The Global Chief of Staff Dialogue
Dates: 22 – 23 October, 2026
Format: Two-day in person conference
Location: Washington DC
Venue: Atlantic Council Headquarters
Member price: $1295
Non-member price: $1695
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Leadership's rising complexity, and the evolving role of the contemporary chief of staff
The demands on today's leaders have never been greater. More decisions, more stakeholders, more complexity, and the same number of hours in the day. The chief of staff is how the world's best leaders stay ahead of it. COS26 brings the global chief of staff community to the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. to examine what it takes to be an effective strategic partner to a principal operating under real pressure. Across two days, we will explore the challenge of modern leadership, the shifting demands of the principal–chief of staff partnership, and the role of geopolitics, AI and organisational change in how decisions are made and executed.
Join attendees from 150+ global organisations
What the COS26 Dialogue Will Cover
What it takes to be an effective strategic partner under pressure
This opening session names the three forces the programme will explore: geopolitics, AI and organisational change. It positions the principal and chief of staff relationship as the load-bearing wall that determines whether an organisation withstands that pressure.
The strategic partner: chief of staff at the centre of global security decision-making
This session brings the opening argument to life through the highest-stakes version of the role. It speaks candidly to building trust with a principal, filtering signals under pressure and protecting bandwidth for decisions only the principal can make.
The principal's view: what leaders need from their chief of staff under pressure
This session flips the perspective from chief of staff to principal, exploring the idea of a "conspiracy of optimism" in the advice leaders receive. It frames the relationship as mateship under pressure, rooted in trust and compassion rather than mere support.
Geopolitics as the operating environment: decision-making in real time
This discussion widens the lens from individual institutions to the broader geopolitical architecture, covering great power competition, realigning alliances and sanctions. It shows that the pressures already described are the new baseline, not the exception.
AI and the future of execution: rewiring how decisions get made
This session addresses the second structural force, AI, from a builder's rather than an adopter's viewpoint. It argues AI expands demand for human judgement rather than replacing it, posing the question of what a chief of staff's role becomes as AI takes on more of the work.
Leading under extreme pressure: the chief of staff role in global crisis response
This session opens Day 2 with the purest test of pressure on the agenda, humanitarian crisis response where delay costs lives, not share price. It explores how priorities get triaged and how a chief of staff shields a principal from noise when every signal feels critical.
Reflecting on COS25
COS25 brought together chiefs of staff from around the world for two days of candid conversation, sharp thinking, and the kind of connection you don't get anywhere else. Here's a look back at what made it happen, and why COS26 is set to be even bigger.
COS25 brought together chiefs of staff from around the world for two days of candid conversation, sharp thinking, and the kind of connection you don't get anywhere else. Here's a look back at what made it happen, and why COS26 is set to be even bigger.
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