Member-only story
“I’d like to be Chief Operating Officer,” Randy (not his real name) said to me.
We had already agreed on Randy’s ownership in the company and his salary, so all that was left was the title. Randy had over 30 years experience, and he was a true heavyweight.
“I think that makes sense,” I said.
Giving Randy the COO title was one of the worst mistakes I made as CEO.
Why? We didn’t need a Chief Operating Officer. And we likely wouldn’t need a COO for a long, long time.
I had violated the basic rule for titles: Give someone the title they deserve, not what they want.
Randy wanted to be COO for all the wrong reasons. Randy had never been a C-level executive before, so becoming COO fed his ego.
Becoming COO also put him ahead (at least to Randy) of the three other founders. Randy was a bull in china shop, overstepping his bounds every chance he could.
There were so many problems that I had to fire Randy.
I wondered, after I let Randy go, if we would have had these problems if I had given Randy the title he deserved (VP of Operations)?
I’ll never know, but I do know that giving Randy too big a title was the wrong decision…
