The Ever-Varied and Ever-Changing Role of the COO
First appeared August 2022 at https://mailchi.mp/4664aecba534/shortlist-digest-december-1795397?e=cf6bec60ae
At Shortlist, we’ve helped dozens of organizations hire Chief Operating Officers. And across the bunch, the only consistency is that they’re all different.
It’s something on my mind as we just promoted our amazing Austen Stranahan to be our COO this past month, after several years leading our product management function, then biz ops, and most recently our digital skills youth employment programming. Austen has a rare stack of skills, combining creativity and attention to detail and empathy and agility and humility and sheer intelligence, and we’re thrilled to have him in the role!
Perhaps more than any other role in a company, the COO’s job is defined in dialogue with the unique contextual and cultural factors of a very particular company and CEO. Other roles vary within bands — one company’s Chief Financial Officer might need to know equity fundraising, another might need a debt specialist, another an expert accountant, but it’s still all finance. Not true with COOs: we’ve hired COOs who needed to be growth mavens; others intensive supply chain experts; others product and engineering geeks; others seasoned HR leaders; others financial engineering geniuses; and on. Moreover, the role is fluid and often changes dramatically within the same org over time.
This has of course spawned a rich literature of attempts to make sense of this role. One of the resources we share most frequently with clients is Harvard Business Review’s classic “Second in Command” article, teasing out at least seven different kinds of COOs. More recently, Austen and I enjoyed last month’s First Round Review podcast with COO Sara Clemens on “Why COO is the most fluid role in the C-suite,” where she identifies three broad and quite distinct buckets of COOs. A quick Google search turns up 100s of other links on the topic.
I’ll spare you another essay on the topic. But a few things come through loud and clear.
First, the best COOs are great learners. Learning velocity is so critical because the role of COO covers so much ground and is so fluid, requiring one to swiftly master a variety of topics to succeed.
Second, the best COOs are great culture shapers. They understand that the invisible layer of values and behaviors, and how that layer drives what people do when no one is looking, is often more important than policies on the book. Skilled COOs use this to their advantage, always mindful about ways to preserve what’s critical in a culture, and reshape the parts that might hold orgs back.
Third, the best COOs are great change managers. This means they have (1) a unique comfort with change, (2) an ability to guide change effectively, and, perhaps most importantly, (3) a knack for helping others change (and feel comfortable with it). This is broadly true everywhere, but exceptionally true with startups, which are known to look radically different week to week.
If you’ve been thinking about whether now’s the time your org needs a COO or you’re working through the hiring process, get in touch! Always happy to share ideas…