Chief of Staff vs. Integrator: what EOS says about the role
By Alice Huang, Chief of Staff and operator
EOS names the Chief of Staff as another title for the Integrator. Here is what the Integrator does, how it pairs with the Visionary, and how to know if you need one.
If you run your company on EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System from Gino Wickman, you have probably heard of the Visionary and the Integrator. Here is the part I like as a Chief of Staff. Wickman says every organization needs an Integrator, and he lists the titles that can fill it: “President, COO, General Manager, Chief of Staff.”
Source: Gino Wickman, What is an Integrator? Part II, EOS Worldwide, Oct 18, 2012.
What the Visionary does
Per Wickman, a typical Visionary is the founding entrepreneur, a big-picture thinker with lots of ideas, great with people and sales. The flip side he names is that the Visionary can create chaos, lose patience for details, and want to implement every idea right now.
Source: Wickman, Why Visionaries Need Integrators, April 28, 2015.
What the Integrator does
Wickman describes the Integrator as the tie-breaker for the leadership team and the glue of the organization. They beat the drum (set the cadence), execute the business plan, hold the leadership team accountable, and act as the filter for the Visionary's ideas. He also notes that the Integrator “has to say no a lot” and is often the bearer of bad news.
Sources: Part II and Why Visionaries Need Integrators.
The famous pairs
In “Rocket Fuel,” Wickman and Mark C. Winters point to Walt and Roy Disney, Henry Ford and James Couzens, and Ray Kroc and Fred Turner as Visionary and Integrator combinations that mattered in early growth.
Source: Mark C. Winters and Gino Wickman, Rocket Fuel excerpt, BPI Network.
If you want the Walt Disney side of that story, David Senra covers it on the Founders podcast: #346 How Walt Disney Built Himself (April 22, 2024). His official episode notes include a line he pulls from Edwin Land that applies to any founder: “Don't do anything that someone else can do.”
Where a Chief of Staff fits
The titles overlap, so here is the plain version. An executive assistant protects the founder's time. An Integrator or Chief of Staff drives priorities and accountability across the leadership team. A COO usually runs a function or the whole operation for the long term. In EOS language, if your problem is “I have more ideas and priorities than I can drive,” you are describing a missing Integrator.
Wickman also says that a person with both Visionary and Integrator skills is rare, about 1 in 20 Visionaries (5%). Most founders need a partner.
My own take, since this is my blog: I've been second-in-command at a custom software and digital marketing agency, and the part that fits the Integrator description is the unglamorous work. Prioritizing, sequencing, escalations, follow-through. I like that work.
Get in touch if you need it done.