CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Meet your instructor, understand the course structure, and connect with your cohort.

• Meet David Auerbach, your course instructor
• Preview the course lens: AI, life sciences, and operational leadership
• Course structure, agenda, expectations, and grading support
• Discussion and Q&A: Your goals for the course

Get a practical view of the COO role across startups, mid-size companies, and enterprises. Learn how COOs partner with CEOs, where they create impact, and which operating style best fits you.

• Core COO responsibilities and a day in the role
• Four COO archetypes
• Four COO leadership styles
• CEO-COO partnership dynamics
• COO vs. Chief of Staff
• How the COO role changes by company stage
• Workshop: Analyze a COO job description with AI

Assignment #1: Analyze a COO role in your target industry, identify its archetype and CEO relationship, and assess career fit.

Required Reading: HBR, "The Four Types of COOs" - Nathan Bennett & Stephen Miles.

Learn how COOs turn company vision into priorities, operating plans, and measurable results. Build practical skills in strategic planning, OKRs, KPIs, and execution trade-offs.

• Closing the vision-to-strategy-to-execution gap
• Vision, strategy, strategic planning, and Target Operating Model (TOM)
• Connecting TOM, strategic priorities, and OKRs
• Using SWOT as a living operating tool
• OKRs in practice: priorities and trade-offs
• OKRs vs. KPIs: how key results become performance measures

Assignment #2: Draft one objective and two key results per priority for a company of your choice, plus a two-item 12-month kill list. (1 page)

Make high-stakes decisions with speed and structure. Learn when to act, escalate, delegate, or slow down - and how to identify, assess, and mitigate operational risk while building resilient contingency plans.

• Decision ownership, delegation, and escalation
• Fast vs. slow thinking in operations
• Urgent vs. important prioritization
• AI-assisted inbox, activity, and time management with tools such as Microsoft Copilot and Claude
• Operational risk: taxonomy and definitions
• Risk assessment, mitigation, and risks vs. issues
• Compliance, regulation, and standards frameworks such as ISO
• ESG as a lever for risk, resilience, and purpose
• Case Studies:
  • HBR: "When Tragedy Strikes the Supply Chain" - Tots & Teens/Bangladesh factory collapse
  • The CPA Journal: "The Story of Boeing's Failed Corporate Culture"

Learn to lead transformation across people, processes, technology, and culture. Use proven change frameworks to align teams, drive adoption, and turn major initiatives into measurable results.

• The COO as transformation leader
• Types of transformation programs
• Transformation Map (T-map)
• Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
• Culture as a driver of strategy and execution
• Diagnosing culture in your first 30-60 days
• Addressing toxic leadership behaviors
• Driving culture change top-down and bottom-up
• The COO's role in M&A integration
• Case Studies:
  • Enterprise AI change: Microsoft 365 Copilot deployment
  • Post-merger culture: Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth

Assignment #3: Enterprise AI Rollout
Design an enterprise AI rollout using Kotter's 8 steps, with actions to drive adoption and long-term success.

Map the business end to end, uncover bottlenecks and value leaks, and connect processes to owners and KPIs. Then design scalable systems, governance, and AI-enabled automation for repeatable execution.

• Seeing the business as one end-to-end operating system
• Value chain mapping: customer need to delivered outcome
• Training and onboarding as operational processes
• Finding bottlenecks and root causes with 5 Whys, Fishbone Diagrams, and Gemba Walks
• Linking process maps to KPIs and accountability
• Process vs. system: what changes at scale
• Systems that scale vs. systems that break
• Core enterprise platforms: SAP (ERP), Salesforce (CRM), and Workday (HRIS)
• COO system governance: ownership, change, and controls
• Building a strong COO-IT partnership
• AI automation spotlight: SAP Joule
• Demo: Swimlane process mapping in Lucidchart or Draw.io
• Workshop:
  • Part 1: Map an 8+ step process, including owners, handoffs, bottlenecks, and the first intervention point.
  • Part 2 (optional): Use AI to identify bottlenecks and compare its recommendations with real-world context.

Assignment #4: Analyze one AI-driven automation example beyond SAP Joule, explain its business value, and propose an enterprise-wide AI automation idea. (1 page)

Learn how to scale teams, structures, delegation, onboarding, facilities, and resourcing without creating burnout, confusion, or operational fragility.

• The scaling paradox: why what got you here will not get you there
• The 4Bs: Buy, Borrow, Build, Bot - when to build, partner, or automate
• Building workforce capability within the 4Bs talent model
• Facilities management, site operations, and space planning
• Delegation and decision models: RACI and DACI
• Case Study:
  • Lessons from Stripe's first COO, Claire Hughes Johnson

Assignment #5: RACI & DACI Practice
Build a RACI and DACI for a real or fictional program, compare the two models, and identify where they improve role clarity.

Build the financial fluency to connect operational decisions with profitability, cash flow, ROI, and cost control. Learn how COOs read the numbers, challenge assumptions, and allocate resources with discipline.

