It’s Rachael, here. I want to introduce you to how my co-author thinks.

Suzi Coul spent a career in and around the House of Commons, reading leadership patterns and designing the operating environments that make executives effective. I write from inside the Chief of Staff role. Suzi writes from the blueprints — the structural architecture underneath it. And what she produces is, frankly, not like anything else I’ve seen in this space (or in all of the other snazzy assessment spaces).

The attached framework is called the Five Pillars of Trust. It’s Suzi’s work, and I think it’s one of the clearest things anyone has written about what actually has to be in place for a Chief of Staff to function. (Not thrive. Just function. If you don’t have this kind of trust present, you have someone who is an operations analyst with an inflated title.)

And, to be clear, this is not “trust” as a feeling. This is trust as architecture. It’s five structural pillars that determine whether your Chief of Staff (or you) can do your job — or whether they’re just occupying a title while the real work routes around them.

Here’s what I want you to know: this is a preview. It’s real, and you can use it today. But it doesn’t offer nearly the depth or full use of what Suzi has in store for paid subscribers. The full diagnostic — observational guides, signal indicators, the decision tools that make this framework operational — that’s what shows up with every paid edition.

This is a taste of how we’re going to be fundamentally different in our approach to this role and the frameworks around it.

And next week, I’m going to provide my own in-depth assessment on Chief of Staff job descriptions: why they stink, how they can improve, and what to look for amidst all of the noise. If you’ve ever read a CoS job posting and thought this could be literally any role in the building, that one’s for you.

Read the five pillars. See if you can spot the ones your organization is missing. And if you want what comes next, consider upgrading to a paid plan. That’s where the instruments will live.

Happy Thursday, Rachael

The Coul & Gold Briefing

P.S. If you’re already a paid subscriber, the full framework is coming. The five pillars are the foundation. What Suzi builds on top of them is what gets people to pay and stay.

Five structural pillars that determine whether a chief of staff can actually do their job.

01 Trust in Judgment

When someone asks for your perspective, not just your output. It signals that your thinking is valued—not only your “doing.” And when the principal trusts you to tell them something they do not want to hear. This is not the same as clarity. A chief of staff who can only confirm is a mirror, not an advisor. Honest counsel is given privately, directly, and in time to matter.

02 Trust in Integrity

When people know you will be the same person in the room with the principal as you are in the corridor with the team. Not deferential up, or difficult down. Not shape-shifting depending on who holds power. And when people tell you things they would not tell others, because they know you will not use proximity as currency. This trust is quiet—it is noticed most when it is absent.

03 Trust in Protection

When colleagues know you will shield them from noise, politics, and unnecessary pressure. The quiet confidence that you will hold the line so they can do their best work.

04 Trust in Representation

When leadership knows you will carry their intent faithfully into the team, and when the team knows you will carry their reality faithfully back. This is what makes a chief of staff a bridge, not a gatekeeper.

05 Trust in Balance

When you are asked to weigh competing pressures and make them workable. The recognition that you can hold multiple truths at once and still move forward.

Trust is a structure. It either holds weight — or it doesn't. | briefing.coulandgold.com

If you lock in your year-long subscription today, you can secure the discounted rate of $99/year for life. After the first 100 people, the rate will revert to its standard price of $149.