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Become a Certified Chief Strategy & Operating Officer (CSOO)

and License Our Complete Lean Scaling System™

Become the scaling expert and strategic thinking partner today's founders are looking for in their right-hand leaders and advisors!

 
APPLY NOW TO BECOME A CSOO

Are you tired of seeing founders consistently prioritize marketing and sales and overlook the critical role of operations in scaling their businesses?


An unfortunate reality is that a lot of business owners see operations as a "nice to have" back-office function instead of what it really is...

🔑 The key to their scalable and sustainable growth as well as their key to time freedom.

We both know what it really takes to both achieve and sustain the results a business owner wants.

Isn't it time for you to stand out and showcase yourself as the strategic force you are behind a founder's vision and goals???

That's where our CSOO certification and licensing program comes in.

Introducing the Certified Chief Strategy & Operating Officer (CSOO) program designed to help smart and talented operational leaders to:

  • Step into strategic leadership at an executive level
  • Break out of the "ops box" into being seen as a trusted strategic partner
  • Master the skills to drive multi-7 and 8-figure growth
  • Become the linchpin in your clients' success stories

Elevate yourself to become the catalyst for scalable and sustainable business growth.

Becoming a CSOO is how you shift from being seen as a “nice-to-have” back-office role that gets overshadowed by flashier marketing and sales roles to being seen as a cornerstone of a business’s success and a completely indispensable, in-demand, and well-paid partner.

SOUNDS GREAT, TAKE ME TO THE APPLICATION!

What is a Chief Strategy and Operating Officer (CSOO)?

A CSOO blends the operational expertise and leadership of a COO with the strategic insights and scaling expertise of a CSO.  They are the role a small business founder really wants when they hire a right hand.

Become an expert in:

Scalable growth.

Strategic systems.

Streamlined operations.

Stabilized + sustainable results. 

YES PLEASE, TELL ME HOW!

We don't just teach you how to be great at operations... because you already are.

We teach you how to strategically leverage operations to sustainably scale a business as the right-hand or advisor to the founder.

As a CSOO, you'll be able to...

  • Say goodbye to the revenue rollercoaster and cash flow challenges and secure longer client retainers

  • Trade in overwork and burnout for sustainable results at a sustainable pace

  • Elevate your pricing to reflect the value you can confidently deliver to your clients

  • Simplify your business with proven turnkey service offerings and operational systems

  • Differentiate yourself from a sea of other Ops Leaders and showcase your strategy and scaling expertise (hint: that's what a founder really wants in their right-hand leader)

  • Grow your own business as you grow your clients' businesses

  • Become a "Visionary Whisperer", able to work with any founder as their trusted right-hand at an Executive-level 

What You Get 

With the CSOO Certification & Lean Scaling System License

Let's face it - you're already great at what you do...

Let's take it to the next level and deepen your mastery while giving you all the systems, toolkits, and confidence that will make you shine like the superstar you are!

12 Months of Training & Mentorship

  • MBA-Level Expert Curriculum
  • Mastermind-Level Support & Mentorship
  • Transformational Virtual Retreats
  • Strategy & Ops Leader Community
  • Turnkey Playbooks, Templates, & Toolkits
  • Directory Listing & Matching Potential
  • License to the full Lean Scaling System
  • 7 Expert Certifications in One Program!

7 Expert Certifications in One Program

  • Lean Scaling Expert
  • Lean Strategic Planning Expert
  • Lean Business Operating System Expert
  • Lean Marketing Operations Expert
  • Lean Dream Team Architect
  • Lean Operational Efficiency Expert
  • Chief Strategy & Operating Officer (CSOO)

The CSOO Certification is the Operational Leader's MBA.


Just as an MBA covers core business disciplines, this program provides a comprehensive understanding across numerous domains critical for small business success and scale.


Upon completion, you have the flexibility to specialize in the areas that best fit your unique vision and strengths with tailor-designed service offerings, or you can leverage everything you learn to be the CSOO to a small business founder. 


You'll graduate as the dynamic, strategic operations and lean scaling expert that founders desperately need to bring their boldest visions to life.

GET THE FULL CSOO SYLLABUS AND DETAILS

Assess if CSOO Training and Certification is the right fit with our in-depth overview and syllabus

We Focus on Proprietary Systems Which You'll Be Certified In and Able to License

Each one is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of a small business. They are exclusive and original systems that you will not find anywhere else. 

You will learn and master our proprietary Lean Scaling System which integrates 5 critical pillars we call SPSTI.

