstrates a higher level of education and expertise, which is often valued by employers.

The Winding Career Path to Become a COO

If you spend any time reading the thoughtful responses on Quora , you’ll quickly discover that there’s no one path to becoming a COO. Some people start at the bottom of the corporate ladder and work their way up, while others walk into the position after decades of experience in an industry. Here’s our best insight:

It Takes About 10 to 15 Years to Become a COO

Interviews around the web with current and former COOs indicate that it takes around 10 to 15 years of experience in a specific industry (but not always at the same job). 

COOs appear to share a passion for their industry. That’s crucial because you’ll need to have very deep knowledge of your industry to adequately guide a company. Consider Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook who knew from the start she wanted to get involved in a tech company.

So, if you’re planning out your path to the COO role, pay special attention to what industries you’re interested in and go from there.

The Path from Project Manager to COO

If you’re a project manager, you’re in a great position to step into a COO role down the line. You’ll already have many of the skills that you’ll use every day as a COO. If this is you, you’ll want to round out your skills with some solid business admin skills. An online MBA can give you exactly what you need to fill this knowledge gab.

You’ll Need a Bachelor’s Degree

Speaking of courses, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , a four-year degree is essential to any top-level executive. The COO is about as close to the top as you can get! Since you’ll be overseeing business operations, we strongly recommend you consider a bachelor’s degree in business. 

If you’ve already got a degree and it’s not in business, you’re certainly not out of luck. Some COOs do have degrees that have nothing to do with business, such as technical degrees. However, if this is your case, you’ll want to look into developing your business knowledge as you prepare. Consider supplementing your next steps in education with courses in strategy or leadership .

What Can Further Education Do for You?

Advanced degrees are common in the board room, especially MBAs . As a COO, the position of CEO will lie within reach – and some 40 percent of the top CEOs have MBAs. 

Having an MBA not only improves your chances of commanding a higher salary, but it also puts into your hands the skills you need to competently lead the operations of a company. We very strongly recommend that you consider one , especially if your bachelor’s degree isn’t already in business. 

However, there are two specific reasons why an MBA is particularly necessary for a future COO: 

1. Your Professional Connections Matter

Your ability to rise to the C-level broadly hinges on who you know. That’s especially true with positions like the COO, where you’ll be chosen based on how well your personality and specific skills complement the CEO’s. 

If you’re looking into upgrading your business skills (such as getting an MBA), pay attention to what sort of networking opportunities exist alongside your education. A developed career network will prove tremendously valuable. 

2. It Can Set You Apart from the Competition

An executive MBA can also set you apart from the competition. It still gives you the business knowledge you’ll need for the role, but it focuses more on the leadership skills that you’ll also need. That’s a smart move if you’re specifically pursuing the role of COO, which is a very leadership-oriented position. 

(Here’s more about the MBA versus the EMBA ).

The Other Skills & Qualifications You’ll Need

Of course, an MBA does more than just give you the professional connections and business skills you’ll need. It’ll also help you develop an array of hard and soft skills that will amplify your effectiveness in the role. You’ll need:

• Leadership skills. From leading cross-department teams to working on small, special initiatives, you’ll be a leader at all times. Make sure you develop the fundamentals of leadership so you’re ready.
• People management skills. Understanding the ins and outs of organizational behavior will help you manage people, encouraging them to become their best.
• Project management skills. You’ll have projects, and lots of them. Make sure you’re ready to manage all of it with your stellar project management abilities.
• Strategy skills. You’ll need to understand the components of business strategy to execute those created by the board or the CEO. Learning Blue Ocean Strategy is a fantastic way to cultivate that understanding.

What Makes a Great Chief Operating Officer?

There are plenty of ways to become a COO. This challenging, high-powered position requires a combination of business acumen, leadership skills, and dedication to your industry. It’s a tough road, but no matter where you are in your career, you can take steps toward the boardroom today.

We’ve laid out the degrees, business expertise, and soft skills that you’ll need to develop. In many cases, earning an online MBA can accelerate your trajectory without disrupting your current career. A competitive, rigorous program with a robust career network can help you put the top jobs of the business world within reach.

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Equipping leaders for merger integration success

Mergers are high-profile, high-risk events. Success requires executive alignment on the goals for performance and value capture, the approach to mitigating integration risks, and the desired “NewCo” culture and ways of working. The stakes are huge, as executives must make decisions in the pressure-cooker environment of sky-high expectations and tight timelines, shadowed by the knowledge that mergers often define leaders’ careers and legacies, for better or for worse.

