I have a chief of staff at TrueAccord as of 2019 and I had one at Klarna. I see people hiring for chief of staff who don’t really have any staff, which is interesting. I think CoS became a fancy term for an executive/personal assistant or a stand in for ops manager, and that’s unfortunate especially for people who take this mislabeled role and then try to get hired as a CoS under someone who knows what to expect.

So by elimination, what a CoS is not: they are not in charge of the exec’s calendar, other than for meetings that really manage staff (e.g. staff weekly operating meeting, KPI dashboard, monthly and quarterly planning, etc.) They shouldn’t be doing your expenses or getting lunch when you’re in back to back meetings. There’s a place for an assistant but a CoS isn’t it. A CoS isn’t an operating executive either. You hire an executive to do a job you’re currently doing, only better than you. They are often a subject matter expert (even if that expertise is people or general management) and they take on operational responsibilities and manage to goals through others. While in a big enough company the CoS may manage the office of the executive (including the assistant, for example), they are not operating independently of the executive.

A chief of staff is an extension of the executive. They often have some overlap in interest, capabilities, and responsibility areas with them. Other than operating cadence for the exec’s staff, they mostly work on ephemeral projects aimed at progressing the exec’s tactical interests: solve a tactical issue, pressure the organization to progress on a specific task, and so on. While they represent the exec they are not them, so they can act with similar authority but not be as intimidating which is helpful when putting the pressure on lower levels of the organization. At TrueAccord, my CoS facilitates weekly leadership meetings, supports budgeting and board meeting prep, and then works on a variety of tactical projects, spending time with analytics, client success, accounting, or sales as needed. There is a lot to be gained from hiring the right person to be your CoS to do the right type of work. It’s a waste to do so to make yourself feel important.