NEW YORK (Realist English). For Christina Dupré, a senior executive at the real estate technology startup Tailorbird, being a chief of staff has felt less like a boardroom job and more like “running a bar.”
“I oversaw everything — greeting people, asking why they were there, making sure everyone left happy, but also telling people when they were out of line,” she said.
In practice, Dupré managed CEO Tim Cantwell’s priorities, filtered what reached his desk, acted as his strategic sparring partner, and served as a mentor to junior staff. “My role,” she explained, “was to protect the brand — in my case, that’s Tim’s.”
The position she occupies — chief of staff — is fast becoming one of the most in-demand roles in corporate leadership. According to the Chiefs of Staff Association, about 65% of Fortune 500 CEOs now have one, while one in four Series B startups has created the position. Tech giants like Microsoft employ hundreds across their divisions, and demand is surging in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, especially in India and Germany.
A presidential role moves into the boardroom
Traditionally associated with presidents, prime ministers, and the military, the role’s expansion into corporate life reflects the mounting pressures on modern CEOs — global operations, investor scrutiny, and reputational risk.
“You can’t push more decisions through one person without slowing things down or damaging the process,” said Trent Smyth, head of the Chiefs of Staff Association.
Unlike executive assistants, chiefs of staff often wield significant influence. They act as gatekeepers, confidants, and enforcers of strategic focus — sometimes leading special projects or entire business units. Research shows they are increasingly consulted on communications and reputation management, as CEOs face unrelenting public exposure.
“They have to speak truth to power and lead without authority,” Smyth said. “It’s one of the hardest jobs in the building.”
The “heat shield” for modern CEOs
At JPMorgan Chase, Judy Miller has been CEO Jamie Dimon’s chief of staff since 2007, traveling with him and managing who gets his attention. At Google, Ann Hiatt served as chief of staff to Eric Schmidt for nearly a decade, after working with Jeff Bezos at Amazon.
“You’re a heat shield,” Hiatt explained. “You absorb the stress so the CEO can focus on the long-term and the moonshots.”
Hiatt recalled 3 a.m. phone calls and nonstop availability: “Your time isn’t your own. In tech, if you can’t keep up, you’re gone.”
Many top executives — including those at Meta, Salesforce, Unilever, and HSBC — rely on chiefs of staff to synchronize complex strategies across regions and divisions. At BP, the position is viewed as a fast track to senior leadership.
The low-ego operator
According to McKinsey’s Andrew Goodman, successful chiefs of staff are high performers who combine ambition with discretion. “They make the organization work better,” he said. “But their victories are invisible.”
British tech entrepreneur Brent Hoberman recently summed up the requirements in a LinkedIn post seeking a new chief of staff: “Entrepreneurial, curious, fast-learning — and crucially, low ego.”
Despite the rise of AI assistants that can automate scheduling and reporting, insiders say the job’s emotional intelligence component — diplomacy, trust, and human judgment — remains irreplaceable.
“You need the smartest, most credible people in the room,” Hiatt said, “but also the ones who don’t mind staying in the background. We’re the invisible ones.”
