How Chiefs of Staff Can Own Their Unique Strengths

If you're a Chief of Staff, you probably recognize this feeling:

You’re the ultimate generalist. You switch seamlessly from strategic planning in the morning to navigating team conflicts by lunch. One day you’re mapping an AI strategy; the next, you're deep into revenue forecasting.

It’s exciting, fast-paced, and important—but it can also leave you quietly wondering:

“Am I building real strengths, or am I just plugging gaps wherever they appear?”

Let’s be honest: Specialists seem to have it easier. A clear niche, a defined career path, a job title that neatly describes exactly what they do. Specialists become known as experts. You become known as the person who “just gets things done.”

Yet here’s the truth many Chiefs of Staff overlook: Being a generalist doesn’t mean you’re any less valuable. It might actually make you uniquely valuable—if you know how to position yourself clearly.

The Invisible Strength of Seeing the Whole Picture

Specialists see clearly—but often narrowly. As a Chief of Staff, your vantage point is different: You see across the entire organization. You notice when Marketing’s product launch conflicts with Sales’ quarterly targets. You spot early signs of operational strain long before others notice. You sense misalignments and communication gaps others miss completely.

In other words, your strength isn’t being an expert in one field—it’s seeing how all the fields connect.

You don't need to become an expert marketer or data scientist or operations specialist to have impact. Your real power is knowing just enough about each domain to make smarter decisions, solve nuanced problems, and build alignment that specialists alone simply can’t achieve.

The real question isn’t, “Should I specialize?”
It’s “How do I make others clearly see the value in my unique perspective?”

From Gap-Filler to Problem Solver: Reframing Your Impact

You might be the first to jump in when there's a gap—solving problems others avoid, catching balls that are dropped, and quietly preventing organizational chaos. But when your identity becomes tied only to "fixing what's broken," you risk being undervalued.

Instead, clearly articulate how your approach to solving problems is uniquely valuable:

• Clarifying Priorities
  You don’t just fill gaps; you prioritize strategically. You help teams decide what matters most, what can wait, and what needs immediate attention.

• Bridging Knowledge Gaps
  You connect dots others don’t see. You notice when teams operate with conflicting information, and you bridge these gaps proactively before they cause bigger issues.

• Enabling Collaboration
  Your cross-functional view means you understand the languages of multiple departments—allowing you to facilitate conversations others find difficult or impossible.

Start positioning yourself as someone who solves problems through strategic prioritization, effective collaboration, and cross-functional alignment—rather than someone who just "does whatever’s needed."

Your Real “Specialty” is the Way You Solve Problems

Rather than worrying about not having a traditional specialty (like Sales, Marketing, or Product), consider the approach you naturally gravitate towards when tackling challenges:

• Do you enjoy clarifying complex, ambiguous situations?

• Do you find joy in facilitating difficult conversations and bridging misunderstandings?

• Are you energized by helping others see opportunities they haven’t considered?

These strengths—clarity, communication, alignment—aren’t traditional specialties, but they're incredibly valuable to any leadership team. They define your unique “zone of genius” far more accurately than a tidy departmental label ever could.

Finding Your Edge: Lean into What Energizes You

Not all tasks feel equally rewarding. To truly articulate your value, pay close attention to tasks you feel energized by, rather than those that drain you:

• If you feel drained after hours spent deep in financial models, perhaps your true value isn't number-crunching—but quickly understanding key financial insights and translating them clearly for strategic decision-making.

• If you dread administrative details but thrive when mediating a leadership conflict, your unique strength might lie in enabling alignment and collaboration, not in meticulous operations management.

Notice these subtle distinctions. They point you clearly toward your true value—the skills that come naturally to you, that others struggle with, and that genuinely move the needle for your organization.

Real Example: Turning Ambiguity into Advantage

I once spoke with a Chief of Staff who worried she was too scattered. She jumped from executive communication to strategic planning sessions to troubleshooting operational snags. She envied colleagues who specialized in areas like revenue operations or product strategy.

But when we dug deeper, we found her true strength: turning ambiguity into clear, actionable decisions. She was the person executives turned to when things were messy, confusing, or complicated. Rather than being a weakness, her broad role was exactly why she was indispensable.

Once she saw this clearly, she began actively positioning herself not as a catch-all assistant—but as a strategic decision-making partner who thrived in complexity. Suddenly, her lack of traditional specialization became her greatest advantage, clearly valued by executives who relied on her uniquely flexible perspective.

Stop Chasing Titles—Start Showing Value

There’s pressure—especially in fast-moving startups—to chase clearly-defined titles. But what looks impressive on LinkedIn isn’t always what makes you valuable in reality.

Instead of worrying about the clarity of your job title, focus on clarity of your impact:

• Clearly communicate how your broad perspective enables smarter decisions.

• Document examples where your cross-functional view prevented costly mistakes or accelerated organizational alignment.

• Share stories of how you identified unseen opportunities that drove real strategic advantages.

When you clearly articulate your impact in these concrete ways, job titles become less important. Leaders will value your perspective, approach, and contributions regardless of what title you hold.

Embrace Your Generalist Advantage

Being a Chief of Staff or strategic generalist doesn’t mean you lack focus or impact. Quite the opposite—it gives you a powerful advantage few others possess.

Your strength isn't narrowly defined expertise; it's clearly seeing connections others miss, solving problems others avoid, and enabling clarity and alignment across the entire organization.

Own that clearly. Communicate it confidently. And remember: Your unique perspective doesn’t just make you useful—it makes you irreplaceable.

Ready to clearly articulate your strategic value?
I help Chiefs of Staff confidently communicate their impact and clearly position themselves within leadership teams. Reach out here to start showing your unique value.