Do You Need a COO?

I often hear CEOs say they want to hire a COO. But I am usually perplexed by the ambiguity of the COO role, even in the CEO’s own mind.

• What department will the COO oversee?

• Who reports to them?

• How do they fit with the broader company structure?

The answers provided are usually hazy.

Oversight of operations, while critical, is different from core business functions. In my view, the six foundational pillars of a business are sales, marketing, product, finance, HR, and customer service. This leaves operations as a sort of meta-function. Specific industries (e.g., manufacturing) or situations (e.g., rapid scaling) may call for a dedicated COO, but most often what the CEO truly needs is better described as a chief of staff.

Unlike the operational breadth expected of a COO, the chief of staff has a narrower mandate: to monitor and facilitate the completion of the CEO's top priorities. When a CEO tells me they wish they had a COO, they usually mean they had someone to help them bridge the gap be…