People

Texel Americas, Inc.

Productive meetings in the morning, taking care of smaller tasks between morning and afternoon, and in the afternoon I then focus on larger projects. But as everyone knows, every day is different in operations which is what makes this job so exciting!

My to do list and calendar. I do keep various to do lists because I have ADHD, I absolutely need to be organized, otherwise I will forget everything.

Perhaps not controversial within the ops community, but I think we are all undervalued to a certain extent (whether acknowledgement or in pay) because we aren't in "revenue-generating" roles.

I can hyperfocus quite well.

Honestly, just getting to where I am today. I'm lucky enough that my company shows me how much they appreciate what I contribute, and I am grateful for being a part of a team that can see that within me and value it. I've worked in so many other companies that absolutely just see me as another employee. Being able to fully shine in this role, having the freedom to take the lead on projects, being trusted to get my work done and done well, has really propelled me in my career.

Taking a breath, come up with a quick plan of attack, then put my head down and just get on with it.

Learn something new every day. Be open-minded. Recognize that change is inevitable and develop the resilience to adapt and thrive.

Someone with empathy, expertise in their business, attention to detail, and the ability to problem solve effectively while still exude calmness even under pressure.

The fact that the community is getting bigger and more recognized as a real field!

Operations Manager

I started off in the science field; I have my Bachelor’s in Biochemistry and Master's in Public Health. Out of university, I started working in a national laboratory company in the US within a department that supports the US Department of Labor. I found the work to be very repetitive and nothing like I imagined when I went into university. So, from there, I started working in Office Management and Operations for a small pharmaceutical intermediary company for years. I didn't feel fulfilled in that role either. Then, I found a job opening for an Operations Manager for an insurance brokerage. I applied and got the job! There was a steep learning curve since I was completely new to the insurance industry, but I found the job to be engaging, stimulating, and exciting. In that role, I worked mainly in HR, broker support, IT support, and seeing after general business needs; various business and tax filings, taking care of all admin work that's not related to broking. When I started at Texel Americas, I was doing very similar roles but now I've expanded my expertise to finance and compliance as well.

Techosystem

A perfect week is one where the system holds. The meetings are short because the decisions were already made in writing. The team feels informed without being flooded. There’s space for strategy that doesn’t get hijacked by emergencies, and the emergencies that do appear come with context instead of chaos. It’s a week where numbers tell the truth early, where expectations are aligned, and where I get at least one uninterrupted morning to build something that will make everyone’s life easier next month. Quiet, predictable progress. That’s the ideal.

Decision flows. They expose reality in a way meetings never do. A good decision flow clarifies ownership, removes guesswork, and forces a team to confront how work actually moves rather than how they imagine it moves. It prevents the familiar cycle of “Who was supposed to handle this?” and replaces it with a map that holds up under pressure. In my world, that’s non-negotiable.

Most operational fires are not caused by lack of capacity. They’re caused by leaders avoiding decisions. Teams compensate with urgency, improvisation, and Slack messages that look like alarms, but the root problem is almost always unresolved ownership at the top. Ops gets blamed for “inefficiency” when the real issue is indecision disguised as collaboration. It’s uncomfortable to say out loud, but it’s true in every industry I’ve worked in.

I can see the weak point in a system before it becomes a problem. Some people call it experience. Others call it intuition. It’s really pattern recognition sharpened by years of watching organizations strain in the same predictable places. I notice what isn’t being said, what isn’t documented, and what will eventually buckle if no one intervenes. It’s not flashy, but it’s the thing that keeps everything else from falling apart.

I’m most proud of rebuilding organizations during moments when collapse felt more likely than recovery. Not because the turnaround was dramatic, but because it required the kind of quiet, disciplined work that rarely gets celebrated. Creating systems that helped teams regain stability, rebuilding trust through clarity, and restoring financial predictability under pressure were the moments that shaped me. They proved that good operations can hold an entire organization together long enough for strategy and morale to catch up. It’s not a headline achievement, but it’s the one that mattered most.

A clear hierarchy of priorities. When things are burning, emotion tries to take over, but the work only moves if someone is willing to separate noise from signal. I slow the situation down, name what actually matters, and strip away everything that doesn’t. Years of crisis work taught me that calm isn’t a personality trait. It’s a method. You focus on the next correct action and let the rest wait its turn.

Learn to see what other people overlook. Most operational problems don’t announce themselves. They appear as small inconsistencies, repeated misunderstandings, or decisions that keep slipping through the cracks. Pay attention to those. They tell you more about an organization than any roadmap. Don’t chase heroics. Build habits, not drama. Document decisions, ask direct questions, and get comfortable being the person who names the real issue in a room full of polite silence. And remember: your value isn’t in fixing everything. It’s in preventing the same problems from returning.

Great ops leadership is the ability to give an organization back its stability. It’s knowing when to intervene, when to stay out of the way, and when to ask the question no one wants to answer. It means building systems that outlast your presence and habits that hold under pressure. And it requires the discipline to tell the truth early, even when the truth is inconvenient. The best ops leaders don’t create dependency. They create clarity.

