From COO to CEO: The cold reality of climbing to No. 1

A CEO today has to run a great business, manage a great stock, and, ultimately, shape a lasting organizational legacy, Boatwright said. As COO, he and Niccol were a strong pairing, he said, because he focused on operations, while Niccol excelled at communicating the company’s growth story to investors. One of the hardest adjustments as CEO, Boatwright admitted, is shifting from pulling the levers himself to managing outcomes through others—and doing so while building investor confidence and long-term vision. “It’s just a completely different job,” he said.

Other newly minted CEOs echoed that learning curve. Howard Hochhauser, the CEO of Ancestry.com and its former COO and CFO, stepped into the role earlier this year at the private equity-backed company. Although he’d previously served as interim chief executive, the weight of the job still caught him off guard once permanently in the role. “Everybody wants a successful exit,” he said. “To do that, you have to grow the company. And now I’m spending 110% of my time on growth.”

At Xerox, Steve Bandrowczak stepped into the CEO role in 2023 following the sudden passing of John Visentin. He had spent five years as COO, was a seasoned CIO, and had attended numerous board and committee meetings. But once he became CEO, the stakes shifted. 

“COOs drive change. COOs make cultural shifts, drive outputs,” Bandrowczak said at the Fortune COO Summit. “The difference as a CEO is you’re now the leader, the face of the company. So you’ve got to be able to drive the culture with shareholders, with employees, with partners, but more importantly, understanding things that you did not know, and the admission of the things that you did not know.”

Bandrowczak encouraged aspiring CEOs to take governance and leadership courses to prepare for the transition to the corner office. And as a teacher of rising executives himself, he offered one consistent piece of advice: “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com

Today’s newsletter was curated by Lily Mae Lazarus.

Smarter in seconds

Trade secrets. Xerox CEO Steve Bandrowczak on what no one tells you about the top job

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Ego trip. How overconfidence can kill a COO’s shot at the corner office

Hold tight. What Fortune 500 are saying about how immigration crackdowns could affect their business

Leadership lesson

Dan Sheridan, CEO of Brooks Running, on leading with long-term clarity: “When I moved into this role [from COO], one of the best advice I got was to understand your biases…As a CEO, you have to hold balance and equity in your frameworks and mental models so that you don't lean on past experiences from three, four years ago.”

News to know

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The Air India Boeing crash is a major setback for Boeing’s bid to restore its reputation and offers a test for its new leadership. FT

Executives from Meta, Palantir, and OpenAI are joining a new Army innovation corps, signaling a deeper alignment between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon as the U.S.-China tech rivalry sharpens. WSJ

Israel is trying to exploit Iran’s vulnerabilities to fuel economic unrest and push for the overthrow of its clerical regime. Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have driven record mentions of “Made in America” on earnings calls, even as actual investment in U.S. manufacturing remains limited. Bloomberg

Investors treaded cautiously Monday as the Israel-Iran conflict entered its fourth day, with stocks rising modestly and oil prices fluctuating after last week’s sharp gains. NYT