From Chief of Staff to Product Manager: Sarah Kislak on Following Your Talent

Sarah Kislak spent nearly a decade at Box, progressing from an executive assistant in a rotational program to Chief of Staff for a 1,000-person engineering org, and ultimately into product management.

In this episode, Sarah shares what she learned by observing a Chief of Staff before stepping into the role herself, how she ran a team of seven while keeping alignment across recruiting, finance, comms, and strategy, and the hackathon moment that made her realize she wanted to build products.

She unpacks the differences between an operator and a PM mindset, explains why she chose to follow her talent rather than her passion, and offers practical advice for Chiefs of Staff who are PM-curious — including how to run small experiments this week to test the fit.

Learn more about the Chief of Staff Network membership, courses, and resources at chiefofstaff.network.