I’ve written before about how many organisations don’t have anyone who is accountable for the full operating model. Fewer than 50% of the Fortune 500 have a Chief Operating Officer. It’s true that there could be other roles within the organisation that own pieces of operational excellence, but if there is no one at the…
Looking at dozens of companies, from fast-growing scale-ups to established multinationals, many are doing impressive things: expanding markets, launching products, delivering strong financial results. But as I dug into their structures, I noticed something. A surprising number don’t have a COO. About half of Fortune 500 companies operate without one. The percentage has fluctuated over…
This isn’t a gap you can fill by assigning it to someone; it requires a distinct capability that most operational leaders were never trained to develop. Someone asked me recently what happens to the operating model after I leave. It was a fair question. And the honest answer is: it depends on whether anyone owns…
I have spent the better part of two decades inside large organisations, watching the same problem appear in different costumes. A company scales quickly. Headcount doubles. New markets, new products, new reporting lines. Leadership hires smart people and builds processes to manage the growth. And then, somewhere in the middle of all that activity, something…