I'M SO IN! LET'S GET THIS APPLICATION STARTED

Each system includes live and interactive training workshops, on-demand modules and supporting content, templates, toolkits, and playbooks that you can plug right into your business and begin using and selling right away.

WHAT'S INCLUDED WITH EACH SYSTEM

You don't have to wait a year to start generating revenue and showcasing your certification! 

Every 8 weeks you have access to new skills, a new capstone project for mastery, and an entire turnkey system to begin leveraging AND selling.

Plus you'll have a new specialized certification on your way to becoming a certified CSOO.

DOWNLOAD THE SYLLABUS TO GET THE FULL RUN DOWN OF WHAT'S INCLUDED!

We Also Include Access to 2 Bonus Systems

Focus on Your Own Personal and Business Growth as You Successfully Scale the Businesses You Partner With

THE FRACTIONAL CSOO SYSTEM

Build a Highly Profitable and In-Demand CSOO Service Offering

Learn how to integrate CSOO services into your existing business model or build a complete business model and offer suite around them.

You’ll learn 4 proprietary frameworks for designing and delivering your service offerings so you can confidently get results for both your business and your clients’ businesses. 

  • Value-First Model: Our proprietary value-first model makes it a no-brainer for leads to become clients; you get paid up-front to deliver immediate value that leads to ongoing and long-term retainers.

  • Million-Dollar Business Model: Your clients shouldn't be the only ones reaching 7 figures and beyond. Learn different business models and structures to take your business to multi-6 or 7+ figures leveraging the Fractional CSOO System as the foundation.

  • Visible Ops Blueprint: One of the challenges that leads to founder frustration and ended contracts is lack of visibility into what their Ops Leaders are doing; our Visible Ops reporting and dashboards make sure this doesn't happen.

Learn everything you need to build a highly successful and profitable multi-6 to multi-7 figure business as a CSOO.

This is delivered via a special virtual retreat where we co-develop your business model and service offerings together, or review and refine the business model and offers you already have.

THE STRATEGY & OPS LEADER (SOL) SYSTEM

Master Strategic Leadership Principles

As a CSOO, your role is the bridge between the founder and their vision and the team and their actions to implement on the vision and goals. 

You’ll enhance your ability to manage up and down in the businesses you partner with, effectively set expectations, handle challenging situations, and lead the business to scalable and sustainable success.

  • Strategic Thinking and Leading Change: You'll develop the ability to think strategically, foreseeing how vision and abstract strategies translate into actionable steps and how to align changes in the businesses.

  • Advanced Communication and Leadership: You'll enhance your leadership communication skills to effectively manage upwards and downwards within the organization including techniques for handling difficult conversations and conflict resolution and setting clear expectations and accountability standards.

  • Problem Solving and Decision Making: You'll develop the skills and tools to make informed decisions and solve problems that align with strategic business goals including problem-solving strategies in complex scenarios.

  • The Visionary Whisperer: Understand how to work with a Visionary and be their trusted right-hand advisor at an Executive-level (which is very different than other levels).

Become a strategic leader who not only understands and executes the founder’s vision but also leads the business towards scalable success effectively.

You get access to our 'SOL Collective' where you get expert trainings and support every month on next level strategy + operations leadership.
APPLY NOW TO BECOME A CSOO

We structure the entire CSOO certification process to give you the necessary combination of knowledge, templates and tools, and skills and experience to confidently step into the executive and strategic leadership role of a CSOO, whether fractional, full-time, or contract.

It’s everything you need to successfully scale your clients businesses while scaling your own!

APPLY NOW

Scaling isn't easy... but it can be simple with the right expert guidance and support.

That's where you come in!

Who the Certification and Licensing is For

CSOO certification and licensing is exclusively for those with existing operational and leadership experience including:

  • Fractional COOs, CSOs, and CMOs seeking to round out expertise and add a credibility boost with a certification
  • Consultants and Advisors who want to differentiate as true scaling experts
  • Agency Owners wanting to train and certify their teams and license turnkey scaling solutions for added revenue streams
  • Seasoned OBMs, PMs, Ops Managers, DOOs, & Chiefs of Staff ready to expand their skillset to include both strategic executive leadership and scaling expertise
  • Corporate Operational Leaders pivoting to the entrepreneurial world
The CSOO Certification is ideal for those focused on partnering with small businesses (those generating under $50M revenue and with less than 100 employees) or with funded start ups.
APPLY NOW

“Crista and her team provide a learning environment that truly sets you up to succeed. Having calls to expand on a specific topic, with resources and templates provided for each, lead to systematic, real-time progress within our business.

