The Vault · Chiefs of Staff in the Seat

The Playbook Vault. The Whole Rotation, Written Down.

The working library of the Chief of Staff role, written by two people who have done the job, at two depths: one for when you are new to the role, one for when you have been in it a while. Board packs, comms cascades, decision logs, offsite runbooks, reorg plans, and the crisis you get one hour to answer.

What This Is

This Is Not a Course. You Already Have the Job.

No modules, no certificate, and nobody here will call you a rockstar. The Vault assumes you are in the seat, the meeting is Thursday, and the document has to exist by Wednesday night. The library is versioned: when a playbook changes, every member gets the new version, and the changelog says what changed and why. You are paying for documents written by people who have done the job, not a pile of PDFs from 2023.

Inside the Vault

Ten Shelves. Both Sides of the Desk.

Organized around the role, not the calendar: what the job is, the systems you run, the situations that arrive without warning, one shelf written for your executive, and two for after your first year.

Shelf 01 · 2 playbooks

The Seat

What the job is: your first year, and the scorecard that defines the role.

Shelf 02 · 4 playbooks

Meeting Operations

Agendas, the decision log, the meeting audit, the pre-read.

Shelf 03 · 3 playbooks + 1 tool

KPIs & Measurement

Numbers for a job that does not come with any, and the tool that builds them.

Shelf 04 · 4 playbooks + 1 annotated update

Executive Communication

The weekly update, the board pack, the all-hands, the cascade, and one real update with our notes.

Shelf 05 · 3 playbooks

Planning & Execution

The annual plan, the quarterly reset, the offsite that produces decisions.

Shelf 06 · 2 playbooks

People & Stakeholders

Onboarding an executive, and hiring the person who comes after you.

Shelf 07 · 2 playbooks

Special Situations

The reorg, and the crisis you get one hour to answer.

Shelf 08 · For the Executive · 5 playbooks

The Executive’s Side

Five documents written for your executive to read: how to work with a Chief of Staff, a guide for first-time CEOs, the board map, the transition plan, and the page a job description always leaves out.

Shelf 09 · 7 playbooks

The Hold

Keeping the job once you have it: telling hard truths, reading the politics, being a sounding board, and deciding what reaches your executive.

Shelf 10 · 7 playbooks + 1 tool

The Second Year

For when you have been in the role long enough to be taken for granted: renewing your mandate, your title and pay, and a planned exit.

The Annotated Update

A Real CEO Update. With Our Notes in the Margins.

A real weekly update to a CEO, with names and details changed and our notes on every line: what earned trust, what nearly cost it, and what was left out on purpose. Blank templates show you the format. This shows you how it works in practice.

The Depth Toggle

Every Playbook Ships at Two Depths.

Flip one switch and the whole library changes. The document you need in month two is not the one you need in year three.

New to the Seat

Built for Your First Pass.

Why the document exists, what good looks like, and where first-timers go wrong. Annotated templates, worked examples, and the mistakes that cost credibility.

Established

Built for Your Hundredth.

Shorter, and focused on what the basic version skips: office politics, edge cases, the point where a document starts working against you, and how to tie each one to your KPIs.

Members Only

The KPI Builder. Numbers for an Invisible Job.

Answer four questions and get a three-part scorecard: the time you give back to your executive, the operations you run, and the outcomes you influence but do not control, labeled as exactly that. Every metric comes with a target range and a note on how people game it. The Mandate Architect, on Shelf 10, does the same for year two: fourteen questions from your own instruments produce a drift score and the renegotiation you are owed.

Membership

$495 a Year. Less Than One Hour of the Consultant You Will Not Need.

The Playbook Vault
$495a year
  • Ten shelves, thirty-nine playbooks, both depths
  • The KPI Builder and the Mandate Architect
  • The annotated CEO update
  • Every version release during your year, with the changelog
Both Vaults
$895a year

Membership sales open October 1, 2026.

Annual membership, billed by Stripe, cancel anytime before renewal. Membership does not include our time; if you need a conversation rather than a document, that is Executive Advisory.

Members

Already Inside? Sign In.

Questions

Common Questions. Direct Answers.

Is this a course?

A course teaches you what the role is. The Vault assumes you are already in it, the meeting is Thursday, and the document has to exist by Wednesday night. No modules, no certificate.

What formats do the documents come in?

Word templates for the documents, Excel workbooks with live formulas for the logs and trackers, each with a route into Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Notion. The interactive tools run in the browser and export to Markdown or print.

What changes during my year?

Version releases with new playbooks from the roadmap, and one new annotated document. Every change is written into the changelog inside the Vault, so you can see exactly what you got in your year before you decide to renew.

Does this include the Fractional Vault?

No. The Fractional Vault is a separate library for the seat held part-time on retainer, with its own membership. Join both for $895 a year and switch between them from inside either one.

Can I expense it?

Almost certainly. It is $495 a year for a professional resource library, less than one hour of most consultants, and the invoice carries The Coul & Gold Group's name. Most members expense it under professional development or team tooling.

What if I cancel?

Then you have a year of the library and everything released in it. Cancel before your renewal date and you will not be charged again. The documents you downloaded are yours to keep.

Is there a team price?

Yes. Email info@coulandgold.com.

The Playbook Vault

The Meeting Is Thursday. The Document Needs to Exist by Wednesday Night.

Thirty-nine playbooks on ten shelves, two interactive tools, one real CEO update with our notes, every one built to be duplicated and used the same day.