CSA Seminars

Tailored chief of staff education designed and delivered by world-class faculty.

World-Class Speakers, Tailored Education

A Selection of Past CSA Speakers

How Boards Work: And How They Can Work Better in a Chaotic World

Dr Dambisa Moyo
Global Economist
NYT best-selling author

Named by TIME Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”, Dr Moyo interrogates the contemporary functions, as well as the challenges and solutions required to make boards work better in a chaotic world.

Dr Dambisa Moyo is the author of ‘How Boards Work: And How They Can Work Better in a Chaotic World’. She currently serves on the boards of Chevron Corporation and the 3M Company.

The Power of Diplomacy and How to Make it Work for You

Capricia Penavic Marshall
Founder
Global Engagement Strategies

In her posts, she enhanced traditional protocol methods with new tools to build relationships between dignitaries and industry leaders worldwide. She oversaw the diplomatic details of multiple state visits, G20 and G8 convenings, presidential inaugurations and summits such as the Nuclear Security Summit, APEC, NATO and Sunnylands summits.

Marshall served as White House social secretary in the Clinton Administration from 1997-2001 and US chief of protocol in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013. 

Driving Innovative Strategy in a Global Corporation

Anoushka Healy
Chief Strategy Officer
News Corporation

Ms. Healy oversees a dynamic team at News Corporation, working on global mergers and acquisitions and corporate development to further grow and diversify the company’s portfolio, while fostering innovation and synergies across News Corp businesses around the world.

Anoushka Healy is the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of News Corp. Additionally, Ms. Healy serves on the board of the Times Newspapers Holdings Ltd.

How Chiefs of Staff Develop Influence & Authority

Keith Ferrazzi
Chairman and Founder
Ferrazzi Greenlight

One common characteristic of the chief of staff role is to learn how to ‘operate in the background,’ which means influencing executives to guide an organization along its strategic path. So how do you assert constructive and impactful authority and influence?

Keith Ferrazzi is the author of the New York Times bestselling books ‘Never Eat Alone’ and ‘Who’s Got Your Back?’. Keith is a recognized global thought leader whose methodologies are adapted to a twenty-first century with a radical new workplace operating system. 

Harnessing Public Entrepreneurship

Professor Mitch Weiss
Harvard University
Harvard Business School

Professor Weiss provides a practical framework for more inventive approaches to public problem-solving. Based on his recent book, “We The Possibility”, Weiss presents leadership techniques that break through the status quo when in government or in partnership with them.

Mitch Weiss is a Professor of Management Practice in the Entrepreneurial Management unit and the Richard L. Menschel Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the HBS Course on Public Entrepreneurship.

Building Effective Long Term Networks

John Denton AO
Secretary-General
International Chamber of Commerce

An effective and influential network elevates a chief of staff’s ability to execute strategy and deliver outcomes for the principal. In this webinar, John Denton AO, a former diplomat and expert in global trade,  interrogates the critical issues, challenges and opportunities facing the global trading system and emphasises the importance of building networks.

John W.H. Denton AO is the current Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, the first Australian to hold the position.

Getting to
the Impossible YES

William Ury
Board Member
One Earth Future

Over the past four decades, William has served as a negotiation adviser and mediator in conflicts ranging from the Cold War to Venezuela to the Middle East. William shares practical lessons from his decades of work in situations ranging from boardroom battles to labor strikes to ethnic wars.

William Ury, co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, is one of the world’s best-known authors and practitioners of negotiation and mediation. William is co-author of Getting to Yes, a fifteen-million-copy bestseller translated into over thirty-five languages.

Project Management Masterclass

Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne
University of Virginia
Darden School of Business 

Understanding project management is a vital function of a chief of staff. But post COVID-19 pandemic, the way we select, define, plan and deliver projects needs to be urgently updated. Yael equips members with the latest skills, knowledge and techniques required to deliver chief of staff specific projects in a rapidly changing business environment.

Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business, is an expert in Project Planning and Management. Her online course “Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management” has had over 200,000 enrolments across 200 countries worldwide.

Fundamentals of Organisational Effectiveness

Dr Jonathan Trevor
University of Oxford
Saïd Business School

To elevate corporate effectiveness in today’s complex world, it is imperative that a chief of staff can strategically align the corporation across all business functions. Dr Trevor introduces key concepts, strategies and practical frameworks that will help members better align their enterprise, enabling the fulfilment of its purpose and improving performance.

Dr Jonathan Trevor is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Jonathan consults extensively with executive leadership teams to help them to transform their organisations to be fit for purpose.

Team Dynamics: Building a Culture of Healthy Dissent

Dr Rachel Pacheco
University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School

A former chief people officer, Rachel now serves on the board of advisors for numerous start-ups, primarily in the digital health and wellness space. Dr Pacheco provides techniques to foster healthy dissent in your teams and organisations for optimal group decision-making, prioritisation and critical thinking.

Rachel Pacheco, PhD is a management author and faculty member at The Wharton School. She is passionate about teaching people what it takes to be great managers and coaching executives and leaders on how to build thriving teams and organizations.

Managing Organisational Culture

David Byrum
Managing Director

Human Synergistics Australia

As the conduit between an organisation’s leadership and staff, the chief of staff must constantly take the organisational pulse to ensure organisational performance. David provides tools to define, measure, and maximise an organisation’s culture to influence performance.

David Byrum is the managing director of Human Synergistics Australia. Throughout partnerships, David focuses on enhancing the capability of individuals, teams, and business processes to achieve sustainable bottom-line performance improvement.

Leading at a
Time of Crisis

Amanda Coleman
Crisis Communication Specialist
Amanda Coleman Communication Ltd

Being ready to respond when the worst happens is essential for all companies. It starts by understanding the key crisis management principles and what it means to a chief of staff. Amanda teaches key principles of crisis communication and the role of leaders.

Amanda is a crisis communication specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in emergency services communication and leading at a time of crisis. Amanda led the law enforcement communication response to the Manchester Arena terrorist attack. 

Learn more about our world-first chief of staff education programmes.