Nova Chat: Chief of Staff Hot Takes
Incoming 🔥 HOT TAKES with Maggie Olson and Clara Ma! Let’s get real about the Chief of Staff role.
As a Chief of Staff, you operate in the gray area—balancing high-level strategy with on-the-ground execution. But with so much variation in the role, you might be asking yourself questions like:
🔥Is the Chief of Staff title becoming meaningless?
🔥Should CoSs always answer the phone, no matter what time it is?
🔥Does being a former EA help or hurt your credibility?
🔥Do CoSs actually need industry knowledge at all?
🔥Do bad CEOs mean bad Chiefs of Staff, or can they still thrive?
Join Maggie Olson, Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, and Clara Ma, Founder of Ask a Chief of Staff, as they tackle the most controversial, clarifying, and candid questions about the CoS role, pulling from their own experiences in both corporate and startup environments as Chiefs of Staff.
This free, 60-minute webinar will include a Q&A session, so bring your toughest questions.
Whether you’re a current Chief of Staff, an aspiring CoS, or an executive hiring one, this session will give you unfiltered insights you won’t hear anywhere else.
🎥Can’t make it live? No worries—we’ll send the recording to everyone who registers.
Register now and get ready for some 🔥 hot takes!
This Nova Chat is Presented by Offsite
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Clara Ma's Bio
Clara Ma is the Founder & CEO of Ask a Chief of Staff, the premier executive search and career development platform dedicated to elevating the Chief of Staff profession and supporting executives in building high-functioning leadership teams. A former Chief of Staff at Hugging Face, Clara leveraged her experience to bridge the gap between talent, leadership, and career growth in this critical but often misunderstood role.
Since launching Ask a Chief of Staff, Clara has built a thriving mentorship program, a 450+ member community, and placed 40+ Chiefs of Staff into high-impact roles. Her thought leadership has been featured in Fast Company, and her insights have attracted 40K+ LinkedIn followers and 10K+ Substack subscribers. Recognized as a 2025 “Woman to Watch”, Clara is passionate about uplifting the next generation of leaders, fostering executive diversity, and making leadership more accessible.
Maggie Olson's Bio
Maggie Olson is the Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, the premier destination for Chief of Staff education and development. As the first Chief of Staff to a president at a Fortune 40 company — who led a multibillion-dollar business with 5,000+ employees — Maggie built the president’s Chief of Staff model from the ground up. Maggie has 20 years’ experience leading large teams and has spent her career focused on both customer and employee experience at companies including T-Mobile, Nordstrom, and Starbucks.
In addition to operating the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course, Maggie is a fractional Chief of Staff focused on helping mission-driven, for-profit startup founders scale their businesses quickly. In her spare time, Maggie loves spending time outside with her husband, their dog, and their 2-year-old, Max!