The document discusses the importance of hiring a Chief of Staff (CoS) to support a CEO's growth as the company evolves, highlighting how CoS can enhance productivity, strategic initiative, and communication. It outlines the flexible role of a CoS in managing operations, coaching, and enabling better decision-making, as illustrated by LinkedIn's early days. Additionally, it emphasizes the potential return on investment from a CoS, including increased sales, productivity, and overall effectiveness within the organization.

1. CHIEF OF STAFF TO CEO:
WHY DO YOU NEED ONE?
BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS

2. LONELY AND UNNATURAL:
THE MAKING OF A FOUNDER CEO
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
To be successful, CEO needs to grow into role
as the company grows.
But CEOs are made, not born. No one starts
ready to be CEO.
Hiring a Chief of Staff to CEO will support and
accelerate the making of the CEO,
maximizing the potential of the company.

3. HOW COS WORKED IN LINKEDIN EARLY
DAYS
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
• 2003: Started
LinkedIn
• 2004: Hired Sarah as
Chief of Staff
• 2005: Began looking
for professional CEO
• 2007: Brought in Dan
Nye
• 2008: Came back as
CEO
• 2009: Brought in Jeff
Weiner
• 2004 – 2007: Chief of
Staff
• Responsible for all
day to day
operations for
LinkedIn.
• CFO, acting VP
Product, and
responsible for
HR, Sales, and
Customer
Operations.
• 2007 – 2009: VP
Revenue and
Customer Operations
REID HOFFMAN
CEO
SARAH IMBACH
Chief of Staff

4. COS ROLE IS FLEXIBLE,
CHOOSE AREAS WHERE MOST LEVERAGE IS
CREATED
Strategic Initiatives
• Communication
• Leadership
• Tracking
• Coaching
• Board meeting
preparation
• Strategic
planning
• Decision making
/ sounding board
Operational
Dashboards
• Definition
• Data collection /
analysis
• Investigation
• Prepare
Recommendations
• Eliminate
surprises
Coaching /
Accountability
• Meeting purpose
and agenda
review
• Pre-meeting
preparation and
coaching
• Meeting follow-
up and tracking
• Time
management
• Facilitate focus
Stunt Double
• Provide
summaries of
internal meetings
• Represent
company at
external events
Constant Improvements in Personal and Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013

5. WORKSHEET:
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED FROM COS?
1. Allow you to focus on the activities that only CEO/Founder can
do
2. Add complementary skills and bandwidth for super-CEO
results
3. Your specific reason here
.
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013

6. ANY ONE TRIGGER CAN BE ENOUGH TO
JUSTIFY CREATING COS POSITION
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
 Needs more time to think strategically
 Needs more time to think long-term
 Needs more time to be face of company
 Surprises occur too frequently
 Overwhelmed by tasks that could be delegated
CEO
 CEO time and bandwidth are growth bottleneck
 Company not ready for COO or cannot find right
candidate
 Board meeting prep requires owner, additional time
and thought
Board
 Not enough quality management time
 Cross-functional initiatives needing attention
 Gaps in communication and coordination
Exec Team

7. ASSESS WHERE TIME IS SPENT VS.
BENCHMARKS
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
Sample Benchmark Distribution
Relative Differences By Company Size

8. WORKSHEET:
HOW IS YOUR TIME CURRENTLY SPENT?
 Product
 People
 Business Strategy /
Partnerships
 Operations
 Sales & Marketing
 Investor Relations
 Other: ______________
How many hours do you spend in each on a weekly/monthly basis?
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
xx%
xx%
xx%xx%
xx%
xx%
xx%

9. WORKSHEET:
ENVISION IDEAL TIME ALLOCATION
 Are there any categories where you spend
no time but need to start doing so?
 Where should we focus first for where you
want to spend more time? For less time?
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
Sample CEO Ideal Allocation

10. COS ROI IMPOSSIBLE TO MEASURE BUT
IMPORTANT TO ESTIMATE
 ROI will derive from improvements in
one or more of the following:
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
Reference (mostly): http://peopleedge.mindtouch.us/@api/deki/files/400/ICFMCAPresItalyHandouts2[1].ppt
 Productivity (CEO, Board, Company)
 Sales  Cost
 Employee
Engagement
 Teamwork
 Retention Output
What are the outcomes
expected from adding a
Chief of Staff?
Define a set of
outcomes, beyond the
most likely case, that if
achieved would show a
desired ROI
ACTION ITEM
HARDERTOSOFTERBENEFITS
1.  Cost
• more direct reports
2.  Sales
• more time selling
3.  Productivity
• board decks out 5
days in advance
• more internal
comms
EXAMPLE