What excites me about the future of Ops is the growing attention to how people actually function. For years, Operations relied on willpower and endurance. Now we’re finally designing systems that align with human cognition instead of fighting it. Neuroscience, behavioral design, and better tooling are making it possible to build processes that reduce friction, support focus, and keep teams from burning out under constant urgency. The work is shifting from operational toughness to operational intelligence. And that feels like a long-overdue correction.

Chief Operations Officer

I began in Finance, which is orderly by design, and discovered quickly that the real problems lived in the spaces no one officially owned. I kept getting pulled into cross-functional gaps, crisis moments, and the quiet breakdowns that happen long before anyone gives them a name. Over time, my remit shifted from numbers to systems, from systems to people, and eventually to the work of keeping entire organizations from collapsing under their own speed. Growing up in Ukraine taught me how to operate under pressure and adapt without theatrics, which became its own professional advantage. Today, as COO, my role is less about firefighting and more about predicting where the next fire would have started. The job hasn’t become easier, but it has become clearer.

Self-employed / Freelance

Across 2-3 concurrent projects, ideally. Days split between deep work (designing workflows, mapping systems, solving structural problems) and collaboration time with teams to troubleshoot, iterate, and make sure they actually want to use what we're building. I've learned that the system itself is only half the battle; the other half is bringing people along so they see how it makes their work easier, not harder. I'd want flexibility to go deeper on one project when it needs it, then shift focus when another needs the implementation push. That rhythm keeps me sharp and prevents the consultant trap of designing things nobody actually adopts.

My trilogy of assistants: ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. A year ago I would've said Notion or Asana, but honestly? I couldn't do my work now without AI. They're how I think through problems faster, design better systems, automate repetitive work, and help teams do more with less. Which, let's be real, is what operations is actually about: eliminating waste and creating space for humans to do the work that matters. I'm experimenting with building AI into nonprofit operations workflows, which is where I think the real opportunity is for mission-driven teams.

Notion is overrated. It's brilliant for some teams and workflows, but I see so many nonprofits buy into the hype and then spend months building a beautiful Notion workspace that nobody actually uses because it doesn't solve their actual problem. The best system isn't the most flexible one—it's the one that fits your specific workflow. Sometimes that's Notion. Sometimes it's a CRM. Sometimes it's a combination of three tools working together. I'd rather help a team pick the right tool for their actual need than convince them to force-fit everything into Notion because it's trendy.

Connecting the dots between tools, people, and processes—and knowing exactly where to leverage AI to design systems that actually work for how teams operate, not against it.

The career pivot itself. Taking 15 years of commercial ops expertise, recognising it wasn't aligned with what mattered to me, and deliberately building a new model that lets me do the work I'm actually good at—systems design, process clarity, workflow optimisation—but for organisations I believe in. It would've been easier to stay comfortable in the old model. But making the intentional choice to align my work with my values, to test a freelance approach, to be honest about experimenting rather than pretending I had it all figured out—that took more courage than any single project. And it's working. That's what I'm most proud of.

Breaking the big mess into smaller, solvable pieces. But I also know when I need to stop and ask for help instead of trying to be heroic: no ego about it, if someone else has the answer or a better way, that's a win, not a loss. And I'm not too proud to step away when my brain needs to reset. I learned early on that pushing through doesn't solve anything; clarity comes from pausing, then coming back with fresh eyes.

Before you implement anything, understand the people using it. Sit with them. Ask why they're doing things the way they're doing them, there's usually a reason, even if it looks inefficient from the outside. Be genuinely curious before you change anything. And know that ops will evolve as you grow: the systems you build at a 2-person team won't work at 10 people, and that's okay. Stay flexible enough to learn, to adapt, to admit when something isn't working and try a different approach. The ops role itself is changing too, especially with AI coming in. The best operators I know aren't the ones with all the answers, they're the ones who stay humble, keep learning, and actually care about making teams' lives easier. That matters more than knowing every tool.

Great ops leadership is about serving the mission and the people doing it, not your own vision of the perfect system. It means creating enough clarity and structure that teams can move fast and focus on what matters, but staying humble enough to listen when something isn't working. It's making hard decisions about priorities and saying no to the things that distract, and being strategic enough to see how the pieces connect. But underneath all of it: your job is to enable others' best work, not to build an empire of processes. The systems should be invisible if they're working right.

More purpose-driven organisations realising that ops isn't something you bolt on when everything's on fire. I'm excited about nonprofits and impact orgs finally catching up on this, treating operations as strategic from the start rather than an afterthought. And with AI tools making it possible for small teams to do what used to require way more headcount, there's a real opportunity to help mission-driven organisations work smarter without having to choose between impact and sustainability. That's where I want to be: helping teams build ops as infrastructure for their mission, not as overhead they tolerate.

