Hired a Chief of Staff

I hired a Chief of Staff

Let me tell you what June and July looked like for me.

I was traveling for work, finishing my master's in data science, raising a six-year-old and a three-year-old, running Seed & Society®, and caring for our ten acres in Tennessee.

I also refused to give up my romance novels. I was starting my late-summer garden, going in on perennials, watching anime, and living my actual life on purpose. That's the entire point of building systems that don't need me hovering over them.

By then, different AI employees were helping with the blog, podcast, speaking outreach, social content, and opportunity research. The work was moving, but the employees weren't talking to each other.

So I built the employee that tied them together: an AI Chief of Staff.

One brief every morning. One view of what's moving and what needs me.

Instead of checking six different places, I could check one. The point wasn't another title or another layer of complexity. It was a clearer handoff between the work the systems could carry and the decisions that still needed me.

Four questions to ask before hiring any employee

Before any employee can work for you, AI or otherwise, you need to answer four things. Your business only works if you're clear on what you're actually building.

1. Who exactly are you serving?

Not “business owners.” Name the specific person. Get clear enough that you could describe them to a stranger in one sentence.

2. What problem do you solve, and what does life look like on the other side?

Name both the problem and the transformation. When those are clear, the desired outcome of the role becomes much easier to define.

3. What are you optimizing for, and what's the number?

“More money” isn't a measurable target. A specific result by a specific time turns a wish into something a person or system can work toward.

4. What's your strategy for that one thing?

Not all your things. This one. If you can't describe the strategy in a few sentences, you don't have one yet. Hiring an employee who also has to invent the strategy makes the role far harder to direct and review.

The clarity is what makes the hire obvious. It tells you what the role owns, what good work looks like, and what still needs your judgment.

One thing to do today

The gap between where you are and where you want to be is almost never information. You probably already know enough. The knowing was never the problem. The doing is.

Pick one thing you've been saying you should do. Define the outcome, the standard, and the boundary. Then create a workflow that can carry the repeatable part going forward.

You don't need another idea. You need one clear assignment.

If this is your kind of conversation, join me for the next Seed & Society® newsletter.