The Chief “Profit” Officer

It’s a role that unfortunately no one carries; a responsibility that’s seldom defined anyways.

Profit, with growth and defensibility, is the ultimate promise of management to all stakeholders. It’s a tool that ensures independence from markets and makes a firm share more with employees. It’s a tool that gives firms the option to pass more to customers to build loyalty and scale. It’s a tool that tells you that your business works. Then, who should own it?

The traditional model has been for everyone to do their duty and hope it all adds up to a profit, which sometimes is the CFO/ CEO’s KPI; most-times not.

At OfBusiness, we believe that –

• it’s a DNA thing; so HR should carry it
• it has to do with pricing your product, so strategy’s got a role
• it’s got to do with how much we sell; the sales guy’s in it
• it’s got to do with efficiency, so there’s ops and tech in it
• it’s got to do with our financing cost, so the finance guys are in it
• you cannot profiteer, so there’s legal/ risk in it
• it has to be measured well, so MIS is in it 

Hence, we believe that we all are Chief Profit Officers (CPOs) of the firm. It’s a tag we have invented and we all carry. Our approach to being a CPO is different basis our function but the goal is to be the best CPO around.