30 Conversations | Conversation #12 | You Don’t Have to Be Playing to Change the Game
What if your biggest impact doesn’t come from being the best player on the team, but from understanding what the entire team needs to win?
As part of my 30 Conversations project, I had the privilege of sitting down with Ellyn Stanton, Chief of Staff at Mavan.
I was particularly excited about this conversation because Ellyn’s experience in project management, operations, corporate development, and strategy offered a perspective I hadn’t yet explored in depth: what it looks like to help an organization connect its vision to its execution.
A little about Ellyn
Ellyn didn’t always envision herself in the role she occupies today. After studying journalism with aspirations of pursuing sports broadcasting, she realized opportunities in the field were limited and pivoted into marketing and communications.
That transition gave her greater flexibility while allowing her to stay close to the people who mattered to her. Over time, her experience in account and project management led her toward operations and, eventually, her current role as Chief of Staff.
Her journey is a reminder that sometimes, the path forward isn’t about following the original plan. It’s about recognizing where your experiences are leading you.
Three ideas that challenged my thinking
💡 1. The Chief of Staff: Connecting the dots behind the scenes
When I heard Chief of Staff, I primarily associated the role with government or large corporations. I wasn’t entirely sure what it entailed or how it differed from other leadership and people-focused functions.
My conversation with Ellyn gave me a different perspective.
The role sits at the intersection of strategy, operations, and execution. It requires an understanding of how different parts of an organization work together, what deserves attention, and how to allocate time and resources toward the priorities that matter most.
It’s not simply about keeping projects moving. It’s about understanding the bigger picture: knowing when to accelerate, when to recalibrate, and the opportunity cost of each decision.
A strategy is only as effective as an organization’s ability to execute it. The Chief of Staff helps bridge that gap, connecting the dots between the vision and the work required to bring it to life.
My reflection:
This got me thinking about how many organizations know where they want to go but struggle to connect that vision to their day-to-day operations.
What happens when a business has the ambition to grow but lacks the capacity, coordination, or strategic support to determine what needs to happen next?
It made me more curious about how I could help bridge that gap in partnership with businesses—not just by identifying what needs to change, but by helping them understand what to prioritize, when to move, and what those decisions might cost.
💡 2. From fearing the numbers to using them to make decisions
One of the more interesting parts of our conversation was Ellyn’s experience with finance and accounting.
These weren’t initially the areas she felt most comfortable navigating. The numbers could feel intimidating, particularly when there was so much to understand.
Yet the profit and loss statement became one of her most useful tools for understanding the business.
Learning to interpret it helped her better understand the organization’s financial position and make more informed decisions about where profits could be reinvested.
What stood out to me was the shift: financial information went from something unfamiliar to something practical—a tool for asking better questions and making better decisions.
You don’t necessarily need to be the person preparing every financial statement to benefit from understanding what the numbers are telling you.
My reflection:
What if, instead of avoiding the things that intimidate us, we leaned into them?
How many opportunities do we miss because we assume something is beyond our capabilities before we’ve given ourselves the chance to learn it?
It’s a reminder that the things we find intimidating today can become the very tools that help us make better decisions tomorrow.
💡 3. Going from the star goalie to the backup goalie
Coming from an athletic background myself, I understand how much of your identity can become tied to your role on a team.
It’s one thing to be the person in the game. It’s another to find yourself in a position where your contribution looks different—where you’re no longer the one making the plays, but the one watching, supporting, and cheering the team on.
But here’s the interesting part: when your role changes, so does your perspective.
Instead of focusing on making the next play, you have more opportunity to observe the team, recognize patterns, and understand the game from a broader perspective.
There is value in playing the game, but there is also value in seeing how the pieces fit together.
Leadership isn’t always about being the person in the spotlight. Sometimes, it’s about recognizing what the team needs and finding the best way to contribute.
My reflection:
This left me thinking about a question that has come up repeatedly throughout this project:
How do we recognize where we can create the most value, especially when that value looks different from what we originally imagined?
We can become so focused on the position we want that we overlook the impact we could make from the position we’re in.
An underappreciated skill is knowing how to contribute from a different position—and recognizing that changing your role doesn’t necessarily mean diminishing your impact.
My biggest takeaway
Every conversation in this project has challenged me to think differently about how people build careers and recognize where they can create value.
This conversation reinforced the importance of looking beyond individual tasks and understanding how the pieces connect.
Whether it’s aligning strategy with execution, using financial information to guide decisions, or contributing from a different position on the team, creating value often starts with understanding the bigger picture.
The lesson I’m taking with me?
“Leadership sometimes means stepping away from the spotlight.”
Not every contribution is visible, and not every opportunity to make an impact comes with the title or position we imagined for ourselves.
Sometimes, the most valuable thing we can do is understand what the team needs and figure out how we can help make it happen.
How I’m applying this
For me, this means being more intentional about developing the skills that allow me to connect financial understanding with strategic thinking and execution.
I’m particularly interested in continuing to build my ability to:
- Lean into what I suck at: Identify my knowledge gaps, get honest about what I don’t know, and do the work to improve instead of avoiding the uncomfortable bits.
- See the bigger picture: Look beyond individual tasks to understand how functions, priorities, and decisions affect the organization as a whole.
I’m still figuring out what this looks like in practice, but conversations like this are helping me ask better questions about the kind of professional I want to become—and the kind of value I want to bring to the table.
A thank you
Thank you, Ellyn, for your generosity, openness, and willingness to share your experiences. I appreciate the time you took to help me understand a role and perspective I hadn’t previously explored in depth.
Conversations like these remind me how much we can learn when we make space to ask questions and listen to people whose paths look different from our own.
Help me reach 30 conversations
This is Conversation #12 of 30.
I’m speaking with professionals across:
- M&A, Corporate & Commercial Law
- Venture Capital, Investing & Private Capital
- Investment Banking & Capital Markets
- Corporate Development & Strategy
- Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Partnerships
I’m also exploring perspectives across family offices, corporate venture capital, economic development, higher education and innovation, luxury and consumer strategy, media, entertainment, tourism, founder success, and business design.
The goal isn’t simply to understand what people do, but how they build careers, navigate change, recognize opportunities, and create meaningful value.
If you work in one of these areas or know someone whose perspective would add to this project, I’d love an introduction.
Who do you think I should speak with next?
Twelve down. Eighteen more opportunities to learn.
#30Conversations #CareerDevelopment #Leadership #CorporateStrategy #Finance #Innovation
