Office of the CEO Hiring - Internal vs External?

1 vital question I ask CEOs & Chiefs of Staff who are looking to hire their next Chief of Staff, Executive Assistant or Communications Director:

Do you want to look internally or externally for the next member of your Office of the CEO (OCEO)? Here are the pros for each.

INTERNAL OCEO HIRING: PROS

1/ You reduce the risk of a bad hire

OCEO bad hire = really bad CEO headache. If your CEO already likes working with superstar performers in your company, then you dramatically reduce the risk of a bad hire by recruiting known high performers for the job.

2/ You save time

Chances are you need the person to start yesterday, do you really have time to lose? If you’ve already identified exceptional internal talent, you can immediately start the internal recruiting process and avoid a months-long external candidate search.

3/  You reduce hiring costs

Save money to spend on other OCEO improvements! Instead of using a premium executive search firm, you can leverage your internal recruiters to achieve a cost-effective placement for your OCEO.

4/ You onboard faster

Onboarding is quick and easy. Your new Chief of Staff, Executive Assistant, Strategy Manager or Communications Director is already in the system. They have extensive relationships with the C-suite team. And they already have extensive institutional and domain knowledge.

5/ You boost company loyalty and engagement

Promoting from within sends a strong signal to the company that you are investing in the existing workforce. What better way to do so by moving folks directly to the OCEO?

EXTERNAL OCEO HIRING: PROS

1/ You reduce resentment among employees and managers

OCEO search can be highly political if you aren’t careful. If you don’t manage the recruiting process right, then you get employees who are upset that they didn’t get the job. Managers also don’t want to lose their star talent since it’s a headache to find a replacement. Avoid this by hiring externally.

2/ You avoid a gap in your workforce

If you steal someone from within the organization, you leave a gaping hole. BAU won’t be BAU unless you have a strong pool of talent that you can backfill. External search for a new Chief of Staff or Executive Assistant avoids tearing a talent gap in your company.

3/ You dramatically expand the pool of applicants

With all of the recent layoffs happening, there is a flood of exceptional external talent that you can take advantage of by executing an external search. Many folks would kill to work in the OCEO. Is it time to scoop up a once-in-a-career exceptional hire?

4/ You can shake up your culture

Culture can get ossified if you only hire from within. Shake up your ways of thinking and working in the OCEO by hiring a dynamic external candidate. They can dramatically change the direction of your OCEO, for good.

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So CEOs and Chiefs of Staff, what resonates most? Have you hired internal or external or both for your OCEO? Vote in my poll below.

Need help with hiring? Reply to this email to learn more about our recruiting services.

Events

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸!

𝗪𝗵𝗼'𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱?

-Founders & CEOs who want to let go and do more by hiring a Chief of Staff
-Chiefs of Staff looking to leave a legacy by building the CEO's Office
-Executive Assistants exploring the next step in their ExecOps career
-Chief of Staff Job seekers looking to become an executive’s right hand
-Investors who want to derisk their investments with the Office of the CEO

𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀

Wednesday March 13, 2024 at 11am ET / 8am PT / 4p GMT

» RSVP for the launch party here here. 

» If you can’t make it, comment PLAYBOOK on my LinkedIn post here and I’ll be sure to send you a copy.

We’ll start the party by exploring more of my motivation and process for writing this new playbook. Next, we’ll review novel content areas, like how to land a Chief of Staff interview. We’ll also revisit the greatest hits, like how the Chief of Staff job is 100x better than getting an MBA. Finally, we’ll conclude with upcoming Cedar events - webinars, roundtables and the launch of The Office of the CEO Playbook.

𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲

I released the 1st Edition of my playbook in February 2023 to my humble LinkedIn audience. Since then, it’s made an industry impact on 3,000+ professionals working at companies like OpenAI, McKinsey and the US Department of Energy. Playbook readers hail from 81 countries all over the world (Nigeria, Monaco, and Australia!) and some have even called it “pure gold.”

And over the past year, I’ve continued to write furiously on all things related to ExecOps, Chief of Staff and CEO Office. These novel insights are pulled from my conversations with Chiefs of Staff at orgs like VMWare, the US Navy and Citi as well as my firm’s ExecOps consulting work for leaders at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, a top legaltech startup and a confidential private-equity backed company, among others. This has inspired me to update the playbook.

I’m pleased to report that the 2nd Edition includes 26 new pages of content, covering Chief of Staff 101; How to hire a Chief of Staff; How to get a Chief of Staff job; How to start building the Office of the CEO; How to become an elite Chief of Staff; How to build C-suite operating systems and more.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁

Stay tuned for a dedicated playbook roadshow where I speak in-person and on LinkedIn Live on specific chapters. Intimate roundtables with top Chiefs of Staff to follow where we review best practices and troubleshoot common problems. Finally, The Office of the CEO Playbook... more to come.

» RSVP for the launch party here here. Invite a friend or two. See you there!

» And if you can’t make it, comment PLAYBOOK on my LinkedIn post here and I’ll be sure to send you a copy.

Chief of Staff Jobs

Welcome to our Chief of Staff job board. If you have a Chief of Staff job you’d like shared to 1,000+ readers of this newsletter or need hands-on recruiting help to hire your Chief of Staff, reply to this email.

Chief of Staff, Ohmium, Fremont, CA, Startup

Chief of Staff Worldwide Financial Services, Microsoft, Redmond, WA, Corporate

Regional Chief of Staff - Financial Institutions, BCG, Chicago, IL, Consulting, Corporate

Chief of Staff, Intel, Santa Clara, CA, Tech, Corporate

Chief of Staff, TCW Group, Los Angeles, CA, Financial Services, Corporate

Chief of Staff, Room to Grow, Bronx, NY, Education, Non-profit

Chief of Staff, project44, Chicago, IL, Software, Corporate

Chief of Staff, City of Seattle, Seattle, WA, Government

Help Us Grow

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Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for next week’s edition.

Until next week,

Mackenzie

Mackenzie Lee | Founder & CEO
M: 650.283.4152 | E: [email protected]
New York City, NY
www.CedarChief.com

At Cedar, we turn executives into fast and fearless leaders.

Thanks to technology, changing markets, and demanding investors, the C-suite job is tougher than ever. We help executives find freedom from blockers and busywork.

Our mission is to help 1 million CEOs and their C-suite teams let go and do more of the things that matter. We help you hire a Chief of Staff, build an Office of the CEO, and implement C-suite operating systems.

On average our clients see a 25% meeting reduction, 20% strategic sales increase, and 2x speed-to-execution in their first 90 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve performance and accelerate growth.