Distinguish urgent requests from strategically important chief-of-staff work.
Responsiveness is useful until it becomes role confusion. Urgent and important These are true fires: board deadline, customer escalation with revenue at risk, regulatory exposure, or a CEO decision that blocks multiple teams. Important and not urgent This is where chief-of-staff leverage often lives: strategy narrative, operating cadence, exec alignment, talent risk, and follow-through systems. Urgent and not important This is the danger zone. It feels productive because people are relieved quickly, but the work may not need you.
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