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You Can't Automate Good Judgement
AI promises speed and efficiency, but it’s leaving many leaders feeling more overwhelmed than ever.
The real problem isn’t technology.
It’s the pressure to do more with less — without losing what makes your leadership effective.
BELAY created the free resource 5 Traits AI Can’t Replace & Why They Matter More Than Ever to help leaders pinpoint where AI can help and where human judgment is still essential.
At BELAY, we help leaders accomplish more by matching them with top-tier, U.S.-based Executive Assistants who bring the discernment, foresight, and relational intelligence that AI can’t replicate.
That way, you can focus on vision. Not systems.
Hey there,
Ever notice how org charts look fine until decisions slow, AI outputs stagnate, and people start doubting the workflows meant to help them?
With COO roles being reworked and AI racing ahead, a structural and AI‑trust radar switches turbulence into a controlled growth.
Leverage these AI and COO strategies into a deliberate and trusted progress.
Playbook of the Day
A 15-Minute Management Reconstruction & Efficiency Boost Debriefing
Goal: Spot where management layers and overlapping responsibilities slowed execution today, so you can simplify how work flows tomorrow.
Who: COO/Head of Ops plus 1 lead per major function (ops, finance, people, tech/supply, CX). Same time every workday.
Before the debrief (3 mins):
Each lead adds 2–3 bullets to a shared doc where decisions halt in layers, and where sluggish execution threatens growth, or customer experience.
Host skims and highlights anything connected to “management layers,” duplicated responsibilities, or potential delays on strategic priorities.
During the 15 minutes:
Today in 60 Seconds (4 mins): Each lead gives a quick update where decisions moved fast, where they jammed in layers, and one number that shows the impact.
Structural Friction & Risks for Tomorrow (6 mins): The group quickly reviews tagged “layers” or “overlap” issues and picks one clear solution per item, with a deadline.
Plan for Tomorrow (3 mins): The host recaps 3–5 structural actions for tomorrow, confirms who owns what, and how impact on speed, cost, or CX will be tracked.
Rules: No brainstorming, no new projects, keep it about today’s reality and tomorrow’s plan.
Latest News
⚙️J.M. Smucker’s CFO Expansion Strategy
Published: 02/12/2026
Food Engineering reports The J.M. Smucker Co. eliminates its COO role effective Feb. 9 as part of a leadership reorganization advancing AI strategy, profitability, and portfolio growth, with Tucker Marshall expanding from CFO to oversee sales and key retail segments. Rob Ferguson rises to chief product supply officer managing operations/supply chain/R&D, while Jill Penrose broadens as chief people/admin officer/chief of staff including HR and corporate strategy.
Upside: COOs in intelligence ops gain a blueprint to evolve past siloed roles to integrate supply chain, sales, and AI into expanded CFO/CPO oversight, position HR as strategic chief of staff, and streamline CTO-led AI that converts pilots to profit.
Impact: Turns leadership friction into growth engines stabilizing earnings amid volatility, as Smucker bolsters coffee/pet margins and emulate to build executive trust, speed AI ROI, and thrive as agile operators in AI-driven markets.
🧱 Target Restructures Staffing Efficiency
Published: 02/11/26
Global Leaders Insights details how Target’s new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, is using a sweeping leadership and staffing restructuring to simplify operations and restart growth after several slow years, cutting about 1,800 corporate roles. 8% of the HQ workforce eliminated both filled and unfilled positions with a memo to staff pointing on too many management layers & overlapping/redundant responsibilities as key reasons why decisions and innovation stagnate.
Upside: This offers concrete examples of treating structure as an operating lever, using role reductions, clearer accountability, and to simplify ops to unclog decision paths and sharpen focus on growth, productivity, and consumer based execution instead of spreading talent thin across small-impact work.
Impact: COOs can use this as a warning against letting layers and overlaps quietly accumulate, and as a template for proactive, smaller-scale redesigns that avoid the need for a disruptive, and unnecessary legal-based shock later on.
🤖 Upgrades on AI Trust for Sustainability
Published: 02/01/2026
AInvest has recently put to light 2026’ point where 92% of firms are increasing AI investment, but only 1% consider their investments truly mature, creating a division that shows up as neglected rather than just in strategic plans. 41% of employees worry about AI inaccuracy, cybersecurity, and ethics, making transparent leadership and reliable interactions about AI’s role as a copilot instead of main ship driver.
Upside: When AI is paired with reskilling and ethical guardrails, the gains are real. EchoStar Hughes saves 35,000 work hours a year and lifts productivity 25%. Klarna, Morgan Stanley, and the University of Hong Kong cut support volume or admin load by 30% and freeing up 9.3 hours a week for each user.
Impact: . For a COO agenda, this becomes a persuasive case to use AI transparency, manager training, and manual decision rules into the operating blueprint, so AI lifts execution speed and margin without setting resistance & stagnancy.
Prompt of the Day
Structural & AI Trust Risk Radar Prompt
Trigger Event | Action | Use Case Example |
|---|---|---|
Start of the week. | Scan yesterday’s decisions, org changes, and AI deployments against your top 3 strategic bets. | Spot where structure, spans, or AI use are drifting away from growth, margin, or CX priorities. |
Before leadership/ops sync. | Pull a 1-page view: roles consolidated/eliminated, layers added/removed, and new AI workflows. | Keep debate on: “Does this design speed decisions and execution, or add friction and confusion?” |
When a project feels “wobbly.” | Log which teams are affected, which accountabilities moved (CFO/CTO/HR), and where gaps appear. | Decide fast whether to mirror, adapt, or explicitly reject moves like COO elimination or resets. |
After a surprising incident. | Check AI and restructuring impact: productivity signals, trust issues, and span-of-control load. | Catch early signs of burnout, trust erosion, or stalled AI ROI before they harden into churn. |
Month-end / quarter-end planning. | Capture wins, misses, and near-misses tied to structure, AI, or trust and assign one owner each. | Build a running list of fixes so you don’t sleepwalk into a Smucker/Target-scale overhaul later. |
Prompt
“Act as my structural and AI‑trust risk radar. Using this snapshot of our current restructurings, spans of control, AI rollouts, and people signals, (1) flag the top 3 risks where layers, role shifts, or AI use could slow execution or erode trust in the next 30 days, (2) surface the early warning signals I should watch this week, and (3) propose 2–3 concrete mitigation moves I can assign today across COO, finance, tech, and HR.”
The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible.
One last thing
Structural changes can be a stability upgrade, not just another disruption to survive.
When you treat every reshuffle and AI deployment as a risk signal and check layers, you lower the risks of unnecessary and unforeseeable issues.
Apply updated strategies to keep structure, technology, and trust aligned before the market tests you.
Until next edition,
Chloe Rivers
Editor-in-Chief
COO Intelligence
P.S. Interested in sponsoring a future issue? Just reply to this email and I’ll send packages!