title: Chief operating officers: increasingly choice positions.
abstract: Traditionally viewed as a steppingstone to the CEO position, today's chief operating officers (COO) are experiencing dramatic changes in their jobs. As our cover story notes, the emphasis is on operations, and the ideal COO is an an individual who likes dealing with people, managing them, and increasing productivity, say executive recruiters. But the number of COO job slots appears to be decreasing, according to a recent survey. And competition for the available jobs is increasing as more burned-out CEOs begin to look favorably at step-down positions. Also, don't miss our exclusive nationwide survey data profiling the hospital's number-two job.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sabatino
mesh_terms: D002322:Career Mobility; D003142:Communication; D003625:Data Collection; D006740:Hospital Administrators; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D012380:Role; D014481:United States