What is the Role of the COO?
The Chicago Chapter of the COO Forum, of which I am the Director, has taken up the theme “The Role of the COO” for 2010. In researching articles to facilitate discussions on that theme, I came across an article (see the reference below) that supports the idea that in general, the role of the COO is misunderstood. The authors of the article contend that the role of the COO depended largely on the CEO and posited 7 different potential roles for a COO (or any operating executive) depending on the CEO and his skills, abilities and personality. I found this interesting, as a member of the Chicago Chapter of the COO Forum had posited a different idea, that the Role of the COO was dependent on the nature of the business and in particular, on the ultimate responsibility of the COO for the overall operations of the company. The member pointed out that while the COO often had direct reports that were in charge of different aspects of operations, since the COO was ultimately responsible for those
