Re: Chief of Staff.. most of the roles I’ve seen posted in the impact space over the past year seem to be a less-tactical (than an exec assistant) more-strategic direct report to a c-suite. For a “traditional” CoS that heads up people-functions, I’ve also seen role names like Chief People Officer (at my current org), and I have no doubt there are many other versions.
Chief of Staff as a role name seems like it has an unusually broad set of use cases, and yes I’d agree—anything with “Chief” in it sounds more prestigious. I balance that with the fact that the “non-traditional” version doesn’t seem to really be a managerial position in a lot of cases but a high-level individual contributor. I’m not entirely sure that’s the path for me personally, but I do see the allure (not just for prestige, but to be in ongoing high-level work with senior leadership). I do think that the non-traditional role I’m referring to here deserves a different kind of role name then CoS—its literal interpretation throws me off.
Thanks for the response!
Re: Chief of Staff.. most of the roles I’ve seen posted in the impact space over the past year seem to be a less-tactical (than an exec assistant) more-strategic direct report to a c-suite. For a “traditional” CoS that heads up people-functions, I’ve also seen role names like Chief People Officer (at my current org), and I have no doubt there are many other versions.
Chief of Staff as a role name seems like it has an unusually broad set of use cases, and yes I’d agree—anything with “Chief” in it sounds more prestigious. I balance that with the fact that the “non-traditional” version doesn’t seem to really be a managerial position in a lot of cases but a high-level individual contributor. I’m not entirely sure that’s the path for me personally, but I do see the allure (not just for prestige, but to be in ongoing high-level work with senior leadership). I do think that the non-traditional role I’m referring to here deserves a different kind of role name then CoS—its literal interpretation throws me off.
I totally agree, based on the information you’ve provided. I’m happy to chat about the right career path for you if you’d like!