Unfortunately, most leaders bring limited integration experience, especially with large or complex mergers. Boosting their integration leadership readiness is a critical success factor for pre-close integration planning, a flawless day one, and maximum value capture and integration in the first few years post-close.

Tailoring capability building to specific merger objectives

“NewCo” leadership capability building requires tailoring to every merger’s specific integration objectives. Capability building can range from a narrow effort to make integration planning run smoothly to a robust program to catalyze major organizational transformation.

A focused integration leadership program concentrates on practical integration planning (that is, glitchless cutovers, value capture, and the NewCo organization) and the technical skills needed to execute that plan. Such a program typically employs short modules (one to three hours long) focused on building targeted capabilities that enable senior leaders to meet integration milestones and objectives.

A transformational integration leadership program prepares leaders to capture significantly more value during integration execution and upgrades leadership skills across the board. Such a program typically employs multiple workshops on top-team effectiveness, establishes the NewCo leadership model, and launches a robust training program to cascade leadership requirements and skills throughout the NewCo organization.

Fortunately, mergers provide a great incubator for developing leaders. Mergers create a platform for building both technical skills (for example, integration planning, transforming business support functions, and capturing value) and leadership skills (such as leading change, steering larger and newly integrated teams, and navigating a more complex matrix). The integration incubator has the greatest impact when the capability building is woven into the fabric of the integration leadership role. This means just-in-time and practical training focused on the most critical skills and issues and applied immediately to the tasks at hand. (For more, see sidebar “Tailoring capability building to specific merger objectives.”)

Foundations for capability building

McKinsey’s approach to building integration leadership capabilities is rooted in six core beliefs:

• Provide just-in-time development. Focus on the most critical capabilities and only the people who need development, when they need it. Mergers are too busy to include any extraneous activity.
• Make it real. Work on real business problems and skills related to the merger. Tailor the program to the personal context of program participants and make it applicable on the job.
• Focus on both technical and leadership skills. Prepare integration leaders to handle both the nuts-and-bolts actions needed during the integration and the intense leadership challenges associated with mergers.
• Unify and mobilize post close. Set common expectations for all leaders and inspire them to achieve the promise of the deal, both with respect to value creation and cultural integration.
• Use a blended approach to development. Combine different modes of learning and different reinforcement mechanisms.
• Put hard numbers on the soft stuff. Show the value-creation (and risk-mitigation) impact of increasing leadership skills. Tie learning objectives to specific behavior changes and monitor improvements.

Investing in integration leadership readiness is imperative. Leadership capability building has proved to enhance integration results by creating a stronger, more unified leadership team, equipped to take NewCo to new heights. Indeed, organizations with the right integration capabilities are 1.6 and 1.7 times more likely to exceed cost and revenue synergy targets, respectively, than organizations without the right integration capabilities. 1 1. Surveys of Conference Board Merger Integration Conference registrants, 2010 to 2017; “ How M&A practitioners enable their success ,” October 2015. (For more, see sidebar “Foundations for capability building.”)

Furthermore, executives recognize the need to enhance those capabilities. Asked which dimension of their integration approach requires the most improvement, integration leadership rises into the top three, with 29 percent of executives calling it their biggest concern. 2 2. Surveys of Conference Board Merger Integration Conference registrants, 2010 to 2017; “ How M&A practitioners enable their success ,” October 2015.

Successful practitioners reinforce the integration leadership imperative. Steve Kaufman, former CEO and chairman of Arrow Electronics, insists: “Integrations are really different. You don’t know what you don’t know. You need capabilities that you’re unlikely to have in your organization.” And William Kozy, former chief operating officer and chief integration officer at Becton Dickinson, explains: “This is about what are the critical, nonfinancial factors associated with guaranteeing the success of a deal. It’s about the people, and getting the top several hundred people, in the newly combined company on the exact same page. It’s about what they’re supposed to do, how they’re supposed to do it, and what the great leaders should look like in five years.” 3 3. For information on other key M&A success factors, see Moni Miyashita, Rob Rosiello, and Andy West, “Unlocking M&A value at every step, from strategy through integration,” McKinsey Perspectives on Merger Management , 2013.

