Sadly, this requires a lot of work: typically not what chief strategy officers had in mind when they accepted the position. The first lesson is not to be enamored with the title of chief strategy officer, head of strategy or even strategy analyst. They, thereafter, alter their approach to explain the best course for a company. Labour standards were uneven and the operations adhered to global guidelines to varying degrees: some did while others routinely ignored them. Chief administrative officers (CAO) and chief operating officers (COO) are executive-level leadership positions within an organization. process please click the link in the email we will send you. When Snap appointed a chief strategy officer (CSO) in 2014, the move was widely noticed — and not just because the owner of the Snapchat messaging app had picked a banker who made his name advising on the massive initial public offering of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce group. Do you think that 4 months later he asks for time to present his final thoughts to the CEO? This raises two very important considerations when taking chief strategy officer roles. While he had a discussion about the changes taking place at the company, and the company’s priorities and issues, he assumed the company’s priorities would mirror that of the chief strategy officer. They typically do not want the stress of an operating role but know enough about the company and have sufficient credibility to help the CEO think through issues. It would have been much more effective for him to have a candid discussion about some of the priorities the CEO wanted him to tackle once he arrived. We use cookies to … So where can we find the best candidates for the CSO position? If Luis made the right move from partner to chief strategy officer, why did it fail? This is a very practical point because in strategy studies it is widely overlooked. Never miss an insight. Your stand begins now. Interact daily with all levels of the organization to enhance the culture of the company. This is your time. Susan Avarde / Marketing Strategy & Customer Experience . That was a good role. By having Luis report to the CFO, it indicates that the CEO assumed the strategy work was finished when the analyses was done. Good strategists have the analyses on hand but also the skill to explain their points and test the pulse of the board. Note that when I say chief strategy officer, I am referring to the senior most level where you are working with the CEO and his executive committee. On paper, this was a sound analysis. The operating units also do not report to the CFO and usually do not pay that much attention to him or her either. Anyone losing power is going to fight the changes. Luis absolutely made the right move joining as chief strategy officer. Confidentiality requirements may require us to alter information presented on this website. In this situation, an economically sound strategy did not consider the personalities at play. And that’s the fast track to status quo. Is Luis frustrated? Chief Strategy Officer: Promotion or Demotion? To complete the When using material from this website, including but not limited to tools, frameworks, concepts and methodologies, please provide the proper citations and attributions. Period. Follow us to get the latest updates: Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn. Just to be clear about this, 90% of BCG and McKinsey partners are considering operating roles. It is a critical competitive advantage that most firms/professionals/consultants try to develop yet eventually quit. The core responsibilities of the Chief Strategy Officer are as unique as the company they serve. But, putting the wrong role into play in your growing company can spell disaster. Chief Operating Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Head of M&A, E-Commerce at PCS Wireless United States 500+ connections. It’s a position that has become far more prevalent in the C-suite within the last decade – often under the guise of a head of strategic planning – but is seeing increasing activity as the economy continues to strengthen. He was a solid partner who was capable, friendly and well liked. There are some unique exceptions to this. This is an overview of one such study. We'll email you when new articles are published on this topic. The chief strategy officer may be able to see an additional insight, but that is not going to change the executive’s mind because the resistance to change is not driven by the validity of the answer. Stay up-to-date on the latest searches and executive news. The CFO and CEO mentioned that given how much interest he had stirred among the generally impatient operating leaders, Luis should use this opportunity to help them with the integration and, therefore, build better relationships. Chief Strategy Officers (CSOs) face a number of challenges distinct from those faced by other members of the C-Suite—in particular, the breadth and ambiguity of the CSO’s role. Earlier career stints with leading consulting firms are also common, providing them a core set of strategic problem-solving skills. In fact, BCG had been appointed to help the board determine if they should bid to enter the power sector. At first, all was fairly wonderful. In fact, if this path is not present, external candidates evaluating the opportunity may not consider making a move. Thus, corporate strategy has often been spearheaded by the CEO or the CFO, occurring on a periodic basis, with companies bringing in outside consultants to help guide their strategic thinking. What is crucial to note is that moving from consulting to internal strategy, en route to an operating role is a good path to follow. The process went well and Luis felt he had allowed the divisional leaders to explore a new more effective way to think through the process of identifying and integrating new acquisitions. Instead, an extensive network and connections to key players are the best route to scout out talent. The CEO can recommend a strategy but the board must endorse it. Business development is interesting but it is not strategy. This requires an influential individual who is practiced in getting buy in, can