Category Archives: Chief of Staff

Welcome to April. The cherry blossoms are blooming, the Q1 post-mortems are finally buried, and leadership has decided that Q2 is the “Quarter of Streamlining.” In tech, “streamlining” is usually code for “we bought a new AI tool we don’t understand, and now everyone has to change their workflow by Monday.” Since this is StressContinue reading “The Q2 “Spring Cleaning” Survival Guide: 8 Roles, 1 Shared Delusion”

They call them soft skills until the day something goes wrong and then suddenly everyone wants to know where the women are. International Women’s Day posts usually come with stock photos of women smiling at laptops and a polite caption about empowerment. That is fine. But if we are being honest the women who runContinue reading “The Women Who Run Tech and Keep It from Exploding”

Somewhere buried deep in the bowels of your company’s HR system there is probably a dusty PDF that claims to describe the Chief of Staff role. It likely mentions strategic alignment, executive support, and cross functional coordination in very respectable fonts. That is adorable. In technology, the real job description for a Chief of StaffContinue reading “I Do Not Have a Job Description I Have a Fire Extinguisher”

Let’s talk about power. Not the Instagrammable, TED-worthy kind, but the kind that shows up in your inbox at 11:47 p.m. with an urgent “Can you talk?” from your CEO who just watched a competitor make headlines. It’s the kind of power that looks invisible from the outside and feels like an ongoing political thrillerContinue reading “The Silent Power Broker: How Women Chiefs of Staff Run the Company While Everyone Else Is on Stage”

Listen, I’ve spent the last three weeks of December doing what every Chief of Staff does this time of year: turning raw data into narratives that actually make executives uncomfortable enough to care. And let me tell you, the 2025 numbers on women in tech are… well, they’re something. Before you roll your eyes andContinue reading “2025 Wrap-Up: What the Data Really Says About Women in Your Tech Org (And What You’re Going to Do About It in 2026)”

Welcome to Q4, ladies. That magical time of year when the budget planning process transforms normally rational executives into gladiators fighting over every last dollar like it’s the final slice of pizza at a team lunch. As your resident Chief of Staff who has survived more budget cycles than I care to admit (my therapistContinue reading “Surviving the Annual Budget Hunger Games: Tech Priorities vs. “Real” Priorities”

It’s the second week of October, and I’m sitting in my fifth “urgent” meeting of the day. The agenda: Should we pivot our Q4 roadmap to accommodate a new initiative that came up yesterday? The executives are excited. The sales team is pushing for it. And I’m watching my engineering team – who’s been heads-downContinue reading “Protecting What Matters Most: October’s Guide to Keeping Your Tech Team Focused”

Listen, if you’ve ever described your job to someone at a party and watched their eyes glaze over before you finished the second sentence, welcome to the Chief of Staff club. We’re the people who make things happen without anyone really understanding how we make things happen. We’re part therapist, part air traffic controller, partContinue reading “Chief of Staff Hacks: Managing Cross-Functional Chaos with a Smile”

Let’s be honest—managing career ambition when the economy is doing its best impression of a roller coaster designed by someone with severe trust issues isn’t exactly what they covered in those “Lean In” workshops. One day you’re planning your next promotion, the next day you’re wondering if your role will exist next quarter. Welcome toContinue reading “Managing Career Ambition During Economic Uncertainty”

The mere mention of the month of August can send shivers down the spines of even the most seasoned technology executives. Why? Because lurking just around the corner, like a digital Krampus preparing its naughty list, is Executive Planning Season. While the rest of the world might be squeezing in those last-minute beach trips andContinue reading “Behind the Curtain: The Role of a Chief of Staff During Executive Planning Season”