Will the Chief of Staff Role Survive the Coming Wave of AI?
There’s no doubt that the future of AI will drastically change the workforce. Many roles will become obsolete, and others will dramatically change as they adapt to widespread AI use. In a recent article by Ambient co-founder Lawrence Coburn, he responds to an AI company Chief of Staff's claim that her job will be gone in as little as three years:
"There is no role in the modern enterprise, other than perhaps Founder / CEO, that is better suited than Chief of Staff to survive the coming AI wave." And I completely agree with his take. Let's dive into why.
First, Here Are FOUR TRUTHS About Company Leadership
Humans are necessary to implement a business's strategy, culture, leadership, and operating rhythm and to navigate the constantly changing highest priorities across an organization.
Executives should focus on vision, growth, strategy, and leadership.
Direct strategic and execution support (the Chief of Staff role) is critical to executives staying in this "vision space."
The wide-reaching strategic capability of the CoS role is both the armor and the toolkit in the Age of AI.
Now, Let's Talk About AI Use
Most practically, the Executive will not be the person continuing to identify, learn, use, iterate, or create working guidelines for the many AI platforms that will hit the market over the coming years. They’ll have people for that, as they should (see #2). And the best human for cross-functional companywide strategic projects? The Chief of Staff. But that’s only one reason why the Chief of Staff role is well-insulated in the coming wave of AI.
Chiefs of Staff are Highly Strategic and Have Org-Wide Breadth for Their Initiatives
An arguably perfect yet simple definition of the CoS role is “to tackle major strategic initiatives for the business leader.” Strategic initiatives will never be obsolete.
AI will undoubtedly automate the least-strategic components of the CoS role, leaving more time for the impactful work of a Chief of Staff.
As Lawrence illustrates, "Introduce technology that facilitates the staff meeting? No problem, the Chief of Staff will simply invest those returned hours in strategic recruiting, in strategic planning, in stabilizing that VP who has lost faith, in helping close that round of funding."
Additionally, human relationships are the cornerstone of the Chief of Staff role.
High EQ, understanding of team dynamics, and the mental and emotional makeup of the specific executive a Chief of Staff supports cannot be duplicated.
"The Chief of Staff May be the Last Knowledge Worker Standing in the Age of AI."
Does your company have an AI Policy yet? Join Nova Chief of Staff on July 18th for a free AI Policy workshop with Lawrence & Vouch Director Sophie McNaught, who will walk us through how to create and implement an AI Policy. Also, Nova has launched an AI Course tailored specifically to Chief of Staffs. Learn more about it in our Nova Shop.