convey authority, and inspires honest and practical feedback from the people on the ground. Many of the best strategists in the world are sitting within the top tier consulting firms, or are perched at the top of some of the most successful Fortune 500 companies. To some extent, the Chief Revenue Officer’s role is quite a bit similar to the Chief Financial Officer’s job. I have not personally seen his approach, but given that he was a partner and M&A processes are not complex to develop, it is fair to reason he probably delivered a lot of value. Being able to determine the viability of acquiring a paint company and extracting value from the asset is not even close to understanding how to reorganize a bloated conglomerate. You will receive additional complimentary videos/updates by email. Enter your email address below to receive our newsletter. For a very senior person at the operating, executive or management committee level, moving to strategy is always a move to sideline a person’s career. Please confirm, if you accept our tracking cookies. In terms of full transparency, I have been offered such roles. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. It is far too easy to get entranced by spreadsheets about enterprise value and economic profit, but you need to be able to understand how the strategy changes impact the organizational power structure. Business development can be highly numbers oriented with M&A target screening or very operational around securing sites and integrating assets. First, it helped him directly leverage his prior experience as a strategy partner. That is pretty tough to do because the operating units do not report to the chief strategy officer and, therefore, would likely ignore him or her. The job of the CSO, then, is to clarify the vision and communicate it to the masses in order to achieve and sustain execution of the strategy. The chief operating officer (COO) is the second-highest C-suite executive rank after the CEO. This is about understanding power structure within a conglomerate and understanding how economic decisions affect an executive’s overall positioning with a company. You must design the right job description in order to … When the complex strategy decisions where being discussed, he had no way of influencing the decision. New Chief Strategy Officer jobs added daily. In many ways I was his personal number cruncher. When I was an associate I once worked on the reorganization of a massive oil company. Beyond experience, Chief Strategy Officers must be pragmatic, analytical and tactically persuasive. You look at stuff like Trump and Brexit and there’s a prevailing sense of “us vs. them” in the world. How Is a Chief Revenue Officer Different from a Chief Financial Officer? iOS + Android Apps, Apple TV, ROKU, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Amazon Kindle, +6,200 strategy episodes all by ex-McKinsey, BCG et al partners. This shows a common misunderstanding about strategy on the part of the CEO. A new metric needs to be rolled out, process efficiencies need to be created or a new operating model must be created. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA) ("Ritchie Bros." or the "Company"), the world's largest industrial auctioneer and a leading used equipment seller, announced the appointment of Jim Kessler as Chief Operating Officer (COO). It’s important to understand that the roles of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Sales Officer (CSO) are equally complex. Thus, these companies are using the strategy function as a funnel for future leadership within the business. Both report directly to the chief executive officer (CEO). I have declined them, politely, for the reasons I will mention here. The co-authors of Second in Command: The Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer liken the COO role to that of a U.S. vice presidential candidate: The best person for the job is highly dependent on his running mate. VP-chief Strategy Officer Resume Examples & Samples Establishes the vision and drives the multiple markets forward through motivating peers and subordinate managers to institute changes as needed. I will not repeat those points here. First, a chief strategy officer, assuming they are lucky enough to do corporate strategy, must be able to influence the operating units and management committee. Every single consultant, except the most senior partners or lucky junior consultants (analysts, associates etc.) However, moving from an operating role to internal strategy is, 9 times out of 10, the end of a career. Therefore, the chief strategy officer is really a wise ear for the CEO. Imagine you are the divisional executive vice president of a $2B unit being told that the only way for the company to succeed in the future is that if you lower your growth targets so that another unit could use the cash to grow? A brilliant strategy is usually counter intuitive. Chief of staff is a fancy word for executive assistant to the CEO. Second, unless you can personally see some unique way to leverage a strategy role into a better operating role, never ever give up an operating role if you intend to stay in corporate for a long time. Unfortunately, he was working on the operational side of business development: target screening processes and post-merger integration. Yes, he is. Influence is driven by respect, power, credibility and impartiality. It is extremely naïve to think that just because someone is credible, they will be listened to. Responsible for strategic planning, strategic management and assuring linkage between the Long Range Financial Plan and service areas strategic plan. The one constant is the COO's close relationship with the CEO, who is often responsible for defining the role. To understand what happened and what chief strategy officers do, we will unpack this with a set of questions. The reason is simple: no two chief strategy officer roles are the same. I am not referring to leading a smaller strategy unit within a division of a bank or a company. He was head hunted to take over as a chief strategy officer at a rapidly growing diversified European conglomerate. A great chief strategy officer will, therefore, recommend