Last week, I attended the inaugural Chief of Staff Summit at the National Geographic Society in Washington DC, hosted by Prime Chief of Staff. The Summit was inspiring, educational, and incredibly validating. I immediately felt like I had found my people. Thank you Catherine Berardi (Founder of Prime Chief of Staff) and your entire team for creating this community!
As a self-taught Chief of Staff (as many of us are!), the Summit gave me the formal language and tactics to maximize what I’ve been working on for several years, and will enable me to become even more purposeful and impactful in my role. The intelligence, ambition, expertise, drive, innovation, and leadership in the room was powerful. I was honored to be surrounded by such great minds and excited to think how this group of individuals (along with their respective leaders) are changing the world.
Here are a few of the key takeaways I had from the Chief of Staff Summit. I’ve noted the specific speaker where it was relevant. Where no speaker is mentioned, the takeaway is my interpretation of a general theme from the Summit:
- Never be indifferent. Have a distinct viewpoint. (Catherine Berardi, Founder of Prime Chief of Staff) Remaining calm and unbiased is a critical skill for a COS to develop in order to see an issue from all angles and present varying perspectives. But do not confuse neutral with indifferent. To develop as a strategic partner and leader, COSs must cultivate a viewpoint on challenges and share their thoughts (well researched, clear, and factual, of course) with their principal. Commitment (one way or the other) makes decision making easier for everyone. I have never lacked an opinion on any topic; indifference is not in my nature. When working through leadership challenges with Adam, it is my responsibility to bring various perspectives to light, share which direction I think we should go in, challenge and disagree, and then commit. Once the decision has been made (whether or not I ultimately agree), I will support the decision and carry it out throughout the organization accordingly.
- Design and optimize the organization around the principal. (Mike French, former Chief of Staff to Charles F. Bolden, Jr., former Administrator of NASA) Get very clear on who your leader is. Make sure you understand their leadership model, how they want to interact with the team and company, what their natural behavior style is, what their agenda is for the next 1, 5, 50 years, and what their non-negotiables are. If you don’t know. Ask. This is the foundation from which you will build out the entire Executive team or organization. For example, if your principal believes in going to the company gym every morning in order to informally meet with stakeholders from all levels of the organization (like Charles Bolden did), then work their schedule, communication channels, and follow-up procedures around that. There is no right or wrong here. Many Force Multipliers want to take on most, if not, all aspects of the strategy and communication from their principal. But you may come up against some conflict if, like Charles, your principal has specific “jobs” they want to continue to perform. For Adam, one of those jobs is running our leadership team meetings. It’s a critical touch point for him and our staff. It is my job to optimize the meetings and work everything else around that.
- Become the King or Queen of context. Visionaries are going to be visionaries, which by definition means thinking and planning for the future with imagination. Chiefs of Staff must help communicate the context of that vision to the right parties in the right way to ensure the message is heard and implemented. How? By getting extreme clarity from your principal, asking probing questions, challenging their thinking, and making sure you understand the direction of the organization. It’s not enough to hear the vision. That’s just the jumping off point. As COS, you need to understand the why, the decision making that went on behind the scenes, and the social, political, and economic implications of that decision. Only then can you fully understand the vision and message and carry it out throughout the organization on behalf of your principal. One example of this in action is on the new podcast that Adam launched, called Business Meets Spirituality. I, too, am on that podcast from time to time, doing what I do best – asking questions! I may dig in deeper on a topic or give some background information on a particular topic to make the big ideas more digestible for our audience. Context is everything.
- Separate your identity from your work. (Adam Grant, New York Times Best-Selling Author and Wharton Top-Rated Professor) This one struck particularly close to home and is something I wish I had heard much earlier in my career. Because my work is a direct expression of myself (I am grateful to actually be able to say I love my career!), I can very easily become consumed by it. For many years, my entire identity was as “Adam’s Chief of Staff.” Hallie had disappeared. This can learn to burnout, of course, but even more dangerous, I think, is the inability to separate your value and self-worth from your work. If your identity is so closely tied to your success at work (like mine was), then one mistake at the office, means you are a mistake. Right? Well, we know intellectually that this isn’t true, but try telling that to the me 3 years ago! This is where focusing on personal development, journaling, meditating, and taking time away to “just be” and not “do” becomes critical. While, I still don’t believe in work-life balance, I do believe that there are multiple facets to each of us and that we need to allow each of them to shine. I am not going to work less or completely unplug while I’m on vacation, that is just not who I am. But through a concentrated effort on personal development, I also know that just being Hallie is enough, and when I approach my work from that perspective, even more success happens!
