Ep#82: AI Was Supposed to Kill the Chief of Staff. It Made Them Indispensable. With Clara Ma.

Clara Ma was chief of staff to the CEO of Hugging Face back when it was a Series A company, years before most founders could spell LLM. She watched the role from the sharpest seat in the building, then built Ask a Chief of Staff, a 500-person community that has helped match CEOs with their right hand ever since.AI was supposed to make executive support obsolete. Instead, chief of staff postings more than doubled last year, salaries are hitting $400K, and the number of people holding the title has tripled since 2021. More automation created more chaos, not less, and one human who can synthesize across every team just got more valuable, not less. We get into what the role actually does day to day, why it's splitting into admin work AI eats and strategic work AI can only amplify, and how the best chiefs of staff are quietly becoming the AI adoption engine inside their companies. For founders who can't afford the hire yet, Clara breaks down exactly which parts to automate and which parts still need a human in the room.Episode outline:What a chief of staff actually is, and why the org chart still can't agree on itInside Hugging Face: what Clara learned running the role at an AI unicornThe split: admin chief of staff versus intelligence director, and which side survivesThe tools the best chiefs of staff run daily, and where AI stops being usefulThe matchmaking problem: why pairing the right chief of staff with the right CEO is so hardWhen to hire one, and what to build yourself before you can afford toListen: Apple || Spotify || YouTubeClara Ma - https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarama/Founder of Ask a Chief of Staff, the go-to community and placement platform for the role, with 500+ members worldwide and 50+ CEO matches made. She was previously Chief of Staff to the CEO of Hugging Face, where she saw the AI wave from the inside before most of us knew it was coming.Andy Walsh2× exited founder, advisor, and host of Startups Decoded (850,000 downloads + Top 2% globally).https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/Access All Areas.Listen: Apple || Spotify || YouTubeSubscribe: SubstackConnect: LinkedInWeb: startupsdecoded.com Socials: TikTok || Instagram || XMusic Credit.“Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia) https://phondupe.bandcamp.com/album/air-conditioning-vol-2Disclaimer.The views and opinions shared on Startups Decoded are for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment or legal advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making any financial or legal decisions.