Most support mis-hires come from wanting one kind of leverage and buying another. The leverage model names five constraints and the seat that relieves each.
Executive support for CEOs comes down to leverage: every support hire a principal makes buys one kind of it. The Blackbook Report 2026 names five: time, authority, information, narrative, and execution. Each is relieved by a different seat, and most mis-hires happen when a principal wants one kind of leverage and buys another. Name the constraint first, then choose the seat.
The executive support professional exists to give a principal back the one asset they cannot buy more of: attention. The principal spends their time on the handful of decisions only they can make. Everything else is absorbed, synthesized, or executed by people operating at their altitude.
That sets the test for any hire. If the added focus produces better and faster decisions, the seat has paid for itself many times over. If it fails to, the seat was scoped wrong or filled wrong, and the principal ends up managing the person who was meant to be managing for them.
The model applies whether a principal has no support at all, one Executive Assistant, or a full Office of the CEO. It describes the principal’s constraints. Structure comes afterward.
| Constraint | What it looks like | Seat |
|---|---|---|
| Time | The principal’s day is consumed by coordination, preparation, and logistics rather than decisions | Executive Assistant |
| Authority | Decisions get made but never executed; cross-functional work has no owner; the leadership team needs constant chasing | Chief of Staff |
| Information | Raw upstream information arrives faster than the principal can digest it; decisions rest on incomplete or unsynthesized material | Analyst, or a technical Chief of Staff |
| Narrative | The principal’s voice and reputation are being shaped by others; press, investor, and internal moments are handled reactively | Communications lead |
| Execution | Strategic projects, transactions, and initiatives need senior ownership close to the principal | Chief of Staff, with analysts on technical work |
Time is the most common constraint and the first to solve. A principal who schedules their own meetings, prepares their own briefings, or manages their own inbox is spending the firm’s most expensive hours on work a strong EA removes entirely. For most principals the EA is the first hire, and for many it is the only one they need.
Authority is about reach. A principal cannot be in every room. A Chief of Staff carries the principal’s authority into the rooms the principal cannot reach, and stays effective only for as long as the principal visibly backs them.
Information binds once a principal sits above a certain volume of reporting, and the bottleneck moves from time to comprehension. An analyst triages and synthesizes what arrives, then turns it into packs the principal can act on. The same seat brings technical depth when the business is running M&A or another strategy-heavy initiative.
Narrative treats reputation as a balance-sheet item, where speed is the product. A communications lead who sits beside the principal hears things when the principal hears them, flags reputational exposure before a decision is made, and runs the response when something breaks.
Execution is the most senior form of leverage and the one most often confused with the others. Owned outcomes, transactions, integrations, and special projects need a senior operator working directly for the principal. That is the Chief of Staff at the technical end of the role, supported by analysts where the work is information-heavy.
A Chief of Staff can relieve the information constraint, but only a technical one: a former banker, consultant, or operator with the analytical background to do the synthesis personally.
An organizational Chief of Staff, hired for coordination and comfort with ambiguity, is built for a different job. Asking them to carry synthesis is one of the common ways the seat fails. A principal drowning in reporting who hires for coordination has bought authority when the need was information.
The first recommendation to principals in The Blackbook Report 2026 follows from this: hire for the leverage you need, and set aside the title you happen to know. An EA multiplies the principal’s time; a Chief of Staff multiplies their reach. Combining both in one hire can work at a smaller firm, provided it is a deliberate choice and priced accordingly.
A principal with a single EA has bought time and nothing else, and that is often exactly right. Trouble starts when one hire is expected to carry authority, synthesis, or reputation on top of the job it was scoped for.
When two or more constraints bind at once, the seats have to work together. At that point the principal has an Office of the CEO whether or not anyone designed one. An undesigned Office of the CEO produces crossover and friction, and leaves the principal refereeing their own support team. In the view of The Blackbook Report 2026, a written ownership matrix and an operating cadence prevent most of it.
The practical sequence is short. Hire the seat that relieves the constraint binding hardest today. When a second constraint binds, design the Office of the CEO deliberately.
For most principals the first hire is an Executive Assistant, because time is the most common constraint and the first to solve. A CEO who schedules their own meetings, prepares their own briefings, or manages their own inbox is spending the firm’s most expensive hours on work a strong EA removes. For many it is the only hire needed.
When authority becomes the constraint. The signs are decisions that get made but never executed, cross-functional work with no owner, and a leadership team that needs constant chasing. An EA multiplies the principal’s time, while a Chief of Staff multiplies their reach, carrying the principal’s authority into rooms the principal cannot be in.
The Blackbook Report 2026 names time, authority, information, narrative, and execution. Time is relieved by an Executive Assistant, authority by a Chief of Staff, information by an analyst or technical Chief of Staff, narrative by a communications lead, and execution by a Chief of Staff with analysts on technical work.
Section 2 of The Blackbook Report 2026 sets out the full leverage model, and Section 4 covers how to build the Office of the CEO as a unit once more than one constraint binds.
Read the full report: The Blackbook Report 2026
If you are deciding which seat to hire first, Blackbook Associates would be glad to talk it through with you.