The Fixer in the Shadows: Driving Strategy, Action, and Impact as Chief of Staff
Chris Briggs
Riding Shotgun | A Flexible Resource to Fix Communication Breakdowns, Align Teams, Execute Strategy | Leaving You Better Than I Found You
The Chief of Staff isn’t about glory—it’s about getting things done. You’re the stage manager behind the scenes, ensuring every department, leader, and initiative is aligned and moving forward. It’s a role for those who see the big picture, connect the dots, and aren’t afraid to dive into the details to make it all work.
When I took on the Chief of Staff role, it felt like stepping into a position made for my wiring: broad, strategic, and action-oriented. It’s a job where you’re not just identifying friction—you’re working across people, processes, and technology to remove it. You’re advising leadership, filling gaps, leading initiatives, and, above all, driving execution. It’s part fixer, part conductor, part psychologist, part diplomat—but all about results.
Why the Role Matters
The Chief of Staff is a force multiplier for leadership. Your job is to amplify their vision, connect strategy to action, and ensure the machine runs smoothly. You’re not in the spotlight, but you make sure everyone else is ready for it.
For me, this often meant breaking old habits to create new strengths. One of the earliest and most rewarding challenges in my tenure was overhauling our client onboarding and implementation processes. We recognized that to take customer satisfaction and retention through the roof, we had to fundamentally rethink how we worked. Breaking conventions isn’t easy—there’s comfort in the status quo, even when it’s holding you back. But by fostering clear communication and trust, we aligned our people, restructured our processes, and delivered a massive improvement.
The payoff? Teams operating at their best and customers who were engaged and thrived. It wasn’t just a win for our retention metrics; it was a cultural shift that positioned the organization for long-term success and growth.
The Role in Action
As Chief of Staff, you wear many hats: advisor, facilitator, influencer, and executor. You’re not just identifying problems; you’re stepping into the mess, creating order, and making things happen. Whether it’s restructuring client onboarding, driving a new strategic initiative, or aligning siloed teams, your job is to see the landscape, clear the obstacles, and empower people to do their best work.
It’s not glamorous work. Sometimes, it’s building trust between teams that have clashed for years. Sometimes, it’s pulling together the right technology to eliminate inefficiencies. And sometimes, it’s leading a critical initiative that didn’t even exist before you stepped in. But at the core, it’s about being the trusted advisor and partner that leaders rely on to move the organization forward.
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The Challenge and the Reward
The hardest part of being a Chief of Staff is defining the role as you go. Most people don’t know what to make of it—are you a fixer? A glorified notetaker? A shadow CEO? In reality, you’re all those things and more. You’re the glue holding the strategy together and the oil that keeps the gears turning.
The reward? Watching the results unfold. Seeing leaders you’ve supported shine. Watching teams you’ve helped align excel. And knowing that the work you’ve done—though often invisible—is what made the difference.
A Role Worth Taking
If you’re thinking about stepping into a Chief of Staff role, know this: it’s not for everyone. You need to be strategic yet hands-on, collaborative yet decisive, and driven by the success of the people around you. If that sounds like you, it’s one of the most rewarding roles you’ll ever take.
Looking back on my time as Chief of Staff, the wins weren’t just about metrics—they were about the trust we built, the silos we broke down, and the momentum we created. If you’ve got the chance to take on this role, take it. Be the fixer, the mover, the stage manager. And most importantly, be the person who makes the team—and the business—better.