We’re two fractional COOs who have spent our careers inside growing, complex businesses helping founders and leadership teams turn strategy into execution. While we share the same seat, we bring very different operating lenses, including different instincts, backgrounds, and approaches to solving the same problems.Alongside candid conversations between the two of us, we interview operations leaders, founders, and practitioners who live in the execution layer of business. This is a space for thoughtful, real-world discussions about how the work gets done right.
Latest episodes
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17 min
Ops Lessons from Sports
The conversation explores the parallels between sports and business, emphasizing the importance of systems, preparation, and continuous improvement for success. Penny Cook and Sara…
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17 min
Mini Kaizen, 3 Easy Steps
In this conversation, Sarah Wilson and Penny Cook discuss the importance of addressing small, overlooked issues in business operations and how these can lead to significant improve…
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21 min
Meetings, Done Better
The lever for operational leaders is the format of meetings, which can determine the effective use of resources and impact the entire rhythm of the organization. Penny Cook and Sar…
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17 min
Business Transformation Done Right
The conversation delves into the challenges and key elements of successful business transformation. It emphasizes the cost of transformation, the importance of clearly defining the…
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17 min
Ethics in Operations
The conversation explores the ethical decisions woven throughout business operations, emphasizing the importance of trust, transparency, and ethical standards in leadership, vendor…
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17 min
Team Chemistry
The conversation explores the critical role of team chemistry in operational success, emphasizing the impact of role clarity, debriefs, and positive reinforcement on team performan…
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17 min
Designing Real Life Processes
The conversation explores the importance of designing processes that can survive the realities of business operations. It emphasizes the need to start with the messy reality of the…
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14 min
Rebuilding After Broken Trust
The conversation explores the impact of trust on business operations, the process of rebuilding trust, and the importance of fixing the root cause of trust issues. It emphasizes th…
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20 min
Listener Questions Pt2
The conversation covers the importance of aligning sales and operations, the need for customer experience mapping before scaling up, and the significance of knowing when to bring i…
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15 min
Listener Questions Pt1
Sarah Wilson and Penny Cook, both fractional CEOs and operational turnaround partners, answer listener questions on operational challenges. They provide insights on managing projec…
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15 min
So, you're a new Ops Leader
The conversation explores the transition into ops leadership, emphasizing the shift from being an individual contributor to an orchestrator, building a map for the first 90 days, a…
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12 min
Stop Meeting about the Meeting
The conversation delves into the drawbacks of update culture, emphasizing the need to shift focus from excessive meetings to meaningful actions. It highlights the importance of cel…
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14 min
Leading Through a Pivot
The conversation explores the critical aspects of leading a team through a pivot, emphasizing the importance of communication, decision-making, and realignment of organizational pr…
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15 min
Who Owns Pricing?
The conversation delves into the complexities of the pricing function in business, exploring the challenges, strategies, and key considerations for effective pricing. It emphasizes…
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15 min
Unlocking Vendor Value
The conversation focuses on the strategic relationship between operations teams and vendors, emphasizing the value of treating vendors as partners rather than just suppliers. It pr…
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12 min
Inventory Turns: A CEO Metric
The conversation delves into the challenges of managing cash flow and inventory, emphasizing the importance of understanding inventory turns, leveraging business size, and owning t…
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14 min
MVP-When are you ready to launch?
In this conversation, Penny Cook and Sarah Wilson discuss the challenges of overdelivering and the importance of launching a minimum viable product (MVP). They provide insights on…
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18 min
What to say When You Don't have the Answers
The conversation explores the impact of silence during periods of uncertainty, emphasizing the need for early and transparent communication. It delves into the fear of losing contr…
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17 min
The Ops Audit
The conversation explores the challenges of operations within growing companies and provides three key questions for ops leaders to ask regularly. These questions focus on system a…
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14 min
Enabling ERP Success
The conversation delves into the critical factors for ERP project success, emphasizing the importance of scope management, change management, and resource protection. It highlights…