Understanding leadership cohorts

Successful integrators have programs for three groups of senior leaders who typically require merger-specific leadership development to execute their integration roles effectively. As these roles involve different responsibilities, the leadership cohorts require tailored capability building.

The top team (CEO and direct reports) must understand and communicate the deal rationale, decide the integration approach and roles, and push the organization to maximize value capture, while protecting the base business from risks, selecting NewCo leaders, and defining priority cultural integration themes —all while learning to work together effectively as new colleagues join the team. Furthermore, they need to define NewCo’s strategy (as well as what NewCo will no longer do) and convert these aspirations into performance metrics, both financial and operational.

The integration leaders must learn how to manage integration planning to realize the greatest value from the deal and how to quickly mobilize teams that combine people from two different companies and span all functions and business units.

The broader NewCo leadership team (the top 100 to 250 leaders of the newly combined company) must lead integration execution and take the combined company, which is often establishing a fundamentally different culture or operating model, into a new era of higher performance.

Would you like to learn more about our Merger Management Academy ?

The right people for these three cohorts share a distinct profile. 4 4. For more information on selecting the right leaders for integration roles, see James McLetchie, Moni Miyashita, and Emily O’Loughlin, “Boosting M&A value with the right integration leader,” McKinsey Perspectives on Merger Management, 2014. They bring strong leadership potential and a collaborative mind-set. They are open to change and recognize the importance of investing in developing their own and others’ leadership capabilities.

Looking at a tailored, just-in-time NewCo leadership program

A global medical-products company launched a major acquisition to increase its revenues and employee population 50 percent overnight, broaden its product portfolio and customer base, and transform its operating model. The company had a long history of transactions, but this deal was more than ten times larger than any done to date. Given the ambitions and size of the deal, the CEO and chief integration officer recognized the need for a just-in-time program to build the leadership capabilities of its three cohorts of senior leaders throughout the integration.

As a starting point, the CEO and chief integration officer convened the top team frequently to enhance their shared capacity to lead NewCo, while aligning on the integration planning approach. More specifically, these meetings defined NewCo’s vision and goals for strategy, performance requirements, value capture, and culture; redefined executive roles in the integration and the future company; and enabled leaders across the combined company to get to know each other.

The company also invested in preparing newly appointed integration leaders for their responsibilities through targeted and fully embedded training on specific integration tasks (for example, negotiating new procurement terms with major suppliers and combining payroll systems), supplemented by coaching and skill building on cultural integration and change management .

After the deal closed, the company launched the newly combined leadership team by establishing a NewCo leadership model that set clear expectations for all leaders. The CEO then invested integration funds in creating and delivering a fully tailored leadership training program to build understanding of the new model and its skill requirements. First, the top 250 leaders, divided into cohorts of 50 executives from both companies, participated in a five-day training program spread over six months. Then, the next 1,200 leaders participated in a region-based version of the program.

The company credits this tailored leadership capability-building program with contributing significantly to its wildly successful integration. By grounding all leaders in a shared understanding of the company’s history and new leadership requirements, the program unleashed tremendous energy and commitment to exceeding ambitious objectives for value capture and cultural integration. Talent retention was exceptional throughout the integration—92 percent, overall and even higher for priority roles. Synergy capture exceeded public announcements by 120 percent. The company outperformed the market by 35 percent in the first two years after launching its leadership program. And in a clear sign of program impact, 93 percent of the top 250 leaders scored the training program “5 out of 5” (the highest in company history).

Tailoring capability building to the three cohorts

Companies that have achieved such capability-building success have taken different approaches to the three cohorts of leaders.

Top-team alignment workshops strengthen the capabilities of individual leaders and the leadership team, equipping them to lead the bigger, more complex organization created by the merger and to exceed the expectations set for the deal. Successful integrators conduct multiple top-team sessions to help executives define NewCo’s strategic vision, performance expectations, and goals for capturing value; set the direction for integration planning, including guiding principles anchored in the deal rationale; and establish NewCo’s cultural themes and ways of working, including its operating model and governance.

Successful practitioners note the importance of using these sessions first to build alignment across the two top teams and then, as quickly as possible, to start building trust and team norms in the newly formed NewCo top team. Justin Smith, director of corporate development integration at Google, says: “You need to have a conversation, not just conduct the typical operations integration review. People have to really get to know and understand each other and build a high level of trust.” Aileen Stockburger, the former long-time vice president of worldwide mergers and acquisitions at Johnson & Johnson, adds: “You have to understand leadership and decision-making styles. You can’t just assume that, because you share similar values, all else will follow.”

