Senior operating leadership for owner-operated and sponsor-backed multi-unit businesses, for a defined period, without a full-time executive hire.
The business has outgrown the owner's reach but has not yet grown into a full-time chief operating officer. Managers are being supervised rather than developed, the standard lives in one person's head, and the weekly report says what happened without ever saying what to do about it. The result is an owner who is still the escalation path for everything, which is the thing that stops the business from getting bigger.
This is operating leadership provided by an operator who has run stores, districts and regions, so the cadence installed is one that has survived real weeks: a holiday, a short-staffed store, a bad inventory. It is built by operators for owners who want the discipline of a senior operating seat and a clear end to the arrangement.
A cadence, a written standard, and leaders developed to carry both.
A fixed calendar of what gets reviewed, by whom, and on which day, so decisions happen on a schedule instead of whenever something breaks. The point is not the meeting; it is that the owner stops being the only route by which a problem reaches a decision.
What good looks like, written so a new manager can reach it without an apprenticeship. Written standards are what let you hold a location accountable without relitigating the expectation every visit.
Field leaders coached on the floor against the standard, with a plain read on who is ready for more, who needs developing, and where the bench is thin. The engagement is judged on whether they can run it after it ends.
What is reviewed, by whom, on which day, and what triggers an exception.
What good looks like, in language a new manager can act on.
A short set of numbers the owner can read in ten minutes, including the ones nobody enjoys reading.
Coached against the standard, with an honest read on readiness.
This is a defined engagement with an end date, not an indefinite retainer. It is also not an executive search placement: Cornerstone does not present candidates and does not take a search fee. If what you actually need is a permanent chief operating officer, the right answer is to say so and hire one, and this engagement can leave the seat better defined for whoever fills it.
Built for owner-operated and sponsor-backed multi-unit businesses that need senior operating leadership now, and want the cadence, the standards and the leadership bench to remain in the business after the engagement closes.
If a full engagement is more than you want to commit to yet, the Operating Diagnostic is a paid, fixed-scope read that ends on a date with a plan in your hands, and it is a legitimate place to stop.