Hire a COO: leadership search by Vinay Pasricha.
A COO turns strategy into operations that run reliably: supply, delivery, quality, cost and the processes that connect them. The role varies more between companies than almost any other, which is why it must be defined before it is filled.
Frame the mandate. Then discover the person.
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01
Frame the mandate precisely
Is the COO running operations day to day so the CEO can focus outward, fixing a specific operational problem, or being prepared as a successor? The brief should say which, in two sentences.
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02
Understand the organisation’s frequency
How decisions are actually made, the pace the organisation runs at and what it rewards. A capable COO in the wrong environment looks mediocre; that is a mismatch, not a verdict on character.
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03
Discover, do not advertise
The leaders who fit are rarely looking. The search goes to them, through discovery and relationships, instead of waiting for applications to a posting.
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04
Validate under pressure
Candidates are tested against the real mandate, with questions generated from the case and held under Socratic pressure. A resume records the past, and an interview tests performance, not fit.
Organisations that hire a COO without a written mandate often discover the role was two jobs. Framing it first is the cheapest step in the search.
This describes an approach, not a guarantee. The doctrine behind it is set out in The SIV Method.
Setting the pay for this role? The India Leadership Pay Benchmark puts published COO pay figures from named surveys side by side, with every source linked.
Begin with the mandate.
Vinay Pasricha is the founder of GoodSpace AI, a hiring company based in Noida that has served about 1,200 corporate customers over seven years. Send the enquiry through the leadership search page, or write or call directly.