Leading Through Hypergrowth: What It Demands
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading through hypergrowth means building the organisation, team, and systems fast enough to keep up with growth while protecting culture and quality — and staying ahead of problems rather than firefighting them. It demands leaders who can hire and build rapidly, add structure at the […]
Delegation: Why Senior Leaders Struggle With It
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerSenior leaders often struggle to delegate because the very habits that made them successful — being hands-on, doing things well themselves, staying in control — become limitations at scale. Delegating well means letting go of doing, trusting and developing others, accepting things done differently, and […]
What Does a Country Manager Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Country Manager leads a company’s operations in a specific country or market — owning its commercial performance, team, and local execution, and often serving as the business’s face and top leader there. It is a pivotal role for international businesses, blending running a local […]
What Does a Group CEO Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Group CEO leads a group of businesses, brands, or divisions — owning the strategy, performance, and leadership of the whole portfolio rather than a single company. The role is about allocating capital and attention across businesses, leading the leaders who run them, and creating […]
Board Diversity: Why It Matters and How to Improve It
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerBoard diversity — of background, experience, perspective, and identity — matters because diverse boards tend to bring broader perspective, better challenge, and sounder decisions, and because a board that reflects the market and stakeholders it serves governs more relevantly. Improving it means searching beyond the […]
Executive Equity: Options vs RSUs Explained
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerShare options give an executive the right to buy shares at a set price in future, gaining value only if the share price rises above that price; RSUs are grants of shares that vest over time and have value as long as the shares do. […]
President vs Managing Director: What’s the Difference?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerBoth President and Managing Director can denote the senior leader running a business, market, or division, and the two often overlap. The differences are largely regional and structural: ‘President’ is common in the US and often denotes a top or divisional leader, while ‘Managing Director’ […]
What Is Gardening Leave?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerGardening leave is a period during which a departing employee — usually a senior one who has resigned or been given notice — remains employed and paid but is kept away from work, the office, and often clients and information, until their employment formally ends. […]
What Does an Executive Chairman Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerAn Executive Chairman combines leading the board with an active, hands-on executive role in the business — going beyond the governance-focused, part-time remit of a typical non-executive Chair. It is used when a business wants a Chair genuinely involved in running or steering it, often […]
What Does a Deputy CEO Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Deputy CEO is a senior leader who supports the CEO, often deputising for them and taking on significant leadership responsibility — sometimes as a partner in running the business, sometimes as a CEO-in-waiting. Like other senior titles, its meaning varies, but the constant is […]
