More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
March 2 - May 25, 2022
COO does must be underpinned by the pillars of Culture, Strategy and Change.
‘Your First 100 Days: How to make maximum impact in your new role’ by Niamh O’Keeffe is an excellent book that provides exactly this framework.
Book reference
‘The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)’ by Hal Elrod. In his book Elrod covers six activities known as “SAVERS”: Silence (or meditation), Affirmations, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading and Scribing (or journaling).
Book reference 2
‘Chief of Staff: The Strategic Partner Who Will Revolutionize Your Organization’ Tyler Parris lists the benefits of having a Chief of Staff and how to use them successfully.
Book reference 3
“Aiming for the top: A guide for aspiring COOs and their organizations”, EY (Ernst & Young)1 note
Review later
The Harvard Business Review article “Second in Command: The Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer” outlines seven different types of COO:
In Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar H. Schein says that we can think of culture as “what the group has learned in its efforts to survive, grow, deal with its external environment, and organize itself.”3 According to David Needle4, the following
Positive.
Negative.
the culture is dysfunctional, you’ll need to intervene. Otherwise, you, the CEO and the executive team will be trying to execute in a toxic environment. This is by far the most dramatic of the scenarios. If the culture is non-existent, with little that is good for you to leverage, then you’ll need to help build it. This is the most rewarding scenario, where actions you take and messages you send will build a new set of cultural pillars for the future. If the culture is well-intentioned—if the organisation is “nice” but a bit lost—you’ll
need to consolidate it.Take the positives and reinforce them, using them as totems for the way things are going to operate in the future. If the culture is optimised—already strong and aligned positively towards the achievement of the organisation’s goals—you’ll have to work within it. Contrary to what you might think, this is not always the easiest scenario for a new COO. In this case, it’s you who has to be malleable, who must flex your style to work within a new context. Otherwise, your thoughts and ideas won’t be accepted.
for what kind of culture you’re going to reinforce. At some point during your tenure, you’re going to be tested with a decision that will say a lot about you and your views. Be on the lookout for these moments and reflect hard on your response—chances are your response will set the scene for years to come.
Leadership point
organisation. Why does it exist? What’s its mission? The strategy—the “What” of the organisation. What does it need to do to succeed? The goals—the “How” of the organization. How will the organisation achieve its strategy?
five key points he makes on strategy:
Strategy list
Simplicity. “The core of strategy work is always
Challenges.
Strengths. “The most basic idea of strategy is the
Implementable. “A strategy that fails to define
A filter to stop doing things.
“Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant”, W. Chan
Kim and Renee Mauborgne outline six “paths” to reconstructing market
A strategy that’s just “work harder and achieve more,” even if wrapped up to look good. As Richard Rumelt says, “simply being ambitious is not a strategy.”
Campbell, A.: “Winners: And How They Succeed”
Further reading 1
John P. Kotter defined an eight-stage process for change management17. Those stages are:
Establish a sense of urgency. If people are going to accept the disruption associated
with change, they need to understand why it’s necessary, and why now. Create coalition. Who are going to be the key operators to lead this change? Develop the vision. Envision what the future could look like if the change took place. Communicate the vision. Share this with people to engage them. Empower people. Quite simply, give them the tools and the resources they need to be successful. Secure short term wins. The motivational and galvanising impact of early success is huge. Consolidate and move forward. Build on the ear...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Any project must start with a problem, not a solution. It’s a common mistake for business stakeholders
COBIT (Control OBjectives for Information and related Technologies) is an internationally recognised framework
The Employee Value Proposition should include elements such as: The opportunity to learn and accelerate your career here, faster than anywhere else Feeling absolutely great about what you do Enjoying a freer, more empowered experience The ability to talk to your family about what you do, and bring them in to your work Benefiting from a positive perception of the time you spend in the NGO sector Regardless of what you have done before, and what you will do after, knowing that your most important life’s work will take place here
When you join and after you leave, you become part of a global network of alumni, part of a family of brilliant, principled, decent people, who are making the world a better place for children Practical applications of
