Carla Curry

I attribute it to resourcefulness and resolve, and I learned both early. Growing up as a latchkey kid, I had to figure things out without all the answers in front of me, and that became how I work. I don’t wait for perfect conditions; I move with what I have. My daughter sharpened that further. Watching her overcome lupus nephritis and still excel academically showed me what real resolve looks like, and it pushed me to finish my own degree while carrying a full career. Most of what I’ve built traces back to those two instincts: solve the problem in front of me, and don’t quit when the road gets rough.

The best advice I got came early, at Redbox, which operated like the startup it was:

”Fail fast”

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, just learn from them quickly and keep moving. It was really about ownership, having the confidence to make the call rather than sitting on the sidelines waiting for certainty that never fully comes. In a fast-moving environment, you learn more by acting and correcting than by waiting to feel ready. I’ve carried that into every role since. It’s why executives trust me to take something off their plate and actually run with it.

Observe first, ask questions, and be brave. There’s no single playbook for this work, which means your judgment is the thing you’re building, and you build it by doing. Watch how decisions get made, learn the business behind the executive, and take ownership early instead of waiting for permission. Treat the role as a profession to master, not a stepping stone to tolerate. Done at a high level, this work puts you closer to how an organization actually runs than almost any other seat, and that vantage point is worth everything if you intend to lead.

The biggest opportunity in my field is the redefinition of the role itself. Executive support has moved well past calendars and travel toward operational leadership, owning the systems and the rhythm that let executives and their teams actually execute. That’s the chief of staff direction, and it’s where I’m focused.

AI is part of that shift, and I see it as opportunity more than challenge. Used well, it clears the repetitive load and frees my judgment for what matters: anticipating what leadership needs, connecting work across departments, and keeping operations moving. It creates capacity rather than replacing the judgment the role runs on. The people who treat it that way are the ones moving into the strategic layer.

Discretion is foundational. I spend my days inside confidential and proprietary information, and the executives I support have to know, without thinking about it, that what they tell me stays with me. That trust is the whole job, and I protect it the same way in my personal life as I do at work.

The value I hold most tightly is honest accountability, in both directions. I want real credit when I’ve earned it and real feedback when I’m off track, and I extend the same to the people I work with. No performance, no flattery, just straight engagement. That’s how good work actually gets done.