53. The Chief of Staff’s Real Job: Turning Strategy Into Action

**Rodney Evans** (0:00)
I hate all of these equally, by the way. Like, I want to talk about alternatives to all of them, because I think all of these things should not be jobs.

**Sam Rothkopf** (0:06)
Spoiler alert, we don't think this is the way it should be.

**Rodney Evans** (0:09)
Spoiler alert, not like this.
Hey, everybody, this is At Work with The Ready, a podcast about work design and how organizations can make change work in their favor. I'm Rodney Evans, and I'm here with my very special guest co-host, Sam Rothkopf. Hi, Sam.

**Sam Rothkopf** (0:28)
Hi, Rodney.

**Rodney Evans** (0:29)
Today, we are talking not just about snack crackers, as we have been for the last 10 minutes before we started recording, but also about the moves it takes to be built to benefit from change. But first, we have to check in because how you do something is how you do everything. So, so important. Sam, did you bring us a check-in question?

**Sam Rothkopf** (0:48)
I had one, but now I have a different one based on our snack chat.
Let's do it. So I'm going to go for it, which is, what is your favorite either celebrity-owned or celebrity-endorsed food or beverage item?

**Rodney Evans** (1:02)
Oh, that's a good one. You can go first because I have to think about it, I think.

**Sam Rothkopf** (1:07)
Okay.
Give it a thought. I also say that even if you think it's not endorsed by a celebrity, it probably is or owned by a celebrity because we were talking about, you just can't only make blockbuster movies anymore. You also have to be endorsing snack crackers in order to be successful.

**Rodney Evans** (1:23)
Steve Aoki pizza choosies or what are you even doing here?

**Sam Rothkopf** (1:27)
I guess those are not going to be your favorites, but I have to say that the Miraval Rosé, which I believe and maybe I should have done more due diligence on this checking question, is owned by, was an Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt collab before they broke up.
But it's like one of my favorite Rosé's in a relatively reasonable price point. And I had it at my wedding and I didn't even know that it was from their vineyard. But it's absolutely delectable.

**Rodney Evans** (1:59)
I have a real answer and then I have a shameful answer. My real answer is that I love Casamigos Tequila and Ed made us blackout marks on Friday the 4th. We call them that because we all got so drunk that we basically didn't recall the evening after having one cocktail served to us by my husband. I don't know what he put in there, but it was Casamigos and it was great. My somewhat shameful answer that I will admit only to you and our listeners is, I think that the Blake Lively hair products sold at Target are really good.
I want to hate them for a variety of reasons, but they're just really high quality. They were in a gift basket or something, and I tried them and I was like, holy shit, these smell amazing. They work super well. They're like Target priced, and I can't get off the sauce. I can't quit the Blake Lively shampoo.

**Sam Rothkopf** (2:51)
Interesting. I mean, that really checks out. I mean, Blake Lively, that would be a whole other podcast episode, but she definitely has great hair. There's no questioning that.

**Rodney Evans** (3:00)
Who better to sell me shampoo than Blake Lively? Truly. It's the dream.
That was a great check in, Sam.

**Sam Rothkopf** (3:07)
I do what I can.

**Rodney Evans** (3:10)
It's a strong start.
So what are we talking about today? Why don't you tell us? Because the whole idea of this episode was yours and I think it's really smart and I'm very excited. Also, I'm recovering from being feral for the last three weeks and only just today for you took a shower with actual soap. So why don't you walk us into this thing?

**Sam Rothkopf** (3:31)
Wow. Okay. Now I feel like that's a, that way we really have the context of how you're entering the room and I'll do my best to do some of the heavy lifting here, Rodney.

**Rodney Evans** (3:39)
Like a real professional.

**Sam Rothkopf** (3:40)
You can just sit on back and enjoy the ride here. I appreciate that. So ultimately, in last week's episode, we talked a lot about the change in our thinking as an organization over the last 10 years and sort of how we have come out on the other side of the last decade of consulting and ways of working consulting and developed a new thesis around building teams and organizations that are equipped and ready to benefit from change and not just bear it.