- Alignment and accountability equals fuel efficiency for growth. (Deidre Paknad, CEO and Co-Founder of WorkBoard) When looking at the bottom line, considering efficiencies, and where to allocate resources, do not overlook the no-cost strategy of communication! I had previously had some exposure to OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), yet this presentation cleared a few things up for me. Yes, it’s important to have a long-term vision for an organization, but with the speed at which technology is advancing and markets are shifting, even a 1-year business plan feels antiquated. Start with an objective for the year, but break it down into quarterly targets (i.e. key results) with your team. This should be an iterative and inclusive process. Clarity equals speed. When everyone is aligned with objectives and key results you can make a higher impact without spending more money. This clarity also makes decision making at all levels of the organization easier and faster. Get everyone rowing in the same direction, allow them to create and be flexible along the way to get to the destination, and then hold them accountable to the outcome. This will lead to faster and more effective growth. I am excited to formalize our process and implement OKRs into our organization this year!
- Play the long game. (Brian Rumao, VP and Chief of Staff to CEO of LinkedIn) I loved this lesson from Brian. I’m playing the long game and appreciate the ownership, responsibility, and challenge that this commitment entails. It means I have to constantly be disrupting myself and my role in order to grow without changing jobs. It means I have the privilege of helping a Founder of a first generation family enterprise create a legacy. Now, the long game isn’t for everyone. Brian actually outlined three specific tours of duty in the COS role: Rotational (1-2 years, with a clear agenda and standard exit paths), Transformational (2-4 years, specific objective and definitive end point designed to transform the business and your career), and Foundational (4+ years, commitment to the organization and team, serving as a cultural guardian and ambassador for company). I am firmly rooted in the Foundational tour of duty, though hop back into Transformational when we’re starting a new company or strategic initiative. Regardless of where how you’ve entered into the COS position, I would encourage you to consider the role for the long run. The role is what you make it and the opportunities are endless, if you are aligned with the right leader.
- Make peace with an undefined role. I crave clarity, so perhaps this is the most important lesson for me. As Brian said, the COS role is what you make it and is our responsibility to rejuvenate our roles at critical junctures of the organization’s growth. That provides a real opportunity that few other people in the organization get. At the end of the day, I believe my job as Chief of Staff is to do whatever it takes to ensure Adam’s vision is communicated and executed. How I do that or who I do that with can vary from week to week. Sometimes that means helping to launch a podcast, other times that means implementing new health insurance benefits or interviewing COOs. More than anything I have learned that doing whatever it takes does not mean doing it alone. A Chief of Staff’s role is to choreograph the dance, not actually perform it. Being skilled at leading through others, communicating and clarifying the vision, managing projects, and holding team members accountable all become part of the job. That is, until another gap in the organization needs to be filled and then the Chief of “Stuff” rises to the occasion. Flexibility and adaptability (while always striving for clarity) are necessary to survive in this role.
- Be the problem solver and be good at your job. (Suzy George, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Madeleine Albright) So simple, yet so profound. If you want to gain respect (and future career opportunities) from your colleagues, leadership team, board members, or industry peers, show up, do the work (well) and solve problems.
- Bring tension, conflict, and disagreements to light. This was a common theme throughout the Summit. As Chiefs of Staff, we must keep our eyes and ears open to what’s happening in meetings, who is speaking, who isn’t, and who is talking but not really saying what they want or meant to say. What are the underlying issues? What conversation needs to be had? Who is disagreeing and about what? Bring those conversations and conflict into the light, discuss, get buy-in, create an action plan, execute, and get feedback in order to close the loop. This is one of the cornerstone functions of my role. I stay aligned with Adam and the conversations he is having with our leadership team, while subsequently having similar parallel conversations. From there, we triangulate all information and bring the right people together to have a specific conversation in order to solve problems. Never forget to approach these issues from curiosity, and not judgement. You are not there to say who is right or wrong, but to bring all perspectives together and get at the heart of the issue. Facilitating these conversations and creating a path forward is invaluable.
- Be the truth teller. As Mike French said, “Someone has to be the one to tell the Emperor when he has no clothes.” As COS, you are uniquely positioned to be that trusted adviser, confidante, and teller of truths to your principal. They do not need a yes man or woman by their side, they usually have enough of those. What they need is someone to check them and to tell them what others won’t. Trust like this is built over time and as a Force Multiplier, you can get there faster by over-delivering on what you say you are going to do, maintaining the utmost confidentially and loyalty to your principal, and yes, by telling them hard truths when no one else will. It’s is not about who is right or wrong, it is about seeing all truths and then finding the truth that aligns with the mission and vision and moving forward with clarity and purpose from that place of alignment. It is not always a comfortable place to be – telling the leader of an organization something that they might not want to hear. However, I believe as COS it is part of your responsibility and duty to your principal and the organization to do those hard things. I have had to bring several issues to Adam over the years that on the surface were not comfortable or particularly pleasant. But those feelings are short-lived and the outcome is always progress and growth.
While the saying goes, “the summit is for the ego and the journey is for the soul”… in this case, the Chief of Staff Summit was for the soul! The Summit confirmed that the Chief of Staff role is exactly where I need to be in order to thrive and add value to a principal and organization. I look forward to continuing to research and help refine the Chief of Staff role as a Force Multiplier and foundational team member to visionary leaders.
