How a great COO propels your business forward

Executive overview

Most CEOs struggle to scale because they remain the hub of every decision. A COO solves this by taking operational ownership, freeing the CEO to stay externally focused and visionary. The COO's role is not to fix problems directly but to grow people who can fix problems themselves.

The COO's core job is empowerment, not execution — grow others so they can run the machine.

Inward vs outward facing

• Some CEOs are outward facing (Jobs, Musk); their COO should be inward, running operations invisibly.
• Other CEOs are inward facing engineers or financiers; their COO becomes the public spokesperson.
• Ben & Jerry's (Ben inward, Jerry outward) and Shopify (Lutke inward, Finkelstein outward) are examples of effective pairings.
• The COO is almost always the internal face of the company and the top of the day-to-day org chart.
• Once hired, the CEO can reduce or eliminate direct reports below the COO.

Coordination over subject matter expertise

• The COO is a quarterback: calls plays, passes the ball, trusts others to execute their roles.
• COOs don't need to be domain experts in IT, finance, or marketing — they need to hire experts.
• The disciplines a COO should own: communications, people skills, and leadership.
• Key skill: asking the right Socratic questions to surface broken systems and align departments.
• COOs must speak many departmental "languages" without being fluent in any of them.
• They act as matchmaker between departments — ensuring alignment before action is taken.

Empowerment, not rescue

• The COO's job is to grow people's ability to solve problems, not to solve problems for them.
• A COO who firefights constantly becomes incapacitated and creates dependency.
• Analogy: a parent teaches children to cook, not cooks every meal for them.
• When two department heads at 1-800-GOT-JUNK stopped communicating, the COO coached them — without taking over their work.
• COOs possess a rare combination: process and systems thinking plus high EQ and soft skills.

Systems thinking and shortcuts

• Good COOs identify missing or broken systems and fix the system, not the symptom.
• Starbucks example: a burned-out letter on a sign prompted the CEO to ask the COO what system would prevent it at all 14,000 locations — not who broke the bulb.
• Mantra to adopt: "People don't fail, systems fail."
• COOs should design systems simple enough to write on a Post-it note — executable by the worst employee in the worst conditions.
• Constructive laziness: always look for the simpler, more scalable way to achieve the same outcome.
• Outside COOs often see shortcuts that insiders miss.

Strategy vs tactics

• Sun Tzu: strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory; tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
• The CEO owns strategy; the COO owns tactics — but both must operate at both levels.
• The COO must toggle between "head up" (strategic) and "head down" (operational) continuously.
• Harley Finkelstein (Shopify): continuously recalibrate your role and focus with the CEO as priorities shift.
• If the CEO pushes the COO permanently into tactical mode, it destroys the leverage of the "two in a box" model.
• The CEO climbs the mountain to see the direction; the COO ensures the company gets there — but must be brought up to see the view.

Macroeconomic and market awareness

• The COO should scan beyond internal operations to the customer, supplier, market, and economy.
• At 1-800-GOT-JUNK, early attention to Canadian dollar movements led to forward rate contracts and hedging — saving $100K per cent of currency movement.
• It wasn't in the brief, but it was within scope: finance, operations, and customers.

Culture and energy

• The COO is a primary source of organisational energy; their mood and tone spread throughout the company.
• Blowing up at the team about wasted meeting time spread negative energy for a month — worse than the original problem.
• The COO can shape culture by design: removing toxic people, building praise systems, enforcing accountability, creating a no-blame environment.
• Early-stage COOs must build systems from scratch; at 1-800-GOT-JUNK there was no franchise training, sales system, or marketing plan — it all had to be created.

Working with the board and customers

• The COO brings operational clarity and data to board meetings — filling in what the CEO leaves out.
• They should never contact board members between meetings independently; that causes triangulation with the CEO.
• The COO helps craft agendas and ensures the CEO arrives with accurate, non-alarming information.
• Direct customer and supplier contact gives the COO a fuller picture of what is being built and what the concerns are.

Desirable COO qualities

• Adaptability — absorbs and guards the culture rather than reshaping it to suit themselves.
• Time management — the role always has more demand than capacity.
• Drive — the COO is the motor; success is a launchpad, not a resting place.
• Likeability — essential for facilitating the leadership team and steering culture.
• Honesty — a filtered COO is of limited value; say what others are thinking but won't say.
• Communication — every message should raise organisational energy, not drain it.
• Diplomacy — landing in an existing organisation requires building trust before wielding authority.
• Steadiness — even keel, no drama; leave the crazy energy to the visionary CEO.
• Entrepreneurialism — aligned with the vision but opportunistic enough to bob, weave, and spot adjacent opportunities.
• Coaching — facilitates others to solve conflicts rather than acting as referee or decision-maker.
• Availability — open door in both directions; more day-to-day contact than the CEO.

Emotional maturity and experience

• Emotional maturity is one of the most critical COO requirements and cannot be rushed.
• It is not about years — it is about having hired, fired, built teams, and sat in board meetings.
• Some people gain maturity faster; a 27-year-old with genuine experience can outperform a 30-year veteran repeating the same year six times.
• The CEO needs to trust the COO will not mistake a problem for a disaster, or success for perfection.