When digital transformation in the public sector is discussed, the conversation usually starts with the technology area. It is indispensable. But transformation also depends on another leadership: that of whoever answers for the public policy and for the result it produces in people's lives.
The org chart of modern organisations names its leadership functions with some precision. There is the CEO, the CFO, the CIO. In the private sector the list has grown: CDO, CTO, CPO, CHRO. Each acronym brought a mandate, a budget and an expectation. Giving a function a name helps the organisation see the responsibility it carries.
In the public sector, the leadership most decisive for delivering a policy rarely has a name of its own. We propose to call it the CPPO, Chief Public Policy Officer: the state executive.
The CPPO is the policy leader responsible for translating complex political guidelines into high-impact strategies, mobilising public resources, building consensus among stakeholders and ensuring the effective delivery of measurable value to society.
The currency is public value
While the private C-suite delivers shareholder value, the CPPO delivers public value: social justice, security, health, sustainable development. That is why managing inputs, such as the budget, or outputs, such as the number of schools built, is not enough. The CPPO manages outcomes in the citizen's life, such as lower illiteracy. The focus is the outcome, not only the output.
The strategic triangle
The public value literature, building on Mark Moore's work at Harvard University, describes three fronts that must be aligned for a policy to deliver results. The CPPO operates on all three:
- Clearly defined public value: the vision of where the state wants and needs to go.
- Legitimacy and support: dialogue with the legislature, civil society and oversight bodies. Without political skill, in the noblest sense of the word, public policy does not last.
- Operational capacity: reorganising the public machinery, digitising processes and breaking down silos so that things get done.
Operational capacity is where digital transformation comes in most strongly, and that is why it is not carried out by IT alone. Technology widens what the machinery can do; the CPPO ensures that capacity serves a defined and legitimate public value. We explain the concept in detail in Public value and Mark Moore's strategic triangle.
Who the CPPO is in the Brazilian state
It is the policy leader who holds the pen to decide resource allocation at scale and carries direct responsibility for delivery. In the federal executive, this profile tends to sit in the highest-level executive appointed posts and functions (CCE and FCE, formerly DAS 5 and 6), such as national secretaries and programme directors. In other structures, it sits with secretaries, superintendents and directors accountable for a policy.
This leadership does not need to become technical
There is a common reaction to this diagnosis: that the policy leader needs to learn technology. They will not write code or design architecture. What they need is fluency in decision-making, and that can be taught:
- Stating a problem in terms of the expected outcome, rather than the desired feature.
- Recognising when a problem has a known solution and when it is emergent, asking for experimentation before commitment.
- Prioritising by public value and risk, rather than by the urgency of the moment.
- Understanding what artificial intelligence does and does not do, enough to avoid buying a promise or refusing an opportunity out of apprehension.
None of these competencies is technical. All of them belong to management, and they are still rarely taught to the people who need them most.
Why give this function a name
When a responsibility is not named, it tends to go without a budget of its own, without specific training and without planned succession. A name helps address all three at once. The CPPO does not need to be a new post: it can be a recognised responsibility within posts that already exist, with a place in the governance of digital transformation and a training track designed for it.
Where the programme begins
There is a generation of Brazilian public leaders steering policies of national reach and accountable for services millions of people use. When these leaders and technology decide together, transformation gains direction and impact.
It is with the CPPO, alongside technology, that NEXT C-LEVEL begins.