11. COS CAN ENSURE BOARD TIME AND
ENGAGEMENT REACHES POTENTIAL
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
Reference (mostly): http://www.slideshare.net/guest3307d2/return-on-investment-in-executive-coaching
• General time
effectiveness
• Time spent reaching
decisions
• Quantity of decisions
• Quality of decisions
• Information sharing
• Degree of delegation
downwards
• Managerial risks taken
• Stress and pressure
level
INCREASESIN…
DECREASESIN…
OPPORTUNITIES TO MEASURE

12. WORKSHEET:
WHERE SHOULD YOUR COS FOCUS?
Strategic Initiatives
 Communications
 Leadership
 Tracking
 Coaching
 Board meeting
preparation
 Strategic
planning
 Decision making
/ sounding board
 ______________
Operational
Dashboards
 Definition
 Data collection /
analysis
 Investigation
 Prepare
Recommendation
s
 Eliminate
surprises
 ______________
Coaching /
Accountability
 Meeting purpose
and agenda
review
 Pre-meeting
preparation and
coaching
 Meeting follow-
up and tracking
 Time
management
 Facilitate focus
 ___________
Stunt Double
 Provide
summaries of
internal meetings
 Represent
company at
external events
 ______________
Constant Improvements in Personal and Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013

13. WORKSHEET:
WHAT OUTCOMES WOULD JUSTIFY COS?
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
 Productivity (CEO, Board, Company)
 Sales  Cost
 Employee Engagement Teamwork
 Retention Output

14. USE YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS TO
GUIDE NEXT STEPS
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
There are as many
variations on this role
as there are
combinations of
CEOs, COSs and
companies.
Creation and staffing of
COS role requires a
particularly thoughtful
and structured
approach.
UNDERSTAND
SPECIFICS
CUSTOMIZE
PROCESS

15. CHIEF OF STAFF JOURNEY
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013
EVALUATE
COS OPTION
EXPLORE
SCOPE AND
PURPOSE
CREATE JOB
DESCRIPTION
CANDIDATE
SEARCH
SELECT BEST
MATCH
1
2
3
4
5
When you’re ready, the “How to Hire
COS” materials provide:
• Worksheets
• Samples
• Advice from the field

16. ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013

17. REFERENCES (1 OF 2)
 CEO Time Allocation
 http://hbr.org/2009/05/what-only-the-ceo-can-do/ar/1
 http://www.voxeu.org/article/how-do-ceos-spend-their-time / Refutation:
http://blogs.windward.net/davidt/2012/05/06/lies-damn-lies-and-survey-results/
 http://www.reaganconsulting.com/CEO%20Leadership%20Study.pdf
 http://hbr.org/2013/09/make-time-for-the-work-that-matters/ar/1
 Comparative Advantage
 http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2011/07/the-start-up-law-of-comparative-advantage.html
 Chief of Staff Resources
 http://whiterhinoreport.blogspot.com/2007/02/chief-of-staff-white-paper-back-by.html
 http://jamieflinchbaugh.com/2012/01/chief-of-staff-the-new-ceo-necessity-guest-post/
 http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4564956&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
 http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/19/news/companies/ceo_chief_of_staff.fortune/
 http://hbr.org/2009/01/picking-the-right-insider-for-ceo-succession/ar/1
 http://bensonhendrix.com/blog/2012/10/why-do-you-need-a-chief-of-staff/
 http://www.globalrecruiters.org/archivos/newsletters/sphere_ceooffice.pdf
 Job Descriptions: http://goo.gl/QcdBso
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013

18. REFERENCES (2 OF 2)
 Definition of Success/ROI
 http://www.slideshare.net/guest3307d2/return-on-investment-in-executive-coaching
 http://peopleedge.mindtouch.us/@api/deki/files/400/ICFMCAPresItalyHandouts2[1].ppt
 http://icf.files.cms-plus.com/FileDownloads/2013OrgCoachingStudy.pdf
 http://www.carolrossandassociates.com/research-organization.shtml
 http://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/research/roi/the-state-of-the-art-in-return-on-investment-roi-in-coaching/
 Founder CEO Dilemma
 http://bhorowitz.com/2010/04/28/why-we-prefer-founding-ceos/
 http://bhorowitz.com/2012/10/17/making-yourself-a-ceo/
 http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130123161202-1213-if-why-and-how-founders-should-hire-a-
professional-ceo
 http://www.scalefinance.com/replacing-ceos-in-vc-backed-companies/
 http://m.theatlantic.com/business/print/2011/09/steve-jobss-law-why-founders-make-better-leaders/244439/
 http://www.blog.altosventures.com/vc/2008/07/ousting-the-fou.html
PREPARED BY MELISSA WINGARD-PHILLIPS, 20 SEPTEMBER 2013