The Financial Times yesterday profiled the rise of the Chief of Staff, calling them “the invisible ones running the world’s biggest companies.”
It’s a brilliant article, and long overdue recognition of a role that’s often misunderstood.
But as I read it, I couldn’t help thinking that senior EAs have been doing much of the work they described for decades.
Of course, Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant are not the same role, however they do sit within the same ecosystem of executive support, serving different purposes.
The key difference is that EAs manage the leader, while the Chief of Staff manages the business. One focuses on enabling the executive’s time, priorities, and performance; the other drives alignment, communication, and execution across teams.
Here’s what stood out:
1. “We’re the invisible ones.”
Yes, but invisibility is only powerful when it’s chosen, not imposed. Executive support has spent too long being unseen. Influence can be quiet, but it shouldn’t be invisible.
2. The “heat shield.”
Ann Hiatt described being the buffer that absorbs stress so the CEO can focus. That’s emotional resilience, and empathy under pressure. Every exceptional EA knows this territory intimately, and they’ve been doing it without the title or the spotlight.
3. A structured career path.
The FT identifies three types of Chiefs of Staff: early-career coordinators, mid-level project leads, and senior advisers. That’s exactly the structure we’ve built into the Global Skills Matrix, for assistants from entry-level administrative roles right up to Director of Administration. It’s the same discipline of strategic partnership, mapped with clarity.
4. “Lead without authority.”
The truest line in the article. Great EAs influence outcomes without positional power every single day. They are the connection between strategy and delivery.
5. The human factor.
The piece wonders if AI could replace the Chief of Staff. It won’t, because the value of these roles lies in trust, diplomacy, and emotional intelligence. These are human capabilities, not technical functions. The same is true for EAs.
6. “Low ego.”
Brent Hoberman’s description of the ideal Chief of Staff, “entrepreneurial, curious, fast-learning, and low ego,” could just as easily describe the best EAs I know.
So yes, the Chief of Staff role is rising. But it’s not replacing the Executive Assistant; it’s expanding the landscape.
As Simone White, FEPAA, FInstAM so perfectly puts it, the relationship between EA and CoS is like that between a nurse and a doctor. Same family, different functions. Both essential. Both at their best when they work in partnership.
The article deserves celebration,
because it signals something powerful. The world is finally starting to understand what true executive support looks like.
Leadership has never been a solo act. It never will be.
