When and why to hire a COO: a practical guide for CEOs

Executive overview

Most CEOs hire a COO for the wrong reasons — or too late. The real trigger is self-knowledge: understanding which tasks drain you so you can hand them to someone built to thrive on them.

The activity inventory framework (from Dan Sullivan) categorises every task you do as Incompetent, Competent, Excellent, or Unique Ability. Tasks outside your Unique Ability belong on someone else's desk — ideally a COO's.

The right COO frees the CEO to operate only in their zone of Unique Ability, compounding energy across the whole organisation.

The activity inventory

1. List every task you do — email, meetings, hiring, budgets, operations, everything.
2. Categorise each as I (incompetent), C (competent), E (excellent but draining), or UA (unique ability — you'd do it for free).
3. Offload I and C tasks immediately: outsource, automate, or delegate to an EA.
4. Bundle the high-value E tasks that exceed an EA's scope into a COO job description.
5. Unique Ability = what energises you and gives others energy. If you're excellent at something but drained by it, it stays an E.

Why energy flow matters

• A CEO's primary job is to be the chief energising officer — projecting positive energy daily.
• Working in roles you hate generates visible stress that ripples through the organisation.
• Quantum physics aside, even a grumpy barista can wreck your morning; a CEO's mood affects dozens for dozens of hours a week.
• A COO absorbs high-value work the CEO can't love, preventing that energy drain at the top.

The COO as trusted partner

• Being CEO is lonelier than it looks — you can't be fully candid with the board, employees, or even a spouse.
• The COO fills the friendship and support role: someone the CEO can be vulnerable with and who will tell them hard truths.
• Personal affinity matters: hire someone you'd genuinely spend time with outside work — that natural trust becomes the "two in a box" dynamic.
• Cameron Herold and Brian Scudamore (1-800-GOT-JUNK) had an unfair advantage: pre-existing friendship and four years in a business group together before working together.

Positioning for growth and exit

• Every CEO exits eventually — sell, retire, or die. The COO helps build a company that runs without you.
• The CEO's obligation to shareholders: an organisation that doesn't solely depend on the current CEO.
• The COO installs the systems and team structures that allow scaling beyond the founder.
• The COO may become the heir apparent — someone already fluent in the company's operating model.

COOs and the pace of change

• The COO role originated in operationally complex businesses like airlines; it's now essential in startups and disruptors.
• Technology, automation, and remote work have introduced exponential growth models that even experienced CEOs can struggle to navigate.
• Younger COOs often bring strength in technology and digital — skill gaps on the people side (hiring, conflict management, alignment) close quickly.
• Cross-industry learning matters: the COO Alliance gives members access to 170+ COOs from 17 countries to borrow ideas and tools.
• Rate of change rule: if the rate of change outside your business exceeds the rate inside, you're out of business.