Creating Your Unique Platform for Success

The best leaders take many forms. In business, disruptors and enlightened leaders transform organizations. And those leaders rely on leaders within their teams to pull it all together. One such role is an organizational chief of staff. Call them the ‘consigliere’ or the CEO’s confidant; they can play an invaluable role in seeing and realizing the needs of the whole enterprise.

The road to leadership is always an interesting one, and for those trying to find the path, one piece of advice is to create your unique platform for success. And for one entrepreneur, his unique platform includes the chief of staff as a business priority.

Mackenzie Lee, CEO & Chief of Staff Evangelist at Cedar Chief of Staff, created a business model to bring the leadership power of a chief of staff to the business community, which may not recognize the benefits such a role brings to an organization. He visited Manal Keen on Power Up with Manal to share his journey of discovery and why he believes everyone should invest in creating their unique platform for success.

Through Lee’s early post-college work journey, he began to see the chief of staff role within an organization as necessary. And these experiences sparked an idea.

“I’ve been an investment analyst and a defacto chief of staff,” Lee said. “I saw the power this role has on the C-Suite, the executive team, and the entire company, not to mention the development path for the chief of staff. And I started to think, how could I build a business around this?”

Keen and Lee discuss the following on the show:

  • Educating businesses on the benefits of having a chief of staff
  • The whys and hows of Lee’s journey to creating his company, Cedar
  • Advice for new entrepreneurs

“Start by testing very small ideas,” Lee said. “It all starts with an idea, and it starts with you talking about it with one other person and then talking about it with ten other people to refine your idea. And then create a very small MVP for that idea. So, post about it on LinkedIn, Twitter, or wherever you have a following, and see what the reaction might be from your community and your market, and take it from there. Don’t be afraid to go through hundreds of ideas.”

About Mackenzie Lee

Mackenzie Lee is a Stanford graduate with over a decade of experience serving executives from Fortune 1000 companies, growth companies, and startups, helping leaders solve tricky business problems and quickly driving operational results. He draws from previous experience as a solution consultant mentored by a former McKinsey manager, an investment analyst mentored by an ex-Goldman Sachs Manager, and a Stanford engineer.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Greenland Energy Company Is Pioneering a New Era of Arctic Oil in the Jameson Land Basin
October 30, 2025

The global conversation around oil is evolving—shaped by the forces of energy transition, geopolitical tension, and accelerating technology. Even as the world races toward decarbonization, demand for reliable, dispatchable energy continues to climb. Oil and gas together still supply just over half of global primary energy, underscoring their enduring role in the world’s power…

Read More
luxury resale
How Luxury Resale Became Big Business: Inside Fashionphile’s Playbook
October 30, 2025

Luxury retail is in the midst of a reinvention. Circular fashion has moved from trend to transformation, reshaping how consumers perceive value, ownership, and access. According to the 2025 BCG × Vestiaire Collective Resale Report, the secondhand fashion and luxury market now totals $210 to $220 billion globally and is projected to reach $320…

Read More
career
The Power of Reinvention: How Debbie Crouse Crafted a Career Across Industries
October 29, 2025

As the modern workforce continues to evolve, conversations around balance, fulfillment, and flexibility are taking center stage. With hybrid work redefining expectations and career paths becoming less linear, professionals are asking deeper questions about what “success” really means. According to Gallup’s latest data, only 31% of U.S. employees were engaged at work in…

Read More
acceptance
Coaching Away the Imposter Voice: Transforming Self-Doubt into Self-Acceptance
October 28, 2025

Authenticity isn’t about perfection — it’s about having the courage to show up as your true self, even when self-doubt creeps in. Many of us wrestle with imposter syndrome, people-pleasing, and the fear of being seen, but real growth happens when we embrace vulnerability and learn to trust our own voice. By letting go of…

Read More