The Power of Calm: GuideCX COO Harris Clarke on Building Trust and Systems That Hold

Get 90 Days of Fellow's AI Meeting Assistant FREE at fellow.ai/coo This week on Between Two COOs, Michael sits down with Harris Clarke, COO at GuideCX, to talk about what steady leadership actually looks like inside fast-changing companies.Harris started his career in protocol and operations for the U.S. Department of State, where “process” wasn’t just a buzzword — it was survival. He shares how those lessons translate to running a modern SaaS organization and why purpose, process, and payoff are the anchors of any good meeting.They dig into:How government discipline shaped Harris’s operating styleThe “three P’s” framework for productive meetingsWhy decision speed is overrated — and what Harris means by “Did anyone die or go to jail?”What he learned from executive coaching and board feedbackHow GuideCX built a new product category around customer onboardingHow AI is quietly reshaping how he manages teams and prepares communicationsWhy calm is a competitive advantage during crisis moments like SVBMichael also gives context at the top: this episode was recorded across two sessions, after a recording issue mid-interview (and yes, he’s now officially a Riverside convert).It’s a conversation about building trust, running tight systems, and keeping your head when everything around you is changing.Harris Clarke on LinkedInGuideCXMichael Koenig on LinkedInBetween Two COO's WebsiteEpisode Website