Operations Specialist

Started in F&B, moved to Retail, then Tech for Film&TV, doing delivery and ops across commercial sectors, I loved figuring out where teams were drowning in manual work, working inefficiently and building systems to free them up. But over 15 years, I realised I was doing this for organisations where I didn't believe in what they were making. Last year, after a redundancy, took space to realign, and deliberately moved into impact work. Now testing fractional and freelance model for nonprofits and purpose-led orgs, doing the same systems/process work but for missions that matter. Remit has shifted from "deliver X at scale" to "help small teams amplify impact without drowning in manual chaos."

emc3

My perfect week would look like the start and end of a fully planned, incorporated, and smoothly running process but that's far from reality! Truthfully, I'm having a great week if I'm able to dive into some problems and at the very least have an action plan built out for the coming days, weeks, months ahead to start trialling solutions and getting my team closer to a more sustainable and supportive way of working.

Asana - I am very process and list-oriented so having a project management system means everything to me!

Operations is the most important department within a business. That may sound like a biased opinion but I stand by it - Ops is always overlooked but without it, a business would likely die quite quickly.

I'm good at asking questions! I never pretend to know everything but if I can ask the right sort of questions, I can usually get to the crux of a situation and help my team think differently about the approach.

Having built a program that is now globally known without having had previous experience in the industry nor known anyone to start with.

Asana (of course) but also my team, it's great to have people who you can lean on or help remind you of things as plates are spinning in the air and could come toppling down at any moment.

First of all - WOOHOO, welcome! Second, you are integral to whatever you are a part of so give it your all and always ask questions! You cannot go wrong so long as you try.

It means having an inclusive and growth mindset. You cannot be in operations if you are stuck in old ways and not willing to try something new or give someone the chance to take risks. It also means collaboration and discussion - the best operational ideas come from throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

That it will become more prominent and important in business. That more groups like Operations Nation will come about to help us ops professionals come together, discuss our pain points, and continue doing what we do best which is holding things together and creating better systems and processes for teams to work with/in so they can also shine and produce incredible goods and services for the betterment of the world.

People & Performance Assistant

I started out as an Executive Assistant, then Program Coordinator with a regional team of a Global Accelerator program. I was fresh out of uni and just learning the ins and outs of "proper business". I had worked odd jobs since I was a teen but nothing like this. I managed everything internally from setting up social accounts to building a network of mentors, partners, and prospects to coordinating and running events throughout North America. I loved the job but found being in front of people and travelling exhausting so I pivoted to a more in-house role. I am now within the Operations team of a global events agency where I can still play a pivotal role in the team and support the company without having to be everywhere at once. I didn't think I was doing operational work until I became an 'Operations Assistant' (before my title change) but after joining Operations Nation, I quickly learned I've been doing operations all along and it's very much where I fit.

Fractional Ops

Quick check-in with the team to start the day and remove any blockages. Focused work in the mornings (when my brain functions best), meetings and collaborative work in the afternoons.

I love doing my weekly planning at the end of the day on Friday, that way I don't have to think about loose ends and pending items over the weekend and can go into my Mondays feeling prepared and ready to go. In terms of tools, I'm not very loyal. I like to keep myself up to date with what's out there. Lately, I'm enjoying using AI LLMs, Zapier and Lovable to streamline processes, but the one I still cannot manage to live without is Excel/Google Sheets.

Ops shouldn't solve every single problem in the company. I've found that turning the problem around and encouraging solutions to come from the rest of the team (with a bit of ops guidance - how feasible is this? how scalable is this? how does it interact with other processes?) can bring out some of the best and most creative solutions.

Simplicity. I like to turn complex problems into simple solutions.

I'm very proud of having built a values-aligned system at inne. I joined the company very early on, which meant having to design processes and grow a team from scratch, while meeting very strict regulatory requirements, counting on very limited resources, a lean team, and managing endless curveballs. Some of my highlights were: - Obtaining ISO 13485 and IVDD CE mark certifications in one year, fully in-house and from 0, with a team of 5 people. Six years, with a team x5 bigger, led the process to get successfully certified under IVDR. - Setting up people and org processes that consistently led to an eNPS score of 9/10. - Setting up a customer-facing process that was, since the beginning, very highly (>90% satisfaction with the customer success team, and an NPS score that reached >70).

Air, pen and paper. When everything feels like it's on fire, it helps me immensely to force myself to take a break for a few minutes, breathe (as I go for a walk, a tea, or grab a coffee outside), go back to my desk, write things down and organise them on paper. Old-fashioned, I know, but it helps me clear my head and decide how to resolve things and in which order. With time, I've learned that taking those 15-25 minutes can end up saving me hours.

Despite outside perception, Ops can be a very creative and people-focused career. In fact, the one thing you can always count on is that there will be changes, so it can be a great career path if you enjoy a broad range of tasks and get bored easily. If that's you, then you are in great luck, because you'll also get the chance to work with some of the nicest people out there! Welcome!

I think great operations leadership is the one you hear least about, because it means that things run smoothly (most of the time), so it *seems* "easy" to everyone else. For that to happen, great operations should combine great people skills and number literacy.

Ops is often taken for granted and doesn't get immediately associated with creativity and fun. I feel this is changing, in great part thanks to the fast pace of change as AI and automations become more pressing and companies are placing more emphasis on efficiencies.

