A Serious Read. Not a Personality Test. Not a Vibe Check.
Built to answer the questions interviews and gut feel can’t. The role is put in front of you in situations you’d actually face, and how you handle them is what the report is built on. Every submission is read and edited by a practitioner before it reaches you — not generated by software and shipped.
The most common reason CoS roles fail is not capability. It is wiring that was never honestly examined before the person walked in the door.The Coul & Gold Group
Twelve areas are reviewed in total. Four sit underneath all of them:
Relationship With Authority
How you operate without a clear mandate — and when credit for your work is invisible by design.
Self-Regulation Under Pressure
Whether you can absorb sustained pressure without letting it show, because the role requires it.
Judgment About Information
How you handle sensitive, incomplete, and conflicting information — the kind most jobs never test.
Operating Without Mandate
Acting with authority that is implied rather than formal, and knowing precisely where its limits are.
Designed Around Your Time.
Two ways in. Same approach. Entry is the starting point; Full is the complete picture.
Entry Assessment · Four Stages · About 90 Minutes, in Your Own Time
- A Short Intake · 15 MinutesA quick form so we know your situation and what the report needs to address.
- Written Scenarios · 45 MinutesReal situations the role involves. You write how you’d handle them, within 72 hours.
- Quick Judgment · 20 MinutesFaster scenarios with four options. No obvious right answer — only what you’d actually do.
- Practitioner Review · 3–5 DaysA practitioner reads every submission and edits every report before it reaches you.
Full Assessment · Everything in Entry, Plus Three Things Entry Doesn’t Include
- A read of your public professional profile — what you’ve done, who you’ve worked with, the shape of your career.
- A 60 to 90 minute structured interview with a practitioner.
- An independent second read of the interview by AI. Where the two see different things, we examine why before finalizing.
Total time from you: about 2.5 to 3 hours. Delivered within 5 to 7 working days of the interview, with a final read on whether you’re ready — and which kind of CoS role you’re best suited to.
Honest Information, in Either Direction. Both Are Useful.
Not pass-or-fail. A read on what we saw, and where we couldn’t tell. The four possible outcomes:
Full Endorsement
You’re ready. The report tells you what to lean into when you move.
Strong Foundation
The capability is there. Focused work on a few areas closes the gap.
Development Needed
Real capability, but specific gaps to work on before this is the right move.
Not the Right Moment
Honest information, not a verdict. What we saw, what we couldn’t, what to do next.
Every candidate receives a private report — where you stand and what to work on, yours alone and never shared without your consent. Full Assessment candidates also receive a shareable readiness profile: a practitioner-authored document you hold and distribute on your terms, written for employers, recruiters, and advisors.
Read a Real Report Before You Commit.
The fastest way to judge the assessment is to read what it produces. This is an actual Entry Assessment report, anonymized with the candidate’s permission — the verdict, the evidence behind it, and the specific places the reading found thin. Every line was written by a practitioner who read the responses. And the report takes a position: if you want reassurance, this is the wrong instrument.
Two Prices. Two Levels of Detail.
What you pay for: practitioner hours analyzing your submission, a written analysis edited by a practitioner before it reaches you, a document you can hand to an employer, and honest information you can act on.
“Is this role right for me? Where are my gaps? What should I work on?”
- Written and quick-judgment scenarios across twelve areas
- Every submission read and report edited by a practitioner
- About 90 minutes of your time · delivered within 5 working days
“I want a complete answer — and the report to back it up.”
- Everything in Entry, plus your public profile, a 60–90 minute practitioner interview, and a second independent read
- A final read — one of four outcomes — and which CoS role suits you
- Private report and shareable readiness profile · about 2.5–3 hours · delivered within 7 working days of the interview
- Pay once if you go further. Start with Entry. Upgrade within 90 days and the full $799 comes off the Full Assessment fee. Already took Entry? Your $1,701 upgrade link comes with your report and debrief follow-up.
- Search firms: the Full Assessment with a dual-report output built for search is available at the search-firm tier ($3,000). Read the search-firm edition.
- All prices in USD. Your report is never shared without your consent. Refunds on the Entry Assessment within 48 hours of purchase.
Built by People Who’ve Done This Work — and Watched It Fail When the Wiring Was Wrong.
Suzi Coul and Rachael Goldfarb. Twenty-plus years of operating experience in and around the role, and more than 150 Chiefs of Staff spoken with in depth. The assessment is built on what they’ve seen, not adapted from a personality framework or a generic leadership model. Suzi served as Chief of Staff to a Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor; Rachael helped run the Clinton White House Chief of Staff’s office, served as traveling Chief of Staff at the Gates Foundation, and was employee #19 at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Read the full bios →
Questions Worth Answering.
Who Is This For?
Candidates seriously considering, currently in, or actively interviewing for a Chief of Staff role. Built specifically for the role — not a generic leadership assessment.
Is This a Personality Test?
No. No Big Five, no MBTI, no archetype quiz. The assessment puts you in the situations the role actually involves and looks at how you handle them. Personality plays a part, but how you operate under specific conditions does the predictive work.
What’s the Difference Between Entry and Full?
Entry is the written and quick-judgment scenarios with a practitioner-reviewed report — $799. Full adds a read of your public profile, a 60 to 90 minute interview with a practitioner, and a second independent read, plus a shareable readiness profile written for third parties — $2,500. Entry credit applies if you upgrade within 90 days.
Will My Employer or Anyone Else See My Report?
No. Your report is yours alone. Not shared with employers, recruiters, or anyone without your explicit written consent. Candidate-controlled, by design.
What If I Get a Result I Don’t Like?
A real possibility, and we’ve built around it. A cautious read is not a rejection — it’s information delivered earlier than the role itself would deliver it, and at lower cost. Most people who’ve received cautious reads have told us afterward that the read was useful, even when it was hard.
Why $799 for the Entry Assessment?
Because every submission is analyzed and the report produced by a practitioner before it reaches you. That’s the part that makes the report worth reading. We could automate the review out and charge less. We don’t, because that would defeat the point.
Is There a Refund Policy?
Yes. If you purchase the Entry Assessment and decide it’s not the right time, contact us within 48 hours of purchase for a full refund.