How to build a Chief of Staff portfolio without sharing confidential work
By Alice Huang, Chief of Staff and operator
Create a Chief of Staff portfolio using permitted evidence or clearly labelled fictional work samples. Show judgment without exposing employer information.
You can show how you think without uploading a former employer's board deck. A good work sample makes your choices visible. It does not need to reveal someone else's business.
Ask a Chief of Staff's interview guide notes that a take-home may be a case, data analysis or presentation about a project you led. Peter Brack's hiring guide suggests an anonymized exercise packet. Neither means that a candidate is free to reuse confidential material.
Choose the evidence you can use
Start with work you own or have permission to share. Check agreements and ownership before using employer material. Removing names does not automatically make a file safe: a customer detail, financial figure or unusual situation can still identify the business.
If permission is uncertain, use a new fictional scenario. Label it clearly as a demonstration, not a project you delivered or a result you achieved.
Show the decision path
A short sample can include the problem, constraints, available information, options, recommendation, risks and next step. Make assumptions visible. Separate what you know from what you would investigate.
You might create an original project brief, a decision memo or a proposed weekly update. The point is to show the work behind the recommendation, not to collect screenshots of tools.
A safe sample outline
- Context: fictional or approved, with the label visible.
- Question: what decision or problem the sample addresses.
- Evidence: what the scenario supplies.
- Recommendation: what you would do and why.
- Limits: what could change your recommendation.
- Follow-through: owner, next step and review.
If you include a real outcome, confirm the evidence and your part in it. A template you designed is not proof that a team adopted it.
Explain it in a conversation
Keep the sample small enough to discuss. Be ready to explain a tradeoff and an alternative you rejected. Ask what kind of evidence the hiring team needs before building a large portfolio.
Discretion is part of the work. A sample that protects confidential information can demonstrate that judgment better than an impressive file you were never entitled to share.