Fractional Operations Lead

I first fell in love with Operations when I took an Operations Research module at university. Since then, I've taken on multiple roles across different types of organisations, but always approached them with an Ops lens. From planning and strategy at Fairtrade International, to leading operations at FemTech startup inne. I love building processes and structures from scratch, aligning them to the company's longer-term strategy and values, and finding ways to adapt and improve as the organisation grows.

pauldavidmather.com

I've learnt that plans are never certain but planning prepares you for uncertainty. If you have a plan A, you should have a plan B... and probably C and D just in case. I find it more useful to have an overarching vision, mission and goals.

Notes on my iPhone/MacBook to track priority tasks – simple and effective.

Ops isn't a function you can put in a box; it's the essence of an organisation that touches every person and process, and without it you're dead in the water.

I'm told I ask good questions, even if people don't always want to answer them.

Bringing my soldiers home from Afghanistan in one piece and not causing any civilian casualties. My boss drilled it into us that doing no harm was more important than any other aspect of the mission – he was absolutely right.

Knowing I'm not actually on fire – things could always be much, much worse.

Have an end in mind, and use tech as a means to reach that end faster, but don't forget the fundamentals: ops is about people and people are what matter.

Truly understanding your people and what makes them tick.

In an increasingly complex and confusing world, with more tools and data at our disposal than anyone really knows what to do with, we've never been in greater need of pragmatic values-driven operators to cut through the noise, match solutions to actual problems, and leverage technology for the greater good.

Operations, Leadership & Risk Consultant | Search And Rescue & Disaster Responder | Career Coach for Operators

My career began in the Army with old school boots-on-the-ground ops in Afghanistan, then I joined a very early stage Deliveroo as the 2nd ops guy and leveraged tech to automate processes. After we scaled the business 500x in 5 years, I moved to Antigua in the Caribbean and ended up becoming a digital nomad – out of necessity because Covid blew my EV business plan out of the water! I've spent the past few years consulting, coaching and mentoring for founders and operators across the world. Now I've gone full circle and am back getting my hands dirty in search and rescue and disaster response, while I find my next challenge combining my skills to make a positive impact on the world.

Fractional

A perfect week for me has space. Space to think, build, and create, not just put out fires. It would probably look like: 1. Two deep-work mornings to design systems or map out processes. 2. One “Ops Lab” day where I get to experiment with tools, automations, and AI workflows (my favourite kind of playtime). 3. A couple of team check-ins that are short, energising, and forward-moving. 4. One big strategy session with a founder where we untangle something messy together. 5. And then at least half a day outdoors — cycling, diving, hiking, or doing something to remind me I’m a human, not a productivity machine.

A single source of truth. I don’t even care what the tool is. Notion, ClickUp, Google Sheets, a well-structured Drive — as long as it’s central, clean, and trusted. So much chaos in Ops doesn’t come from bad people… it comes from scattered information. If everything lives in one place, consistent, visible, and easy to update, half your fires disappear automatically.

Multi-tool tech stacks are not a sign of sophistication — they’re a sign of pain!!! So many teams brag about the 11 different products they use. Nobody is bragging about the time wasted switching between them, or the data lost in the cracks. I believe in fewer tools and better processes.

I turn chaos into clarity, and I do it calmly. People bring me their swirling mess of tasks, ideas, problems, and existential workplace dread… and I can instantly see the structure underneath it. I can map it, prioritise it, and turn it into something that suddenly feels doable.

Building systems from absolute zero. Whether it’s a high-performance sports organisation, a VA agency, or a new retail branch, I love walking into a blank slate and building the operating rhythm, the structure, the culture, and the “way we do things here.” But the real achievement? When the founder looks up months later, realises they’re calmer, more focused, and finally have breathing space… and they say, “I don’t know how we functioned before this.” That feeling never gets old.

I always go back to first principles: What matters most right now? What can wait? What’s just noise? And what is only on fire because someone is anxious? And if all else fails: a cup of tea, a 10-minute walk, and a quiet promise to myself that we’ve survived every “fire” so far.

Ops isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about being curious enough to figure them out, and brave enough to take ownership. So my advice is: Ask “why” at least 5 times. Document everything. (Future you will be grateful.) Build relationships, not just processes. Keep things simpler than you think. And treat everything as a prototype. Ops is iterative by nature. Most importantly: You belong here, even if your path makes no sense on paper. Most of ours didn’t either and that’s exactly what makes this field so powerful!

Great ops leadership is equal parts architect, coach, and firefighter - but the real magic is knowing when to be which. To me, it means: Making complexity simple. Caring deeply about people. Seeing problems before others notice them. Creating calm through clarity. And building systems that make everyone’s lives easier, not just your own. Ops leadership is invisible when done well.

AI, 100%. Not because it replaces Ops, but because it frees us up to do what we’re actually brilliant at: thinking, designing, connecting, and leading.

