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The Job Everyone’s Pushing, But No One’s Explaining
Is Chief of Staff your next move, or just the loudest option in the room?
Chrissy Arias
May 20, 2025
✔️ This Week’s Agenda
🧩 Think you could solve this week’s puzzle?
💡Chrissy shares the difference between the scope of an EA vs CoS
🧭 EA vs. CoS: What’s the Difference, Really?
🧠 Ask Yourself: Do I Want the Work, or the Weight?
🛠️ Tool: Career Clarity Framework
✨ A Quick Note on Recognition (reader highlight)
Click the image for the answer
Hi Friends,
Last week, I had the chance to join the AI for Admins: Empowering Executive Assistants with AI weekly Zoom session, and one thing became very clear:
Most EAs don’t actually want to become Chiefs of Staff.
The more we unpacked the scope of work, the more obvious it became. While there can be overlap, the roles are fundamentally different.
A Chief of Staff often operates at the VP level, focusing on organizational alignment, cross-functional strategy, internal communications, and high-stakes problem solving. It's less about supporting an executive directly and more about managing the bigger picture.
An EA, on the other hand? We live in the details. We thrive on execution, flow, rhythm, context, and anticipation. We're closer to the fire, and often the reason it never spreads.
So why does the CoS title get pushed as the “next step”? And how do you know if it’s something you actually want, or if you’re just craving the respect and recognition that should’ve come with your current role in the first place?
That’s what we’re diving into this week.
With love, and lots of coffee,
Chrissy
🧭 EA vs. CoS: What’s the Difference, Really?
This isn’t a hierarchy, it’s a difference in function. Many EAs operate with incredible strategic scope, but that doesn’t automatically mean they want to, or should jump into the CoS lane.
They’re different muscles, and not everyone wants to lift the same weight. 🏋️
Executive Assistant | Chief of Staff | |
|---|---|---|
🔍 Focus | Executive-level support, planning, logistics, and strategic execution (e.g. streamlining an exec's investor prep flow to align with upcoming priorities) | Org-wide operations, cross-functional strategy, internal alignment (e.g. building OKRs with department heads) |
🧠 Superpower | Anticipation + execution (e.g. identifying scheduling patterns that cause burnout and adjusting proactively) | Alignment + decision-framing (e.g. synthesizing multiple stakeholders' input into an exec-level briefing) |
🧩 Rhythm | Fast-moving, calendar-driven with bursts of deep planning (e.g. planning an offsite with multiple departments, vendors, and comms flows) | Ambiguous, long-horizon, often politically layered (e.g. mapping team tensions across the leadership team) |
🧍 Reporting | Supports 1–2 execs deeply (e.g. trusted gatekeeper and thought partner to executives) | Supports the org or leadership team broadly (e.g. reports to CEO and works across all departments) |
🔄 Output | Calendar flow, travel plans, comms briefs, decks, prep, meeting logistics, but often strategic in how they’re executed | Operational strategy, internal comms, meeting design, process improvements, project alignment |
🧵 Hard truth | Often invisible, underestimated, even when doing high-stakes, strategic work (e.g. leading onboarding revamps or rewriting executive comms without title credit) | Often overstretched, misunderstood, expected to lead without full authority (e.g. being asked to fix culture without a team) |
🧠 Ask Yourself: Do I Want the Work, or the Weight?
Before you chase the CoS title, consider:
Do I love getting things done—or getting things started?
Am I energized by ambiguity… or do I prefer clarity and rhythm?
Would I rather support one exec deeply, or influence many people indirectly?
Do I want to manage people and internal politics?
Do I need a title shift, or just recognition and scope?
Sometimes the desire for a “next step” is really just the desire to be seen, paid, and respected at the level you’re already operating.
🛠️ Tool: Career Clarity Framework
📎 Download our free worksheet that helps you map:
What energizes you
What drains you
What you’d like more of in your current role
What you don’t want to give up
You don’t need to know your 5-year plan. But knowing what actually lights you up? That’s power! 💪
✨ A Quick Note on Recognition (From Last Week’s Prompt)
Last week, I asked: “What’s one way your exec made you feel truly recognized?”
And one reader’s story stopped me in my tracks:
Each year at my company, every department nominates their highest performer for what we call the Winner’s Circle. From there, a select few are chosen as Core Value award winners—complete with a cash prize or a wild, all-expenses-paid trip.
Historically, Executive Assistants aren’t usually nominated. We’re often seen as support—not part of the department itself.
But this year, my exec nominated me. Not as an assistant. Not as a helper. But as the highest performer in our department.
And then…I won.
I was selected as the “Be A Team Player” Core Value winner. But even if I hadn’t won, the nomination itself would’ve been enough. Because it meant I was seen. It meant I was in the room—not just helping from the hallway.
These are the moments that remind us what real recognition looks like, not just praise, not just thank-you emails, but the decision to advocate for you publicly, especially in spaces where your role has historically been overlooked.
If you’ve had a moment like that, or if you’re still waiting for it…I see you. 🥹
😆 Just For Fun
💾 Save These for Later
Curated picks to make your work week slightly less chaotic.
🤖 Join Molly Medvecky from AI For Admins today at 12:30pm ET to learn more about Traceworks AI (Zoom Linked here)
🖥️ From My Desk To Yours: A curated list of tools, links, and recs I actually use, some include affiliate links, but all are EA-approved.
🔧 Tool to try: Arc – The Chrome replacement you’ve ben waiting for (Shout out to Lauren Bradley from the Officals for recommending this!)
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