Know Thyself

A dead Greek philosopher can help you find a Chief of Staff job. Just ask yourself 3 questions: Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter?

Socrates was famed for his pedagogical method of asking questions to uncover the why behind the why. His students drastically improved the logic in their arguments through his series of probing questions.

So that’s why we advise our career coaching clients to leverage the Socratic method when they are pursuing a Chief of Staff job. This comes in handy when they want to brand themselves as an A+ candidate and create a compelling candidate message that no hiring manager can deny.

Here’s the series of questions that you need to ask yourself:

Who am I?

• What are your unique personal values?

• What are your unique superpowers?

• What surprising life challenges have you overcome?

What do you do?

• What special creds or company names can you drop?

• What very important stakeholders have you worked with?

• What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

• What unique accomplishments, skillsets or domain knowledge do you have that puts you in the 99% percentile?

Why does it matter?

• What amazing business outcomes have you achieved?

• What is your unique value proposition?

• What’s your professional narrative arc?

Answer these 10 questions and you've got amazing source material for your candidacy.

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