Module 1 · The COO Playbook, Ch. 1, 14 · Free preview
The Least Standardized Job in the C-Suite
Define your mandate — outcomes owned, decision rights held, escalation promises made — and get it agreed rather than assumed.
Key frames
- Six COO archetypes — Executor, Change Agent, Mentor, Partner, Heir Apparent, Integrator — and why the role flexes to what the enterprise needs.
- The mandate one-pager: outcomes, decision map, escalation promises, agreed with the CEO in writing.
- The four arenas of attention — Run, Improve, Change, Grow — and what your calendar reveals about which one actually owns you.
- The first week: observe voraciously, fix nothing, commit to no numbers.
Apply it to your operation
Work these in your participant workbook — they become pages of your action plan.
- Draft your mandate one-pager (outcomes, decision rights, escalations)
- Colour-code one real week of your calendar by arena and total it
- Book the mandate conversation with your CEO — bring the page, not a deck
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