a strategy, which creates economic value while considering the personalities of the key executives. Primarily, the CSO will focus on building emerging business strategy with a 3-5 year perspective. You will receive additional complimentary videos/updates by email. Beyond the title, you need to consider many items when making this decision. For example, sectors like insurance faced different needs versus sectors like textile sales. The company was growing so fast that the board wanted the CEO to ensure the appropriate rigor was being applied to strategy, growth, investment and efficiency measures. Even in a company where the chief strategy officer is celebrated and comes the closest to setting strategy, he is not doing it. Who is the Chief Growth Officer, the CMO or the CBO? Apply to Operations Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and more! Within sectors, different countries had different legislation. Considering the intellectual horsepower and the internal drive of the strategy leaders, CSO’s often have one eye on the business and the other on a path to P&L ownership. She is the author of 5 books on strategy and critical thinking. Image from Trey Ratcliff under cc, cropped. Second, Luis was not on the board. They aren’t out there climbing the linear path of the corporate ladder. That is pretty tough to do because the operating units do not report to the chief strategy officer and, therefore, would likely ignore him or her. The CEO assumed that once the analysis was handed over to the CFO, everything would click into place and the recommendations would be accepted. If you work in operations and have the opportunity to serve as the chief of staff to the CFO or COO, it is not a bad idea, provided you are at a relatively early stage of your career. The Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) will serve as a critical member of the executive management team. Luis reasoned that if his team built an effective screening process for M&A they could prove their worth and be given access to broader leadership discussions. You may not have picked this up, but Luis was being forced to report to the CFO and Luis did not have a seat on the board. 2,290 Chief Strategy Operating Officer jobs available on Indeed.com. If new to the organization, this is a role that is frequently met with skepticism, both from the senior team and the frontline workforce. To put this in perspective, remember that the CEO cannot institute merger discussions without the board’s approval. Luis was encouraged to help build a screening process to assess future acquisitions. Like this? + editable slides, Advice from partners who have collectively advised +100 Fortune 100 CEOs. Some companies, including AIG, Kimberly-Clark, Motorola, and Yahoo!, have discovered a way to fill the execution void: hire a chief strategy officer. The Director of Operations vs. the Chief Operating Officer. Earlier in my career, when I was a consultant, the newly appointed CEO of a power producer asked the firm to second a consultant to serve as his chief of staff for about 6 months. The post-merger work was positioned as an outcome of the successful management committee meeting. It was the first time Snap had employed a CSO. According to a report from the Harvard Business Review, people in this role rarely come from predictable backgrounds. In short, this is a person whose broad experience grants them a diverse array of skills. FIRMSconsultingTM, StrategyTrainingTM, StrategyTVTM and The Consulting OfferTM are. It is the role of the CEO and board to set strategy. They have the depth of experience, the insight, and the big picture perspective to determine avenues for business growth and sustainability. In most companies, the CSO works closely with the CEO, the Senior Leadership Team and, often times, the Board of Directors to develop the corporate strategy and guide the business through the strategic planning process. The world just does not work that way. Moving from running a profit center with thousands of people to running a little cost center think-tank with 20 people, if you are lucky, and a personal assistant leaves you with little room to influence a company. In many ways, this was a failing on Luis’s part. It’s a rare breed, to say the least, but they’re the ones who can genuinely drive an organization to greatness. Case Western Reserve University - … Moreover, the conglomerate underestimated the amount of investment needed to take substantial share in each of these markets. All content remains the property of FIRMSconsulting LLC. Though, the insights apply just as much to all levels of strategy leaders. Luis believed the company was investing in too many initiatives, none they could fully see through to completing, and many were low margin endeavors. We have the experience and approach to find them. The crucial point is that unless the chief strategy officer sits on the board, or can influence the CEO, he will not be able to recommend such tactics. Finding them is not the hard part; engaging and recruiting them most certainly is. Support the Founder/Chief Strategy Officer with the day-to-day operations to ensure the business is operating effectively. Chief Strategy Officer (CSO): A chief strategy officer (CSO) is an executive charged with helping formulate, facilitate and communicate an organization's plans for the future. CEO Q&A: Exploring What It Takes to Be a Successful Leader. First, a chief strategy officer, assuming they are lucky enough to do corporate strategy, must be able to influence the operating units and management committee. The operating systems for technology differed across regions, countries and divisions. Furthermore, with the overwhelming pace of change of business today– and the extent to which these changes impact different functions within the organization – the realization is that strategic planning and implementation is a full-time job, requiring more discipline, structure, and rigor behind the function. Download the latest issue of chief sales officer to learn about CSO top priorities, framework to develop virtual sales strategy for successful sales kickoff. 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