How many direct reports a COO or CEO should have

Executive overview

Leading 11 direct reports as a COO means you're spread too thin. You can't grow people's skills, remove obstacles, or do meaningful deep dives into their business areas.

The fix is simple: reduce the number. CEOs should cap at five direct reports; COOs at seven or eight.

The leader's job is to grow people — not just oversee them.

When to cap direct reports

• CEOs: maximum five, treating culture, strategy, and board each as a direct report
• COOs: maximum seven or eight
• More than this leaves no time to grow skills, build confidence, or do skip-level meetings

The exception: homogeneous teams

• If every person in a group does the same job, you can lead many more
• Example: coaching 32 franchisees all doing identical work is effectively teaching the same thing repeatedly
• Sales team leads can exceed eight reports for the same reason
• The constraint applies when managing multiple distinct business areas with different moving parts