The chief of staff role has been described as "one of the hardest jobs that you can have," according to an October 2023 McKinsey article.
Beri Ridgeway, MD, chief of staff at Cleveland Clinic, previously told Becker's "the responsibilities are huge and wide-ranging." One Indeed.com post defined it as "the beating heart of an organization, masterfully orchestrating various elements and uniting them into a cohesive whole."
St. Louis-based Ascension and Boston-based Mass General Brigham are among the health systems whose leadership include chiefs of staff. Their responsibilities can include liaising between operations and the executive leadership team while supporting the CEO in managing key projects.
Here are five takeaways from an Aug. 29 McKinsey article on the role, which gathered data from 250 chiefs of staff who held the role within the past eight years.
1. The average tenure is 2.3 years.
This is shorter than the average large-organization CEO tenure of 4.8 years. The short-tenure findings suggest that the role can be used to lead to other career opportunities and its intensity may be difficult to sustain long term, McKinsey wrote.
2. The most common backgrounds for chiefs of staff are strategy and operations.
One-quarter of chiefs of staff have a strategy background while 22% have an operations background. Management and external communications account for 14% and 9% of backgrounds, respectively.
3. Internal promotion is the most common route for chief of staff appointments.
Nearly two-thirds are selected for the role after serving the organization in another capacity, McKinsey wrote.
4. Appointments tend to come early-to-mid-career.
Of those studied, 32% of chiefs of staff had five to 10 years of experience when they assumed the role. This was the most common experience level, followed by 10 to 15 years, at 22%.
5. Most chiefs of staff serve CEOs.
Nearly three-fourths of chiefs of staff served CEOs or equivalent executives, while 26% supported other executives, McKinsey said.