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Key Takeaways It is becoming more common for companies to search for a chief of staff, a second-in-command to the boss.
According to the job posting site Indeed, listings for chief of staff roles are up 85% since early 2020.
Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, hired his first chief of staff 16 years ago, and his requirements for the role have evolved since then.
Over 16 years ago, Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, went searching for his first chief of staff. He wanted someone to shadow him, take notes and tell him what came next in his schedule.
However, as Imax expanded, nearly quadrupling in scope from 55 theaters in 2010 to nearly 2,000 today, Gelfond’s requirements for a chief of staff grew too.
“They’re really invaluable in helping me think through what I want to say and what I want to accomplish and then how to execute it and helping me execute it,” Gelfond told The New York Times in a recent interview.
It is becoming more common to search for a chief of staff. According to the job posting site Indeed, listings for the role are up 85% since early 2020. In contrast, companies are searching for comparably fewer executive assistants and secretaries. Chief of staff is usually a senior role, often second-in-command to the boss, while executive assistants and secretaries are comparatively more junior.
A chief of staff as a coordinator and gatekeeper
Clara Ma, founder and CEO of Ask a Chief of Staff, a networking site that brings together chiefs of staff, told the Times that an executive assistant “figures out what time something goes on the calendar, but a chief of staff figures out whether it should go on the calendar at all.”
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