Fractional Operations Manager

Like most people in Ops, I didn’t grow up thinking, “One day, I’ll be an Operations Manager!” I stumbled into it sideways, through film sets, kitchens, project management, and everything in-between. I started my career in the film industry as a videographer and editor, which taught me how to plan obsessively, troubleshoot calmly, and keep 17 spinning plates in the air without dropping any. From there I moved into assisting, project coordination, and then operations. Somewhere along the way I realised: Oh… this is what Ops is! This is what I’ve been doing all along! Since then my remit has gone from “keep this one project alive” to “build the operating system for an entire organisation,” across everything from e-learning startups to pantries, franchises, communities, and multi-layered global teams. My work today sits at the intersection of people, systems, and calm-in-the-chaos, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Pynea

My perfect week mixes big-picture thinking, fast execution, and good energy: the kind of rhythm where everything clicks! I’d kick off with deep strategy time: connecting GTM with monetisation, mapping our P&L logic to reality, pressure-testing assumptions, and making sure product, growth, and ops are moving like one engine. That’s my favourite part: turning chaos into clarity! Then I want real collaboration: working side-by-side with a team of creative thinkers, problem-solvers, and innovators who challenge ideas, push boundaries, and make the work fun. Nothing beats those sessions where we jump between product ideas, storytelling, and experiments that could unlock our next phase. I also need clean blocks of “heads-down, get-it-done” time, taking strategy and turning it into execution, systems, content, workflows, plans. That balance between thinking and doing is where I’m strongest. Layer in team time: the moments that shape culture, build trust, and keep everyone aligned as we run towards launch! And absolutely: a gym session a day or long walk somewhere in there. So my ideal week...? Smart strategy, bold creativity, fast execution, great people (and fun to keep everything flowing!)

The system I can’t live without is my “connect-the-dots” map: the way we link everything we’re building: GTM → monetisation → product → P&L → people → growth loops. Once that map is clear, execution becomes fast, focused, and fun.

Operations isn’t about process... it’s about momentum! If your ops slows the team down, it’s not operations… it’s admin!!

I like to think turn chaos into a game plan and game plans into momentum. It’s for sure my favourite thing!

What I’m proudest of is turning unproven, slightly wild ideas into things that scale, especially in spaces where people weren’t sure they’d work. From 21 Buttons to TikTok to Pynea, I’ve built powerhouses out of uncharted territory by connecting the dots, creating momentum, and making the vision real!

Focus on the three big rocks that deliver the most impact. 80-20-10 also works well!

Ops never looks the same in two companies, so come in with curiosity rather than a pre-written playbook. Spend your first weeks listening, observing how the business really works, and understanding where the true levers are. Your role is to decode what this specific team needs and design an operational backbone that creates clarity, momentum, and space for everyone to do their best work!

Great ops leadership is the engine behind innovation. It gives teams the runway, the rhythm, and the confidence to build fast, think boldly, and execute with energy.

What excites me most is that AI turns ops into a superpower: Less admin. More clarity. More speed. More space for innovation. It gives ops leaders the chance to build systems that think, adapt, and scale with the company.

Head of Marketing & Ops

I actually came into operations through marketing ; not the fluffy side of marketing, but the side that requires systems, GTM orchestration, and the operational backbone that takes a product from zero to scale. I’ve spent my whole career in high-growth tech companies, from early-stage start-ups to unicorns like TikTok. Every role I took was about launching, scaling, and operationalising platforms: building acquisition engines, shaping GTM, coordinating cross-functional teams, and making sure the internal machine could keep pace with the external growth. That’s where operations first entered my world - not as an “ops job title”, but as the strategic layer under everything I did. Whether I was driving a new product launch, building a growth playbook, optimising funnel systems, or managing cross-functional execution, I was always sitting at the intersection of strategy, people, process, and delivery. And now at Pynea, operations is embedded into my role by design. I oversee the full engine that takes a company from scratch to launch - GTM, growth, brand, product collaboration, sales enablement, monetisation, customer touchpoints, internal processes, and team alignment. It’s truly holistic! For me, marketing and operations have never been separate disciplines - they’re two sides of the same system. Marketing tells the story, but operations is what makes the story real. Stepping into a broader remit at Pynea is simply the natural evolution of the way I’ve always worked: connecting dots across the business, removing friction, building engines, and scaling something from nothing!

The Commercial Edge

Two days on site with teams, one deep work day, one strategy day, and one day just to think. No back-to-back calls, no pointless reporting. Ops is at its best when there’s space for reflection, not just reaction.

A solid weekly rhythm. Whether it’s WBRs, site dashboards, or comms cadence rhythm creates control without chaos. It’s the difference between running a business and chasing one.

Ops isn’t about being the fixer it’s about being the system. Too many leaders build their identity around solving problems rather than preventing them. The real impact comes from structure, rhythm, and clear standards, not heroic rescues.

Spotting the pattern behind the noise. I’m good at cutting through complexity to see what’s really driving performance. It comes from years of listening, asking questions, and learning through experience not from always getting it right the first time.

Leading two businesses through cultural transformation while improving profitability. Seeing engagement, retention, and EBITDA all rise together proved that “people first” isn’t just a value statement it’s a commercial strategy. One of those businesses we achieved 5th, 7th, and 10th place in The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For, which remains one of the proudest moments of my career.