• COO finance fundamentals: revenue, COGS, gross margin, OpEx, EBITDA, and P&L
• Balance sheet basics for operators
• Cash flow: why profitable companies can still fail
• Unit economics across business models
• Annual budgets vs. rolling forecasts
• Budget vs. actuals: variance analysis and action
• Calculating and interpreting ROI across people, projects, and technology
• ROI prioritization: impact/effort and weighted scoring
• Post-project retrospectives to improve future ROI
• Cost reduction without damaging culture
• Emergency reserves and cost buffers

Design KPIs, dashboards, and resource plans that turn strategy and budget decisions into focused execution. Learn what to measure, how to spot issues early, and how to align capacity with priorities.

• KPI design principles and KPIs vs. OKRs
• Leading vs. lagging customer and business indicators
• Using AI to draft KPI narratives and flag anomalies
• Org design, workforce planning, and resource allocation
• Decision-ready dashboards: what to show, what to hide, and Power BI basics

Drive execution across teams you do not directly manage. Build operating rhythms, governance, and alignment rituals that improve accountability and resolve conflict without constant intervention.

• Leading across functions without direct authority
• TMO/PMO governance for accountability without bureaucracy
• Operating cadences, reviews, and meetings that create alignment
• Leadership meetings and the PDCA cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act
• Workshop: Plan a C-suite off-site for Costco or Tesla using PDCA, including agenda, facilitation, alignment, and follow-through.

Build executive presence, influence, and emotional intelligence. Learn to give better feedback, coach effectively, and create the trust needed to lead with or without formal authority.

• What executive presence looks like in practice
• Influence with and without authority: EQ alongside IQ
• Balancing transparency and confidentiality
• Feedforward and the SBI feedback model
• The GROW coaching framework: coaching vs. directing
• Workshop: Co-coach a peer on a real work challenge using the GROW framework and share key takeaways.

No lectures, no slides. Work in teams to make and defend real COO decisions under pressure.

• Scenario: Revenue is down 30%, morale is collapsing, three key leaders have resigned, and the new COO has 90 days to stabilize the business.
• Build a turnaround plan covering the first 72 hours, operational stabilization, morale, stakeholder communication, and 90-day board metrics.
• Present and defend your turnaround strategy to the board: instructor + peer panel.

Tackle the opposite COO challenge: scaling faster than the organization can support.

• Scenario: A tech company has entered three international markets in 18 months. Revenue doubled and headcount tripled, but onboarding, finance processes, and customer satisfaction are breaking down.
• Build a 90-day scaling plan covering systems, priorities, global governance, AI acceleration, and success metrics.
• Use AI to stress-test the plan and expose hidden risks or gaps.

Assignment #6: Refine your team's 90-day scaling plan individually as preparation for the final COO action plan.

Communicate with CEOs and boards with clarity, credibility, and executive judgment. Learn how to frame updates, handle difficult conversations, and drive decisions at senior level.

• The three questions every COO update should answer
• Building credibility at the board table
• Handling budget cuts, missed targets, and team failures
• The one-page COO update memo
• Workshop: Draft a one-page COO update memo after reviewing a real example, then workshop it in breakout groups.

Build a modern COO tech stack that improves visibility, speed, and operational leverage. Learn where AI and automation add value - and how to balance efficiency with security and governance.

• Why the COO tech stack matters
• Building an AI-first operating strategy
• COO tools for workflow automation, LLM analysis, scenario planning, dashboards, and reporting
• Demo: Manus for AI-driven dashboards, analysis, and content creation

Assignment #7: Build a COO Tech Stack Map covering workflow automation, AI execution, and AI data visualization. Define inputs, outputs, and the business problem each tool solves.

Assignment #8 (Optional): Build and adapt a live interactive dashboard in Manus.

Build a realistic path to the COO role. Identify your skill gaps, strengthen your leadership story, and position your operational experience for internal promotion or external opportunities.

• COO career paths: internal promotion vs. external hire
• Skills assessment and gap analysis
• The 3Es: Experience, Exposure, Education
• Building strategic internal and external networks
• Positioning yourself as a high-impact operator, including LinkedIn
• What comes after COO: role evolution and COO-to-CEO paths
• Case Study: David's path from consultant to PM, Head of TMO, Chief of Staff, and COO - lessons at each stage

Bring the course together through discussion, final project guidance, open Q&A, and a practical plan for applying what you have learned after the program ends.

• Course recap and key lessons
• Final Project: 90-Day COO Action Plan
• How to keep building momentum after the course
• Open discussion: your biggest course takeaways
• Course feedback and future learning opportunities
• Final Q&A

Final Project: The 90-Day COO Action Plan*
Step into the COO role and build a practical 90-Day Action Plan for your current organization or a fictional mid-sized company. Diagnose the operating situation, prioritize the biggest challenges, and create a focused plan across strategy, resourcing, KPIs, budget, culture, communication, and technology. Finish with a concise board-style summary of your priorities, required decisions, and definition of 90-day success.