Hey there,
Ever noticed how things get the messiest right when everyone is looking for direction? When change turns chaotic, the solution isn't a more complex toolkit. It is leaders who bring personal clarity, communicate simply, and remain close to their people.
See how the basics like honest debriefs make changes feel steadier.
In this issue:
Playbook of the Day
How to Run a 30-Minute Ops Debrief with AI
Goal: Transition from AI "PoC Theater" to a structurally competitive, AI-native
Who: COO, HR Leads, Procurement Leads, and Supply Chain. Leads same time every week.
Before the debrief (5 mins):
Each lead adds 2 bullets to a shared doc; 1 bottleneck AI has cleared, and 1 new bottleneck AI has created
Tag AI pilot that doesn’t work and host highlights bullets posing as “risks”.
During the 30 minute Debrief:
Audit the Revolution (8 mins): Review the "Agent-to-Human" ratio. Share one "Deep Ops" win that solved a real headache. No deep dives.
Manage the Compression (12 mins): Identify reporting-heavy roles. Shift experts into leaders who can manage both humans and AI. Review "Inference Economics" to move high-cost AI tasks from cloud to edge.
Pivot to Value (10 mins): Move budget from chatbots to efficiency. Assign “coaches” to lead hybrid teams on a three must-do actions for days.
Rules: Focus on fixing the process, and if it isn’t in production, it doesn’t count.
Latest News
Ambition vs. Anxiety: What’s Really Driving Your Teams? 📈
Published: 01/08/26
HR Executive takes a pulse check on the 2026 workforce, finding a tug-of-war between the drive to climb the ladder and the deep-seated worry that AI might pull the rug out from under it. The takeaway is that people are trading "hustle" for "stability," looking for leaders who offer a clear career path alongside a sense of real psychological safety.
Upside: This is a golden opportunity to get personal. Instead of guessing what your team wants, you can tailor your approach by offering upskilling to soothe the tech-anxious and fast-tracked leadership roles for the high-achievers. It is about making people feel seen rather than just managed.
Impact: When you tackle that underlying anxiety head-on, you build a culture that’s resilient. Instead of a team that is "quiet quitting" out of fear, you get a loyal group that views market changes as a shared challenge to conquer rather than a reason to check out, making it productive.
2026 Compliance Watch: Keeping Up with State Regulations ⚖️
Published: 01/05/26
JD Supra breaks down the latest state-level shifts in pay transparency and AI hiring laws. The message is clear: the days of the generic, "one-size-fits-all" employee handbook are over. As states get tougher on enforcement, HR teams are being pushed to get much more surgical with their local policies to avoid a compliance headache.
Upside: You can turn this legal hurdle into a win by adopting the highest standard across the board. Standardizing your transparency and privacy rules does more than just keep you out of trouble; it makes life easier for your payroll team and shows candidates you are a fair, "no-nonsense" place to work.
Impact: Staying ahead of these laws is a huge trust-builder. In an era where employees are more aware of their rights than ever, being the employer that is proactive rather than reactive protects your reputation and keeps you from being the next cautionary tale in a courtroom by defending yourself.
New Hiring Filters Mention ‘Skills Over Resumes’ 🤖
Published: 01/05/26
Human Resources Online explains why a shiny resume matters less in 2026 than a candidate's "AI-fluency" and ability to pivot. The focus has shifted to skills-based hiring, hunting for people who have the critical thinking and emotional intelligence to thrive alongside automation rather than being replaced by it.
Upside: By looking at what someone can do rather than where they went, you open the door to a much more diverse and talented group of people. Testing for tech-agility during the interview phase means you are hiring people who can grow with the company, saving you from a constant cycle of rehiring every time a new tool comes out.
Impact: This change turns HR into the ultimate business partner. When your teams are built to be fluid and comfortable with change, the whole company moves faster. Even in a world of AI, the right human talent is still your most valuable asset.
Prompt of the Day
The COO People & Communication Prompt
Trigger Event | Action | Use Case Example |
|---|---|---|
Morning Kickoff | Review AI performance data vs. project priorities. | List which leads must address technical drift. |
High-Stakes Meeting | Frame inferences as a threat to financial outcomes. | Opening lines linking Model Decay to specific margin erosion. |
Strategic Change | Detail the shift to “Industrial Governance.” | Simple explanation of why systems could be cut and what’s next. |
Morale Shift | Address issues over new compliance rules. | Ask questions on moving from "experimentation" to efficiency yield. |
Daily Wrap-up | Status of the progress. | Follow-ups for the CFO to finalize the Financial Impact Report. |
Prompt
“Act as my leadership communication coach. Using the transition to Industrial Governance as context, identify the three people or teams I must contact regarding technical drift and inference latency, define the core message they need regarding our Efficiency Yield roadmap, and provide 1–2 sample lines to frame Compliance Exposure risks clearly.”
Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.
One last thing
Success comes down to how you show up for the 30-minute debrief and how you handle the small problems that needs fixing every day, multiple times a day.
Remove the noises around you, focus on what actually works, and remember: A strategy is only as good as the people who are motivated to run everything.
Keep things simple and keep moving.
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!