I simplify fast what matters most, what can wait, and who needs clarity. I build structure into chaos and communicate it early. And honestly, training helps lifting heavy things keeps everything else in perspective.

Get curious and stay close to the front line. Learn what drives performance before you try to lead it. Ops rewards people who combine practicality with people skills so build trust, ask questions, and remember that clarity and calm go further than control.

Great Ops leadership means consistency with humanity. It’s knowing the numbers inside out but still remembering every person behind them. It’s the balance of discipline, empathy, and momentum creating environments where high performance feels natural, not forced.

The future of Ops is shifting from firefighting to foresight. Technology, data, and AI are giving operators better visibility and control, freeing teams to focus on people, performance, and experience. The best Ops leaders now blend commercial sharpness with human empathy and that evolution excites me most.

COO

I started in hospitality and built my career through people leadership before stepping into multi-site operations and eventually becoming COO. Moving from People Director to operational leader reshaped my perspective, it proved that culture, clarity, and commercial results are all part of the same system. My remit has grown from leading teams to designing the structures and strategies that enable them to thrive at scale.

Eggcelerate

A good week would strike a balance between reflection and action. I would start by reviewing priorities and aligning teams, spend the middle of the week solving problems and supporting delivery, and finish by learning, mentoring, and clearing the decks. I would always include time with customers or partners, as an external perspective keeps me grounded.

My calendar. It is the backbone of how I plan, prioritise and protect time for what truly matters. It helps me balance strategic thinking with day-to-day delivery, and it keeps me honest about where my attention really goes.

That efficiency is not always the goal. Sometimes it is better to pause, listen and allow creativity to shape the outcome. The best systems leave space for human judgment and initiative.

Turning complexity into clarity. I can identify the essential elements of a situation and bring structure and focus, enabling others to move forward with confidence.

Redesigning an organisation that achieved both record growth and gender balance in its senior team. It showed that strong performance and inclusion strengthen each other when supported by a clear strategy and trust.

Calm and perspective. I focus on facts, address what can be controlled, and make sure the team has the space to think. How one behaves under pressure defines the culture, so composure matters.

Be curious about how every part of the organisation works. Operations connect everything, so the wider your understanding, the greater your contribution will be. Above all, stay calm and keep learning.

It means providing clarity, earning trust and helping others to deliver their best work. Great operational leadership turns plans into reality and creates an environment where people can succeed together.

The way technology and human skill are becoming more integrated. As data, automation and sustainability mature, operations can drive not only efficiency but also purpose, innovation and long-term impact.

COO

While working in telecommunications, I learnt how to achieve results with limited resources and saw how operations can directly shape customer satisfaction. Later, when I began working with small businesses, I became increasingly fascinated by the link between a butterfly flapping its wings in sales and the tornado sweeping through operations. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to shape my current role from within, gradually broadening its scope and impact.

ULAM LABS

Perfect week has all meetings and calls booked in 1-2 days, it’s a mix of strategy and hands-on.

Notion, ChatGPT, Google Workspace - I use them every day.

I solve problems :)

Organisational growth from 150 to 300 headcount, after which a larger company acquired the organisation. I oversaw the process of acquisition and merge.

My second brain in Notion.

Be meticulous!

Sees bigger picture and can prognose the future.

New tools, new trends, new ways of working.

Head of People / COO

I started in IT outsourcing, running sales, recruitment and delivery as one function. Later I moved into HR and org design, scaling teams and even leading the people side of an acquisition. At ULAM LABS I began as Head of People & Ops and now as COO I oversee the whole engine room — HR, finance, marketing, admin and ops — working side by side with the CEO and CTO.

Vin Noir Explorers and Importers

Funny enough I actually have a perfect weekly plan that sits on my desk: - Monday: Orders, Tax , and Compliance review with a review of our planned sales visits - Tuesday: Begin Sales visits with Marketing campaign planning - Wednesday: Deliveries & Content Marketing Planning - Thursday: Digital Marketing Day (Writing, Social Media, Ads) - Friday: Makeup Day for anything & Business Recap Reporting

Standard MS Office tooling (Excel, PowerPoint) - Core tool for spec sheets and reporintg Buffer & Canva - Content Marketing and Social Media planning ChatGPT - I’m a terrible proofreader 😅 Google Analytics, Aherfs, Wix - Site performance and management

If you’re not constantly researching how to do something or how you can add a new skillset to your tool belt, are you even an ops person?

“Link-ability” - Finding connections to anything from content, vendors, shippers, and everything in between to make sure if I don’t know the answer I know where to start to find out what it is.

Launching Vin Noir Explorers and Importers. It was the culmination of every single skill, experience, and mentor/mentee conversation I’ve had that gave me the confidence to step into this venture still nervous, but confident that I have the ability to succeed.

My Kanban Board, a To-Do List, a clear unwavering vision, and my Remarkable Notebook 😅

Say yes to new challenges. Even those that make absolutely no sense, because you never know how that experience will shape your future career outlook or trajectory.

