40 Minute Mentor

September 18, 2023

Inside The COO Role: A Deep Dive with Charlene Chen, Co-Founder of Operations Nation

In this week’s bite-sized startup mentorship episode, we’re joined by Charlene Chen, JBM Board Advisor, COO of AZA Finance and Co-Founder of Operations Nation.

Charlene is not only a brilliant COO, but also happens to be our very first 40 Minute Mentor guest, back when we started the podcast in 2019.

“When you’re aligned on vision, values and strategic direction, you can achieve anything…”

Charlene Chen

Tune in to discover

Charlene’s squiggly career to COO [01:06]

A full overview of the COO role [03:27]

The evolution and expansion of the COO role [07:05]

The essential skills any COO needs [09:26] 

Making the leap from Head of Ops to COO [14:04]

Common challenges COOs face [16:16]

Building effective relationships across the C-Suite [22:13]

Resources any aspiring COO should check out [26:20]

Listen on

Helpful links

➡️ Connect with Charlene: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenechen/

➡️ Listen to Charlene’s first 40 Minute Mentor episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/following-the-less-travelled-path-with-charlene-chen/

➡️ Find out more about Operations Nation: https://operationsnation.com/

➡️ Check out this year’s Ops Fest: https://operationsnation.com/events/international-ops-fest

➡️ Secure your seat at the annual cONference: https://lu.ma/cONference2023

Enjoyed this episode?

Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review.

Explore more episodes

19 Dec, 2025

James Mitra on Season 14: Reflecting on 300+ episodes & what’s next for 40 Minute Mentor

40 Minute Mentor

17 Dec, 2025

Alex Depledge MBE on taking a Founder’s Mind into the Government & why the UK is a great place to scale

40 Minute Mentor| Social Mobility

12 Dec, 2025

Talent Predictions for 2026: How to attract and hire the best talent in the year ahead with Amplified People Group’s Sophie Graci, Zach Rose, James Adams and Lisa Crane

40 Minute Mentor| Hiring| The Future of Work

40 Minute Mentor

September 18, 2023

Inside The COO Role: A Deep Dive with Charlene Chen, Co-Founder of Operations Nation

Charlene Chen

Tune in to discover

Listen on

Helpful links

Enjoyed this episode?

Explore more episodes

You can listen to all 40 Minute Mentor episodes on:

Resources

Browse