Case in point. In a reverse merger, a nimble chemicals company owned by a private-equity firm acquired a distributor six times its size. Soon after the announcement of the deal, clearly different perspectives among the top team emerged, including the right strategy for the combined company, culture and management practices, ability to achieve synergies, and importance of speed.

Both companies had endured several years of organizational change and faced an industry on the brink of disruption. To mobilize effectively against competitive threats, the CEO needed to align the top team quickly on the new vision, strategy, performance requirements, and culture.

To reduce friction and put the new leadership team on a clear strategic path, the CEO led a series of facilitated, off-site workshops over the six months before the deal’s close. These sessions aligned the top team on performance expectations, governance, and culture, preparing them to execute a seamless close and mobilize their teams to implement the NewCo strategy. The sessions focused on the following:

• translating the deal rationale into a clear strategic vision for the vertically integrated company
• defining strategic priorities and performance metrics to monitor progress
• establishing the vision, mission, and values of NewCo
• developing the governance bodies and decision rights for the matrixed organization
• setting priorities for cultural change and tapping executive sponsors to lead the change
• building trust among the top team and securing individual commitments to support the new strategy and culture

The impact of this capability building stands in stark contrast to integration efforts that take leadership-team effectiveness for granted. Aileen Stockburger reflects on the cost of failing to provide such a development program in one of her many mergers that took place several years ago: “We didn’t take the time to align on a common way of leading and working together. Decision-making styles and processes were very different in the two previous organizations. As a result, TargetCo leadership was frustrated and frozen because we never aligned on leadership processes and expectations. The leaders from the two organizations each had different styles and approaches on how to make decisions. As a result, the company floundered, and we ended up losing a majority of the leaders from TargetCo. They were frustrated with unclear processes and new styles. We did not properly educate the new organization with the skills and mind-sets that we wanted in the leaders and give people a chance to adapt and build them.”

Integration leaders

Successful integrators actively prepare integration leaders and teams to realize the greatest value from the deal and enhance their capabilities for future M&A. They build leaders’ practical understanding of integration planning through a combination of in-person training on integration management and digitally delivered modules that provide instant access to seasoned integration leaders. Given the intensity of integration planning, successful companies incorporate capability-building modules focused on specific skills (for example, capturing value and managing the post-close change process) into regular integration-planning summits, rather than scheduling separate sessions that leaders are too busy to attend.

Steve Kaufman emphasizes the power of apprenticeship in building integration leaders’ capabilities: “You need access to veterans who know what they’re doing, have seen this situation before, and know what to look for. You pair them up with your high-potential talent. This is a great way for those high potentials to accelerate their career growth and development; they want these opportunities. It’s also a great way for you to identify who will be real stars. Then you pay attention to how they perform. This costs money in the short run, but in the long run training doesn’t cost—it saves. Learning from experienced integration leaders is extremely valuable.”

Case in point. Immediately after announcing the merger of two leading specialty-chemicals providers, the companies brought their new integration leaders together in a workshop to align on the goals, architecture, and approach of the integration-management office (IMO). As soon as the integration teams were staffed, team members participated in an IMO-led boot camp. Over the course of several days, the boot camp explained the deal rationale; set expectations for the path ahead, including the responsibilities of all integration teams and leaders; and got the teams started on planning the integration effort.

How the best acquirers excel at integration

Throughout integration planning, the standard integration summits incorporated capability-building sessions that took advantage of physical colocation to deliver timely and targeted training on skills essential to the success of every integration team (for instance, addressing differences in working norms and tracking value capture). As the integration change-management plans took shape, the program added a module on leading change.

Embedding capability building in the integration planning process equipped the integration team leaders and members with the right tools to lead the change effort and lay the critical foundation for longer-term value capture and growth.

NewCo leadership (top 100 to 250 leaders)

Post-close, the most successful integrators turn their attention to mobilizing the newly minted NewCo leadership team around capturing value and achieving cultural integration. They invest the integration budget not only in combining and enhancing technology systems but also in combining and enhancing their leadership team.