A successful ops leader is somene who is ever curious, is thirsty for new knowledge and is constantly seeking efficient ways of working. Additionally, a leader must trust their people, give them the tools, support and autonomy to accomplish the objectives at hand.

How the future of Operations will be shaped by more empathetic and mindful generations and leaders that recognize the importance of the human touch.

Partner, Operations & Marketing

I actually started out at Capital One in Process, Risk, and Compliance Management. Much of that time was spent understanding effectively navigating complex regulatory environments and how that impacted our business partners. Ever since then, I’ve taken those lessons to Tech, Sales, Marketing and now to my role as a partner for my own small business importing and distributing wine. The ability to be a professional “Swiss Army Knife” and embrace new challenges has given me the confidence to take a challenge of this magnitude.

Parallax

My ideal week would be a mix of deep focus with high-energy collaboration. I’d start with half-day blocks for the more strategic work and shaping priorities without interruptions. I love collaborative working around a whiteboard generating ideas and solving problems, so would definitely incorporate some of those sessions in to the week, alongside walking 1:1s with my direct reports (I find this helps get the conversation flowing and focussed on each other). I like the feeling of getting an initiative over the line and implemented so moving from planning to delivery throughout a week is a great motivator. Definitely would have a team social and regular exercise to balance out the work and sitting at a desk (although I do have a standing desk and walking pad at home!). I’d wrap up on Friday by reviewing outcomes and planning the next sprint, leaving with a clear head and a sense of progress.

Regular retrospectives, coupled with the ongoing refinement of tasks, initiatives and priorities, keep me (and the business!) adaptable and focused on what really matters. This rhythm means we’re not just delivering value but constantly learning, adjusting and sharpening how we work - so improvements become part of everyday operations rather than an occasional exercise and we’re constantly learning and growing.

Progress over perfection - Perfection is overrated. I’ve had to unlearn perfectionism and embrace an agile mindset... ship improvements quickly, learn and iterate. Waiting for flawless slows growth - small, fast, continuous changes create more impact and resilience.

Turning chaos into clarity - I thrive on bringing order, structure and priorities when everything feels urgent. I quickly cut through noise, define next steps and keep teams focussed so progress continues even in high-pressure, fast-changing situations.

I led a three-month company-wide rollout of a new software, consolidating legacy tools and years of scattered spreadsheets into a single platform. The change touched all 55 employees and was high stakes, as without a smooth transition we risked inaccurate invoices, unclear capacity and disrupted client delivery. I owned the programme end-to-end, shaping the vision, sequencing the rollout to meet contract deadlines, and orchestrating discovery, stakeholder engagement and targeted training. Clear, tailored communication and phased adoption minimised disruption while improving data quality from day one. The result was finally having a single source of truth for project and financial data, sharper forecasting and invoicing, and far less manual effort (freeing up over 15 hours of month of manual data entry!), enabling transparency and cross-team collaboration.

Ops often means constant context-switching and competing urgencies, so ruthless prioritisation is key. Years in project management and fast-moving companies have trained me to stay calm and decisive when things flare up. Writing everything down helps with focus, and quickly deciding what truly needs action now. Clear communication keeps everyone aligned, and I delegate where necessary - it’s important to recognise that I don’t have to solve everything myself as then I become a bottleneck.

Start by building trust everywhere. Spend time with teams across the business to understand their goals, pain points and how you can genuinely help. Get close to the numbers - dig into the P&L and data available to you so you know where the pressure points and opportunities lie. Set up a simple system (e.g. Jira, Trello, Slack lists!) to track initiatives and continually reprioritise, and start each day by reviewing what matters most and clearing blockers. Also the one that people quite often forget - Ops is about people as much as processes: communicate clearly, tailor your message to your audience, and always ask questions rather than assume. Stay aware that others have competing priorities - influence and collaboration often get you further than urgency alone.

Great operations leadership creates clarity, builds trust and empowers people to do their best work. It’s commercially aware and adaptable, aligning the whole organisation so everyone is rowing in the same direction. It fosters growth and a culture of continuous improvement and learning, treating mistakes as opportunities to strengthen resilience and learn. For me, it’s about setting direction, enabling others and keeping the business moving smoothly, so the team can focus on delivering value and improving every day.

I’m excited by how AI and automation are removing repetitive work so Ops leaders can focus on culture, clarity and strategic problem-solving. Data-driven decision making is another key shift... empowering every team to use accurate, real-time data to plan, forecast and improve. For me, the future of Ops is about being the organisation’s connective tissue: bridging founders and teams, simplifying processes so everyone can do their best work, and continuously refining systems to enable growth without bureaucracy.

Ops Manager

I started my career in localisation and project management, then moved into digital consultancy, leading complex web and product builds. Over time I realised the skills I’d honed (planning, problem-solving, stakeholder management and commercial awareness) mapped naturally to Operations. Joining Parallax as Operations Manager gave me the chance to work across every part of the business, learn how each function runs and make improvements with real impact. It also deepened my understanding of how clients operate, strengthening my long-term value in consultancy. Since then my remit has expanded from product-specific delivery to full business operations: financial forecasting, people ops, compliance and strategic planning. The work is more cross-disciplinary and people-focussed, with a bigger emphasis on shaping the company’s direction.

