I’ve been watching an interesting shift happen behind growing businesses.
For years, we thought about the person behind the camera as the producer.
They understood the vision, coordinated the moving pieces and made sure the final product came together.
But business has evolved—and so has that role.
Today, some of the most valuable people behind growing brands aren't responsible for just one piece.
They understand how the pieces connect.
Content.
Marketing.
Email campaigns.
Systems.
Operations.
Technology.
And increasingly, AI.
There’s a term being used more and more for this type of person:
Growth Operator.
What I find interesting about this role isn't necessarily the title.
It's the skill set behind it.
A Growth Operator can understand the vision of a founder or company and help translate it into execution.
They can look beyond the piece of content being created and ask:
Where does this go next?
How is it distributed?
What supports it operationally?
What can we automate?
How does this contribute to growth?
They're connecting areas of the business that used to operate much more independently.
And I believe AI makes that ability even more important.
AI gives us incredible tools to execute faster, analyze more information and accomplish things that previously required significantly more time.
But the tool still needs an operator.
Someone needs to understand the business well enough to know what matters, where the opportunities are and what should happen next.
Technology creates leverage. People create direction.
I’ve watched versions of this role exist for years without having a clear name attached to it.
Now we're watching it become a more defined skill set—and I think it's one business leaders should be paying attention to.
Because as our tools become more sophisticated, the people who know how to connect them to the bigger picture become increasingly valuable.
Who is connecting the pieces behind the growth of your business?