Executive vs Non-Executive Roles: What’s the Difference?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerAn executive role involves running the business day to day as part of management, with operational responsibility and accountability; a non-executive role involves overseeing and advising the business from the board, without operational responsibility. In short, executives run the company; non-executives govern and counsel it. […]
What Does a Divisional CEO Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Divisional CEO leads a single division or business unit within a larger group — running it much as a CEO runs a standalone company, owning its strategy, performance, and team, while operating within the group’s structure and accountable to the Group CEO or centre. […]
Leading a Matrix Organization
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading in a matrix organization — where people have more than one reporting line, such as functional and business, or global and regional — takes the ability to lead through influence rather than clear authority, manage ambiguity and shared accountability, and navigate the tensions the […]
Executive Resilience and Avoiding Burnout
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerExecutive resilience — the ability to sustain performance and wellbeing under the sustained pressure of senior leadership — matters both for the leader and the business. Building it means managing energy and boundaries, building support, maintaining perspective, and recognising the signs of burnout early. Sustainable […]
Leading a Global Team
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading a global team takes cultural awareness and respect, deliberate communication across distance and time zones, the ability to balance global consistency with local difference, and extra effort to build trust and connection across borders. What is hard about any distributed team is amplified by […]
Board vs Management: Who Does What?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerThe board governs and oversees the company on behalf of its owners — setting direction with management, holding it to account, and providing counsel — while management, led by the CEO, runs the company day to day and executes. In short, the board oversees; management […]
What Does a Managing Partner Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Managing Partner leads a partnership — a professional services, law, accounting, or investment firm — running the business while also being a partner and owner. The role blends leading the firm’s strategy, operations, and people with the distinctive dynamics of leading fellow partners who […]
What Does a Company Secretary Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Company Secretary ensures a company complies with its legal, regulatory, and governance obligations — supporting the board, maintaining statutory records, ensuring proper processes are followed, and advising on governance. Often underappreciated, it is a crucial role in good governance, and in many companies the […]
The 100-Day Plan After a Private Equity Investment
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerThe 100-day plan after a private equity investment is the focused agenda for the crucial early period — establishing priorities, quick wins, and the foundations for the value-creation plan, while assessing and strengthening the leadership team. Because execution depends on leadership, getting the team right […]
The CEO’s Role in Shaping Culture
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA CEO shapes culture more than anyone — through what they do and tolerate, who they hire and promote, what they reward and measure, and the example they set. Culture is not created by statements of values but by the CEO’s behaviour and choices, watched […]
