Scaleup Leaders: Stories from Experience Ep. 5 - Why your company needs a Chief of Staff - feat. Dora Nagy
Dora Nagy has worked at Google in Product Marketing and Global Sales Strategy and Operations, and at SoftBank and Kheiron Medical as Chief of Staff. She's an accomplished executive coach for high-growth startups.
Dora and I discuss what a Chief of Staff is, why your company needs (or doesn't need!) one, and what makes a great Chief of Staff.
We also dove into some of her experiences working with founders and exec teams as a CoS or coach, her experiences with OKRs and other systems, and much more.
Time Stamps:
00:04 Welcome & intro
01:39 What is a Chief of Staff?
05:42 The between a COO & Chief of Staff
08:01 The Chief of Staff framework (the 5 Ps)
11:09 Why and when do companies need a Chief of Staff?
13:19 The evolution of a Chief of Staff
15:40 Layers of a Chief of Staff
18:40 The relationship between the Principal & Chief of Staff
20:08 Things that could go wrong between a Principal & Chief of Staff
22:05 Chief of Staff vs Executive Assistant
24:31 How should someone external work with a Chief of Staff?
27:03 When should founders approach Dora?
28:34 Dora's experience with the 5 Ps
35:02 Dora's thoughts on disagreements within the team
39:52 How Dora finds consensus in different types of companies
42:56 Dora's coaching experience
45:10 The importance of strategy & vision
48:57 The power of cross-function conversations
50:42 Tool to make it work
53:27 How & where to reach Dora
55:50 Wrapup
Learn more about Dora from her website:
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The Scaleup Leader is a podcast about helping fast-growing tech companies scale better and execute faster with OKRs
I (Richard Russell) am an ex-Amazon & ex-Google product tech lead.
Connect with me on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/richardarussell
And subscribe to my twice monthly email on www.richardrussell.co/subscribe
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