FLOX

ZERO admin, all big thinking! I love sinking my teeth into big strategies and churn out pathways for my teams to pursue and get them some wins.

I am a huge fan of process mapping. Wether it's a Miro board or the back of a napkin, it has always brought me and the people involved a lot of clarity and empathy towards the process. It's also a great tool to de-risk and assign ownership. I love to see it come to life into tools and comms plans, and I couldn't live without Notion supporting all of this.

I used to think I'd never be a C-level because I don't have a university degree or big shiny certifications. I have changed that narrative and am living proof that you can achieve a lot without any academic status quo.

I am unshakeable! I might be drowning or firefighting, but I am just such a fan of the ride that I am never fazed by it. My people compass is also very much alive through this so I often feel like Neo in the Matrix - hyper aware of everything around me and seeing it unfold without losing sight of the human element.

Scaling my current company's product deployment. We work in complex on prem situations and I have brought in a huge amount of quality in our processes, while managing huge construction sites (and men, sigh!) - making our on prem operations cheaper, more efficient and smooth like butter. To put it in numbers, that was a 17x growth in 6mo!

The rest of my SLT - we are deeply bonded and aligned and I know I can reach out to them and centre myself again. We care deeply for each other and the business, so I always come out it more grounded and ready to fight the fires!

Don't worry too much about your credentials - observe, learn and sharpen your instincts along the way and you'll do great! Trust yourself and find your ops tribe - they will be your ride or die through all the ups and downs of startup life!

Leading from the heart. We are on the frontline of our businesses in many ways, however we are often winging it (with diligence, but still kinda winging it) and we have no crystal balls. Leading from the heart means giving yourself grace, allowing to receive empathy from the team / the business and push away the isolation that can come from our, often standalone, roles. Bringing your people in your operations journey is imho fundamental to be a great operations leader.

I am excited to see what more AI can bring. Start-up operations is so varied that I am excited to see what different types of co-pilots will come out and empower us to innovate more and more.

Chief Operating Officer

After moving to London, I stumbled upon a start-up job as EA to the execs. Within 3mo I was running the people operations, hiring and team culture. Within 6mo, I was getting the business certified with ISO27001. I followed this thread hard and got myself involved in all areas of the businesses I operated - leading with curiosity and a doer spirit. Founders loved this attitude and, paired with my EQ, they brought me closer and closer to the centre of the organisation - ultimately becoming the COO of my current company. Now, my leadership spans across all areas of the business - I am the compass for my people, my Founder and our customers alike.

Advisor at Nirvana / freelance COO

Agree a clear plan for the week. Tackle a few key issues to fix/automate/scale/deliver them. Work with teams as much as possible and work with management to plan/think about the strategy (they have to all line up!). Take a step back to see if we're missing anything.. Then later in the week be honest about what worked/ what didn't (and why/whare are the metrics telling us). Meet in person to have a nice end of week celebration with team / end the week on a positive.

It sounds strange, but whatsapp. it's an immensely simple, reliable and convenient (free!) tool that works for sharing ideas / updates / having calls / keeping in contact / doing quick polls / being super agile when travelling. I would be lost without it.

That 'operational excellence' is seen as binary, 'achievable' thing. That's nonsense. operations is all about continuous improvement / optimization and scaling processes ... day in, day out, in the best possible way. In a tough environment when everyone is working hard and there are countless problems, then a single 'win' for the day (technical, product, client, revenue etc) can be a big step forward and that is 'excellence' in itself. Most people who ask what operational excellence is, rarely have been deep in the weeds in operations/ventures/tough delivery projects in my experience.

I listen to and observe what the teams are doing as if my life depended on it. leadership is 90% listening. 10% speaking.

Moving from a corporate 'stable' job in Banking in New York, to a growing scale up FinTech in Berlin. Some people thought I was mad.

Take a step back. People act the way you act, so as a leader you need to be calm, measured and objective. Deal with the situation (client,tech issue, whatever it is) to the best of the ability, then later you can step back and think about what went wrong. Weekly incident review meetings (honest, open and constructive) should be essential in ANY organisation.

know the details within operations. inside out. If you have the details (of processes, data, touch points, workflows, client needs etc etc) it becomes an absolute super power. I didn't always realise that (coming from consulting) .. but if you're an expert on the details and can articulate that within the teams, you'll end up running the show.

Not just knowing the company strategy but understanding how to empower/support the team to deliver what is needed from an operational perspective, to execute that strategy.

Automation, scaling, new tools, new ideas and the curious thinking of Ops people. That will solve many many more problems.

COO and Advisor

Joined an 'end to end' operations project team at one of the big US banks, automating/scaling existing operational processes within sales and trading. Since then, taken on bigger projects (dual with a focus on risk management) and ended up as Chief Operating Officer for a few ventures.