The hiring section saved us countless hours of work and re-work.

I also liked how you knew enough about each person's business to inject comments specific to them and their business during the trainings. It made it more tangible and created a more personalized experience for each of us.

I can't recommend this program enough!  Thank you!”

Meet Crista Grasso

As the "Business Optimizer," I specialize in elevating the talented leaders who serve as the right hand to visionary founders and CEOs. My mission? Helping these invaluable operations experts level up to become true Strategy and Operations Leaders (SOLs).

I know firsthand that sustainable growth doesn't require rigid, overcomplicated solutions. That's why I take a radically simple approach - identifying the core leverage points and architecting the repeatable systems and flows to maximize impact with minimum complexity.

With over 20 years as a world-renowned lean and agile transformation expert and working in lock-step with the C-Suite of Fortune 500 leaders as well as bootstrapped small businesses, I blend strategic thinking and creative problem-solving with the right systems and structure to consistently provide simple, yet innovative, solutions tailored for each client's ambitious vision and goals.

And I created an entire lean scaling system for you to do the same!

As a certified Chief Strategy and Operating Officer ( CSOO), you'll uplevel from putting out daily operational fires to co-creating the bigger strategic picture alongside the CEO. You'll be the force that frees your visionary leader to focus on thought leadership while you orchestrate the strategy.

It's time for behind-the-scenes operators to take center stage as equally vital co-creators of success. Let me certify you to optimize operations and unlock simple and sustainable scaling aligned with the business' highest ambitions.

APPLY NOW

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Get Started? APPLY NOW

About Your License 

Our systems, templates, toolkits, and assessments have been carefully crafted from more than 30 years of experience leading and scaling businesses ranging from Fortune 500 giants to small businesses.

There is nothing cookie cutter about the content and it is all exclusive to Strategic Ops Institute and our sister company, Lean Out Method.

With your license, you're not just getting high-value templates and tools, you're getting fully vetted systems that have been used successfully with thousands of small businesses like the ones you work with.

Curious what kind of results clients get with the Lean Scaling System?

Here are just a few

THE CSOO JOURNEY

Not only do you get a full year of trainings and mentorship plus 7 individual certifications, but you also get an additional full year of support to deepen your mastery once you're certified!
APPLY NOW TO START YOUR CSOO JOURNEY

Your Investment


Far Less Than The Value of Gaining Only 1 New Retainer Client

Most Flexible

$1800/mo $1000/mo

12 MONTHLY PAYMENTS

APPLY NOW

Best Value

$18000 $10000

PAY IN FULL

APPLY NOW

Regular investment starts at $18,000 to become a certified CSOO and license the full Lean Scaling System in your business... but lucky for you, those who join as part of our October 2024 kick off can get full licensing and certification for nearly half that!

Step into the future of operations and strategic leadership.

APPLY NOW

Some of the Immediate Benefits

Implement turnkey stand-alone services designed to turn into retainer clients

Systematize and scale your own services as you scale your clients' businesses

Differentiate by becoming a certified lean scaling expert

Be seen as a trusted strategic thinking partner and advisor

We don't just share knowledge with you - we give you a complete and proven ecosystem for scaling the businesses you work with (plus your own).


Unlike other scaling frameworks, the Lean Scaling System is NOT overly complex or rigid.


The reality is that there is no one size fits all to scaling and operations so we have developed a system that you can easily and confidently adapt to the unique needs and context of each of your clients.

It's Time to Step Into Your Next Level of Strategy and Operational Leadership and Stand Out as a Chief Strategy and Operating Officer!

12 Months of Training & Mentorship

  • MBA-Level Expert Curriculum
  • Mastermind-Level Support & Mentorship
  • Transformational Virtual Retreats
  • Strategy & Ops Leader Community
  • Turnkey Playbooks, Templates, & Toolkits
  • Directory Listing & Matching Potential
  • License to the full Lean Scaling System

7 Expert Certifications

  • Lean Scaling Expert
  • Lean Strategic Planning Expert
  • Lean Business Operating System Expert
  • Lean Marketing Operations Expert
  • Lean Dream Team Architect
  • Lean Operational Efficiency Expert
  • Chief Strategy & Operating Officer (CSOO)
APPLY NOW TO BECOME A CERTIFIED CSOO

Want to Learn More Before Applying?

GET THE FULL CSOO SYLLABUS AND DETAILS

Assess if CSOO Training and Certification is the right fit with our in-depth overview and syllabus