The Chief of Staff Podcast Building the CEO Operating System: Lessons on Scale, Conflict, and the People Side of Growth w/ Dora Nagy
Oct 15, 2025
Dora Nagy, a former Chief of Staff at SoftBank's Vision Fund and now an executive coach, dives into scaling organizations. She shares insights on her non-linear career from Google to SoftBank and her 'CEO Operating System' framework for translating strategy into execution. Dora highlights the importance of people dynamics in leadership, emphasizing how to navigate conflicts using the Drama Triangle model. She also discusses why OKRs often fail without a clear strategy, and offers practical advice for building accountability and effective operating models.
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From Google Rotations To SoftBank Build
- Dora described joining Google unexpectedly and rotating from marketing into global strategy and ops early in her career.
- She later followed colleagues to SoftBank to help build the Vision Fund and wore many hats as an early chief-of-staff.
Charity Trip Led To Coaching Practice
- Dora met founders during a gruelling Richard Branson charity trip and began coaching after attendees asked for help with ops and chiefs of staff.
- That serendipitous networking turned into a seven-year coaching and advisory practice.
Three Pillars Of The CEO System
- Dora's CEO Operating System has three intertwined pillars: people, strategy-to-execution, and operating model.
- Problems usually trace back to at least one of these pillars rather than isolated technical issues.