Hey there,
If your AI plans on hiring decisions, and internal moves are evolving faster than people can process, then that’s not a side issue. That’s the main operational risk.
Leverage these features to test how well your operating model matches how efficiently work could be done.
In this issue:
Playbook of the Day
A 15-Minute Finance Expertise Debrief
Goal: Catch agility gaps early from headlines like Mondelēz's CFO-to-COO shift, reset priorities, and quicken decisions in dynamic snacking markets.
Who: COO/Head of Ops, plus 1 commercial lead per major region or function (sales, marketing, supply chain). Same time every workday.
Before the debrief (3 mins):
Each lead will add 2–3 bullets to a shared document: on what worked (e.g., regional ops streamlining)
Host fast skims and substantial highlights anything tagged “urgent” such as (e.g., execution speed risks).
During the 15 minutes:
Today in 60 Seconds (4 mins): Each lead shares win, problem, one key number. No unnecessary tasks.
Risks for Tomorrow (6 mins): Review “urgent”/“at risk” items; assign one action per item to single owner.
Plan for Tomorrow (3 mins): Host will recap 3–5 actions; the goal is to get verbal “yes” from the owners.
Rules: No strategy drifts, no CEO overload talks, focus on commercial execution and operational agility.
Latest News
🧭 Leadership in a Redefined Strategy
Published: 02/09/2026
All work highlights an increasing gap between leadership’s confident AI-and-productivity roadmaps and employees’ lived experience of uncertainty, identity questions, and eroding confidence at work in 2026. While organizations double down on tools, efficiency, and transformation decks, workers sit in quote: “limbo”.
Upside: For COOs shaping intelligence-driven operations, this is a signal to treat emotional stability as infrastructure, pairing AI adoption with defined narratives about what’s changing, where judgment and accountability now matter most, and how careers will evolve so employees see themselves in the future you’re building.
Impact: Leaders who redesign workflows and performance metrics while explicitly rehumanizing work, creating shared language, predictable communication, and visible care for well-being elicits great company results. Transform 2026’s disconnect into a more competitive advantage, boosting security, resilience, & engagement.
⚖️ AI Bias Risks in Recruitment Exposed
Published: 02/05/26
HR Dive on Dexian's Work Futures 2026: Over 2 in 3 workers fear AI-driven job loss, more than 1 in 4 distrust employers' fair AI deployment. C-suite sees firms are far more prepared (over 50% "very prepared" for AI/ML, up from 38%). Urges are slowing adoption, over-communication, management changes, and excellence.
Upside: For COOs in intelligence-driven operations, this equips you with a genuine and prepared checklist to audit AI governance, align the C-suite on comms that build trust, get ahead of 55,000 AI-attributed 2025 layoffs, and deploy two-way feedback loops that elicits worker anxiety into a secured asset for efficiency gains.
Impact: Navigated strategically, AI adoption shifts from job-loss risk to operational resilience, cutting displacement fears (nearly doubled per KPMG in 2025), fostering upskilling confidence, and positioning your firm as a trusted leader in ethical tech integration amidst the rising enterprise scrutiny.
🔄 Hiring Across Teams Becomes Political
Published: 02/05/2026
HBR states the organizational minefield of poaching top talent from peer teams: internal hires outperform externals from day one, boost careers via lateral moves, and retain stars who might otherwise bolt for lack of growth. Yet talent hoarding managers resist due to capacity gaps, & smooth handoffs to avoid favoritism fallout.
Upside: COOs in operations gain a leverage for flexible talent markets, scout cross functionally, pitch development fit over ‘poaching’ demeanor, negotiate shared transitions, and unlock high-performers without burning bridges, turning silos into career accelerators, which keeps advancements both purposeful and versatile.
Impact: Mastered, internal mobility combats turnover (top quit reason: stalled advancement), builds manager reps as talent developers, and equips orgs to deploy proven insiders fast, elevating operational agility while sidestepping external hire increase risks and cultural mismatches, which decreases loyalty and company fit.
Prompt of the Day
The AI Workforce Trust Radar Prompt
Trigger Event | Action | Use Case Example |
|---|---|---|
Start of the week. | Scan AI, hiring, and org-design headlines; note 3 shifts that could rattle teams’ confidence. | Early read on where strategy, talent moves, or tools might feel out of sync with how work actually feels. |
Before leadership/ops sync. | List key trust, talent, and AI-governance topics by function (people, tech, finance, operations). | Risks to spotlight in the meeting and sharper questions about emotional impact, not just performance.. |
When a project or team feels unstable | Capture where people seem confused: role changes, AI rollouts, or cross-team hiring decisions. | Clear view of perception risks, engagement dips, and where narratives need tightening. |
After a surprising exit or backlash incident | Document what happened, where expectations broke down, and how AI, hiring, or mobility played in. | Root-cause themes and next steps to prevent repeats. |
Month-end / quarter-end planning. | Map upcoming AI deployments, talent moves, and policy changes against communication and support plans. | 30–90 day “people risk” map and 2–3 actions to keep confidence and performance moving in the same direction. |
Prompt
“Act as my AI workforce trust radar. Using this snapshot of our AI plans, hiring moves, and team sentiment, (1) flag the top 3 people or trust risks for the next 30 days, (2) highlight early warning signals to watch this week (confusion, confidence dips, or fairness concerns), and (3) suggest 2–3 concrete actions I can assign today to steady trust while we execute the roadmap.”
Efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right things.
One last thing,
Treat trust, transitions, and talent moves as great opportunities, and less of a luck. The same trends that feel messy now can become proof of long lasting strength.
Your bold decisions on trust and talent will determine whether these changes stick or stagnate.
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!