Successful integrators find that introducing a NewCo leadership model (either a refreshed model from one of the companies or an entirely new model) helps set expectations for all leaders, regardless of their legacy company, about the behaviors and capabilities required to lead the more complex organization through transformational initiatives. As Beverly Goulet, chief integration officer at American Airlines, describes a recent NewCo leadership-development effort: “We redefined leadership expectations and attributes for the new organization and stated very clearly that, just because you are a leader today, the old set of rules that made you successful may not make you successful in the future. We translated these requirements into specific attributes and shared them with our leaders at an off-site and incorporated the attributes into performance metrics against which leaders are evaluated. We changed the profile of company leaders for the better.”

Case in point. A leading US healthcare insurer realized that its leadership bench was not deep enough to achieve its strategic aspirations and that a recent acquisition created both the imperative and the opportunity to enhance its leadership development. The company built a new leadership model that set expectations for all leaders based on the acquiring company’s historical strengths (for example, mission-centricity and entrepreneurship) and new strengths it sought to build through the acquisition (for instance, agility and leaders as people developers).

In 2017, the company established a corporate university to spearhead leadership development. The university designed and launched a new capability-building program for the top 1,600 leaders to introduce the leadership model and build the new skills it required. The program uses a field-and-forum learning approach, combining multiple in-person sessions, applied fieldwork on the job, and follow-up “nudges” that regularly remind participants via email of specific management practices they should be employing. Of the 200 leaders trained to date, 97 percent have rated the program “5 out of 5.” The remaining 1,400 leaders will complete the program in 2018.

Merger-based leadership capability building equips company leaders to achieve immediate and sustained high performance. “The cost of ignoring this is huge,” Aileen Stockburger says. “You can end up addressing the wrong priorities. People disengage because they don’t feel part of something anymore. People don’t understand expectations or interpret them correctly. People focus on all the confusion, not on moving the business ahead. It’s a lot of wasted time, effort, and energy, and that’s all money.”

Developing leaders during mergers significantly increases the likelihood of successful integration planning, value capture, and cultural integration and prepares NewCo to capitalize on the next horizon of growth and performance, especially by enhancing M&A capacity for future deals. Leaders feel inspired, not just competent, to take charge.

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Jocelyn Chao is a consultant in McKinsey’s New Jersey office; Oliver Engert is a senior partner in the New York office, where Sasha Zolley is an associate partner; Ian Jefferson is a partner in the Washington, DC, office; and Emily O’Loughlin is a senior expert in the Boston office.

The authors wish to thank the following executives for their contributions to this article: Beverly Goulet, Steve Kaufman, Bill Kozy, Justin Smith, and Aileen Stockburger.

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Barb promotes Caroline Baxter to Chief Operating Officer

March 8, 2024 14.09 Europe/London By Julian Clover

Baxter will work alongside Chief Executive Justin Sampson as the organisation progresses its strategic priorities to extend Barb’s reporting of total campaign performance, extend measurement of total viewing across all streaming services and future-proof Barb’s data access.

“Our most recent customer-satisfaction survey shows confidence in Barb’s ability to deal with the future has reached a new high watermark,” said Sampson. “This bears testimony to the great progress we’ve made in delivering an audience-centric measurement strategy. Since joining, Caroline has brought a tangible energy and focus to how the Barb team brings service developments to market. The Barb board didn’t hesitate in its support of her promotion.”

Baxter’s priorities for this year include delivering significant developments across new metering technology for Barb’s reporting panel, due to expand across 7,000 UK homes or approximately 16,000 people. Since 2022, Baxter has been Research Operations Director at Barb, and prior to that she worked at Kantar for many years, where her final role was Media Program Director UK & EMEA.

“Our goal is to deliver a comprehensive and trusted measurement of viewing, regardless of delivery platform, for our subscribers,” said Baxter. “I’m proud to step into this new role, building on my work over the last two years, to lead delivery of the next generation of TV viewing measurement.”

Barb is to begin the measurement of total viewing across all streaming services, including subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and video-sharing services which has been led Disney+ and Netflix to join the organisation.

Barb is now exploring ways of reporting all content on video-sharing platforms that is produced in line with industry-accepted standards of brand safety.

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About Julian Clover

Julian Clover is a Media and Technology journalist based in Cambridge, UK. He works in online and printed media. Julian is also a voice on local radio. You can talk to Julian on Twitter @julianclover , on Facebook or by email at [email protected] .

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