What Does a Chief Transformation Officer Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Chief Transformation Officer leads major, business-wide change — driving a defined transformation programme (digital, operational, strategic, or cultural) with dedicated focus and authority. It is typically a role for a specific period and purpose: making sure a critical transformation actually happens, rather than stalling […]
How to Hire a Board Chair
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a board Chair for the ability to lead the board effectively, partner well with the CEO while retaining independence, and provide the experience and stability the business needs for its stage. Because so much rests on judgement, temperament, and the CEO relationship, assessing fit […]
How to Hire a VP of Operations
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a VP of Operations who combines genuine operational expertise with the leadership to run operations reliably and improve them — matched to your specific operational context and challenge. Look for a proven operator who can deliver consistent execution and drive improvement, with the hands-on […]
How to Hire a Chief Data Officer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a Chief Data Officer who can both build the trustworthy data foundation — governance, quality, security — and drive value from data through analytics, insight, and data-enabled products. Define whether the priority is governance and foundations or value and insight, and hire a leader […]
Second-Time CEO: What’s Different
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA second-time CEO brings the invaluable experience of having done the job before — knowing what the role demands, what mistakes to avoid, and how to lead from day one. The challenges are different: resisting the assumption that what worked before will work again, adapting […]
How to Hire a Beauty Founder’s Successor
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHiring a successor for a beauty founder means finding a leader who can build on what the founder created without erasing it — someone with the commercial and leadership capability to take the brand forward, genuine respect for its identity and the founder’s vision, and […]
Travel Retail Beauty Leadership: Hiring for the Channel
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerTravel retail beauty leadership is about winning in the distinctive world of airport and travel shopping — mastering the relationships with travel retailers and operators, the unique traveller customer, and the specific commercial and merchandising dynamics of the channel. Leaders need genuine travel-retail experience alongside […]
Family Business Leadership & Succession
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeadership and succession in a family business are uniquely complex because they blend family relationships, ownership, and management — three overlapping systems that do not always align. Succeeding means being clear about these roles, making leadership and succession decisions on merit and the business’s needs, […]
The First 100 Days for a New Leadership Team
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA new leadership team’s first 100 days should focus on building alignment and trust, agreeing priorities and how the team will work, and establishing early momentum — before pursuing sweeping change. Teams that invest early in becoming a genuine team, rather than a group of […]
Leading a Scale-Up: What Changes as a Business Grows
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading a scale-up means shifting from doing to building — from hands-on founder-led execution to building the teams, structure, and systems a larger business needs, while protecting the speed and culture that made the business special. It demands leaders who can add discipline and scale […]
