For many Strategy and Operations Leaders, it’s easy to find themselves wondering, “How did I end up here?” Yet, for David Rosenberg it was pretty clear: Pursue opportunities around great leaders and look at the team you will be working alongside.
While the career path into the role of Chief Operating Officer, Chief Strategy Officer or Chief of Staff isn’t necessarily a clear-cut career path, David’s advice is a perfect illustration of where Strategy and Operations Leaders often sit. That is to say, they serve as the connective tissue between the Visionary Leader of an organization and the employees tasked with helping to bring the vision to life.
On this episode of Aspiring Ops, we meet with David Rosenberg to hear about his journey into the role of COO and Chief of Staff for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. After multiple positions in the private and public sectors, David shares how he has charted the course for his career by surrounding himself with incredible Leaders and how the combination of great leadership with incredible teams has helped him bring together a big vision with measurable outcomes during his time with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
Our Takeaway
Far too many organizations we come across at Elate struggle with an area that makes or breaks a strategic plan: The Vision. As David shares on this episode of Aspiring Ops, he has been fortunate to work with incredible leaders and build great teams. And those two things can succeed without one another.
Incredible leaders have a knack for finding wonderfully talented folks who can help build something special. Similarly, outstanding employees gravitate towards world-class leaders who can paint a vision for what they are contributing towards day in and day out.
For David, he has seen that firsthand in his work with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. But he isn’t just taking a back row seat, watching the magic happen. As a Strategy and Operations Leader, he is the one largely responsible for aligning the strategy set by leadership with the execution carried out by team members.
“It was so important to get that buy-in from the team early on. There are a lot of different things we can chase, but here are our strategic pillars,” said David. “If (those initiatives) are not fitting into our ultimate goal of driving population growth, then we don’t have the time or resources to spin our wheels on it.”
Yet, their leadership emphasizes defining not only what that means, but more importantly, the goals used to measure success.
David ran through a number of different measurables he uses to communicate success across the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, fostering a shared understanding of how each employee is contributing towards that ultimate goal.
For every Strategy and Operations Leader, David shines a light on the importance of serving as the connective tissue between where your company wants to go and how you get there.
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