You are Marta Etxabe-Ormaza, 43, newly appointed COO of Hidrofuerza Cantábrica — a €280M Iberian industrial-services group in hydroelectric maintenance and water-infrastructure contracts. 1,400 employees across Spain, Portugal and Chile. You took the COO chair 90 days ago after eleven years in the firm. The CEO just delivered the 90-day 360 report. The September strategic-plan offsite is in nine weeks.
The situation
You were promoted from VP Operations after eleven years. CEO Iñaki Olabarri-Garmendia — the founder's nephew — told you on day one that he wants you "running the firm operationally so I can run it externally." Your remit covers the four BUs (Iberia maintenance, Iberia projects, Chile maintenance, special projects), procurement, EHS, and IT operations. Seven direct reports. Twenty-three skip-levels (the BU heads, function leads, regional directors). Roughly 1,400 staff downstream.
At day 60 Iñaki commissioned a 360 review through Egon Zehnder — eight leadership signals scored by you (self), your seven direct reports, and the twenty-three skip-levels. The report landed yesterday. There are three signals where the self-other gap is large enough that Egon Zehnder flagged it explicitly. The September offsite — where you present the three-year operations plan — will lean on whether the room believes you can carry the room.