Operations executive
Michael M. Hoffman
Mike. Chief Operating Officer at Start Early, a national early-childhood nonprofit based in Chicago.
I run operations — the systems, budgets, facilities, technology, and teams that let a mission-driven organization do its work. The background is general operations across military, corporate, government, and nonprofit organizations. The job has been the same in all four sectors: leave the operation calmer, clearer, and more accountable than I found it.
Writing
The Sequence Is the Argument
Durable organizational change follows five stages in order, and the fourth is the one most leadership writing refuses to name.
All writing →Three of the rules I run on
Owe them proper context.Delegation is an obligation
to the person receiving it: the what, the why, the constraints, what
success looks like, and when.
Plan and a backup — then stop.One real fallback for
what matters, not a branch for every scenario. Over-planning is its own
failure mode.
Don't force it.When the elegant answer hasn't
emerged, park the problem — don't ship a forced one.