Chief of Staff to the CXO
The Chief of Staff to CXOs will become 5x more common than the Chief of Staff to the CEO in large companies. Bold statement, we know.
But as the Chief of Staff to the CEO becomes more popular, more and more businesses recognize the value that the Chief of Staff can bring to the table. Smart businesses like Capital One, Google and American Express are copying the CEO-Chief of Staff model on a larger scale to expand to other folks in the C-suite. While the COO might be the first logical target, there are many other executives who have Chiefs of Staff, particularly in larger enterprises.
In our research, we’ve talked to the:
Chief of Staff to the COO
Chief of Staff to the CTO
Chief of Staff to the CFO
Chief of Staff to the CIO
Chief of Staff to the CPO
Chief of Staff to the CRO
Chief of Staff to the CMO
Chief of Staff to the CLO
These Chiefs of Staff serve C-suite executives that have big teams, new mandates and business-critical initiatives. As you’d expect, this is where domain experts Chiefs of Staff can play a big role. They bring subject matter expertise plus a healthy dose of strategy and operating experience to the table. They can make a CXO that is new to their role quite capable from the jump.
On the question of compensation, these specialty Chiefs of Staff might be expensive given their deep expertise. That’s why a fractional Chief of Staff can come in within a sensible Chief of Stafft envelope, while executing at a smaller scope.
So if we do the math, there are up to 8x as many CXOs as there are CEOs. That’s why we believe Chiefs of Staff to CXOs will outnumber Chiefs of Staff to CEOs.
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