Meet Maggie Olson

We recently connected with Maggie Olson and have shared our conversation below.

Maggie, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

The other day my husband said to me, “Not a lot of people would know how to build what you’ve built, and in such a short amount of time.” I shook my head. Not at the compliment (that was sweet) but at the idea that I knew what I was doing.

The truth is, I have never known what I was doing. Instead, I’ve just learned as I went, used my resources, and trusted I would figure it out along the way. That’s the real story.

I came into entrepreneurship just two years ago after a corporate career in Fortune 500 leadership roles. I had led teams, worked closely with executives as a Chief of Staff, and built success through systems- and structure-driven teams. But nothing about starting Nova Chief of Staff felt familiar. There was no roadmap. No one to learn from. And even though Chiefs of Staff do a little bit of everything, I had never touched marketing, which is now where I spend most of my time. Talk about uncomfortable!

Still, in two years, Nova has grown in a way I never expected when I left my corporate role. We hit one million dollars in revenue in our first year as a profitable, self-funded, female-run company. Today we have more than 1,500 students across 45 countries, and over 1,400 companies trust Nova to train their teams.

We built three course formats that support in-person, virtual cohort, and on-demand learning styles, and we’ve earned over 100 five-star reviews along the way across every single format. This year, we’ve leaned into B2B training, and companies across healthcare, retail, finance, legal, technology, and manufacturing have been reaching out to us, with requests to train their teams. I could keep going, but the point is clear: I built something that adds real value, very quickly, and with lots of care.

If you are a Clifton Strengths person, you’ll appreciate that my top 5 are Achiever, Activator, Maximizer, Arranger, Competition; I lead with Execution and Influence (no surprise as a strong Chief of Staff). But when I became a founder, I had to ask myself a hard question: how do I honor these strengths while also learning how to run a company, build a vision, and think long-term?

For a while, I believed the answer was simple. Build a great product. Help people. Show up every day. Do the work. And that’s gotten us far. But something shifted when I hired people who carry belief, significance, and purpose the way I carry operational intensity and drive.

Earlier this year, Bree, Nova’s Managing Partner and leader of our B2B business, told me, “Maggie, you didn’t just build a great Chief of Staff course. You built a path to the C-suite that never existed before… for an entire population of people.”

That sentence shook me, and it still does.

Purpose does not always announce itself at the beginning. Sometimes you discover it while moving. Sometimes it shows up in the results, or in the way others see you before you see it yourself.

I’ve always been passionate about women in leadership. I’ve always wanted to help people build confidence, speak up, and take the step that scares them. But connecting the day-to-day grind of building a business to the deeper mission behind it was the moment everything clicked. It connected the work in front of me to the impact ahead of me.

It drove me to define critical Mission and Vision work with my team.

Nova’s Mission: Nova Chief of Staff sets the gold standard in Chief of Staff training and education, known for transforming companies, fast-tracking careers, and building bold, strategic confidence across the globe.

Nova’s Vision: A world where every leader is powered by a Chief of Staff: the catalyst for turning vision into reality, building exceptional companies, and shaping the future of work.

Today, Nova reaches more than 100,000 people every day across our social platforms. We talk loudly about what the Chief of Staff role really is. We help Executive Assistants step into strategic partnership. We show leaders what’s possible when they invest in a Chief of Staff. We talk about the future of work in a world where AI handles tasks and humans rise into strategic leadership.

And people are listening. Chief of Staff roles are up 30 percent since 2019, according to the Chief of Staff Network. Two-thirds of Chiefs of Staff are promoted after the role, and nearly forty percent move into Head, VP, or C-suite positions. The pipeline is real, and it is growing.

This is my purpose. To build the path I know is possible. To open doors that didn’t exist for so many talented operators. To help create a generation of strategic leaders who look different, think differently, and change organizations from the inside.

And we’re just getting started.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Follow Maggie on LinkedIn where she shares stories daily with her 50k followers about all things leadership, Chief of Staff, and everything in between.

www.linkedIn.com/in/maggie-olson-cos

Check out Nova Chief of Staff and Google reviews to get an idea why so many choose Nova to level up in their career.

www.novachiefofstaff.com

Google:

https://share.google/fv3JnWtx3XZmKFEgi

Follow along on Instagram for daily behind the scenes stories with insights into what it’s like to lead a fast-growing company and Chief of Staff revolution.

@novachiefofstaff

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1) Knowing what you’re not good at.
2) Building relationships with strangers
3) Clear communication

In order to know what you’re not good at, you’ve got to deeply know yourself, and be humble enough to be okay with not knowing everything, and asking for help.

To build relationships with strangers practice storytelling, listening, and consider angles of collaboration that support the work they do, not just your own.

To communicate clearly both in written and verbal form it takes the skill of putting yourself in the audience’s seat, whoever that may be. If you had no context, would you understand? What are the steps they need to know? Re-reading and re-writing until it’s incredibly clear.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

We often underestimate our strengths. In my MBA program I felt like the underdog because 40% of my class were quant-heavy engineers, and my strengths were leadership and communication. Come to find out later, nearly all of them wished they’d had my leadership and people-focused background. We waste time over compensating for what we think we lack when stepping into our strengths make us shine even brighter.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.novachiefofstaff.com
• Instagram: @novachiefofstaff
• Facebook: @novachiefofstaff
• Linkedin: @maggie-olson-cos @novachiefofstaff
• Twitter: @novachiefofstaf
• Youtube: @novachiefofstaff
• Other: Google: https://share.google/fv3JnWtx3XZmKFEgi