What I get asked to talk about.
Executive teams, leadership retreats, Chief of Staff cohorts, and podcasts. Booking now.
The nine functions
What the Chief of Staff role actually is, and what starts breaking when an organization files it under support. This is the spine of everything else I say.
Setting up the seat
For CEOs and founders: what the role needs from you to work, and the specific ways well-meaning leaders cap it into uselessness. Includes the question I get most, which is some version of "how do I know they are not after my job."
Building an institution from almost nothing
The CFPB from nineteen people to a functioning agency, and what a startup inside the federal government teaches you about hiring, retention, and standing up a technology organization that outlives you.
Women, power, and the cost of candor
Why the wiring that makes someone a superb Chief of Staff is often the same wiring that gets her pushed out, and what to do about it from either side of the desk.
Selected appearances
Big 4 Chief of Staff Retreat
Lead for a retreat convening one of the Big 4 firms' most senior Chiefs of Staff.
Scaling with Heart, with Nikki Duncan
With Suzi Coul, on trust, healthy friction, and the question "how would you tell me I was wrong."
The Chief of Staff Operating Program
Twelve chiefs, twelve weeks, co-led with Suzi Coul. Built because there is no residency for this seat and never has been.
The Coul & Gold Briefing
Weekly. Recent pieces include "The 90-Day Fiction," on why evaluating a Chief of Staff at ninety days is like judging a marriage by the rehearsal dinner.
If you have a room, I have a position on this.
Keynotes, retreat facilitation, executive team sessions, panels, and podcasts. Tell me who is in the room and what you want them arguing about on the drive home.