As you may have guessed from my Saturday post where I told you I was going CUCKOO with the endless introduction of CXO positions that aren’t really needed, I have to wonder if we really need a Chief Commercial Officer.
If you look at the position description given in the Supply & Demand Chain Executive article which says that it is a single executive leader at the right hand of the CEO whose sole job is to drive growth and ensure integrated commercial success and the one person who can own this responsibility as it touches all divisions — from sales and market to customer service to product development, doesn’t it ring a bell? The first description, as far as I’m concerned, is part of the job description for the COO — Chief Operating Officer and the second description is quite close to part of the job description for the CS(C)O — Chief Supply (Chain) Officer. These two positions should be working together to insure success is achieved on the sales side and the supply side in a consistent and integrated fashion. We don’t need a new position to cloud these responsibilities and needlessly pack the board room table. We just need the traditional roles of CEO, COO, CMO, CIO/CTO, and CSO working in concert.
Just like too many chefs spoil the broth, too many executives screw up the company. Just trust me on this one. I’ve seen it happen too many times already, and even though all my hair is now gone, I’m not that old … yet.