Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

How to Run a Business in Only 2 Hours a Day | Jamal Al Awadhi

11 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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0:54

In this concise segment, Jamal Al Awadhi outlines a practical 2‑hour daily routine for COOs and business leaders who have limited time. He recommends spending the first part of the window reviewing real‑time dashboards to gauge business health, then checking in with the team to understand challenges and support needs. He suggests occasional brief check‑ins with the CEO to stay aligned, and finally carving out dedicated time for uninterrupted thinking and strategic reflection. Al Awadhi emphasizes that COOs often get pulled back into operational weeds, and that protecting thinking time is essential for delivering higher‑level value.

Chapters

If you were only able to work for 2 hours a day, what would you do in those 2 hours a day? I can do a lot in 2 hours. I would check in with my team. I would look at the data that we have on our dashboards right away to understand what's going on. That makes sense. I need to know how they're doing, what they're feeling challenged by, where they need additional support, you know, what's really not working well. They need guidance, they need direction. I definitely want— would check in with my CEO, not every single day,, but within those, some of those 2-hour blocks for sure. And then I would just also take the time to just think. I think it's valuable to stop and to think and come up for air and to think. And I, and I really don't think as COOs we do enough of that. You know, every COO I speak to, you know, finds themselves coming up for air, doing a bit of thinking, and then getting pulled back into the weeds. And I think that we need to take that time to think. Otherwise, I can't see us providing the value that we should provide.