Rumor has it, Suzie Wiles carries seven handwritten notecards with her at all times.

In her purse.

Each one holds a single priority for the President. Anytime he wants to take action on something new she pulls them out, physically shows him the cards and reminds him:

To add one, we have to remove one.

🤯

I heard this straight from Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency. The guy who’s friendly with every former and the current White House Chief of Staff, including Suzie Wiles. He shared this story with me and 100 other Chiefs of Staff at a closed-door event hosted by the Chief of Staff Association.

This is not a metaphor. It’s her system.

And it’s a masterclass in operational clarity.

In a world addicted to complexity, Suzie Wiles reminds us: Real leadership isn’t about managing everything. It’s about protecting what matters most.

When Whipple delivered this he didn’t oversell it. He dropped it casually, almost like everyone already knew.

But for me, it landed like a bomb.

We are obsessed with dashboards, decks and digital tools. And yet, the woman running the highest office in the land physically carries seven notecards. In her purse.

Ever wonder if maybe you’re overthinking it? Me too. That’s why this hit so hard for me.

It’s one simple rule: Add one? Remove one.

This isn’t about memory either, it’s about discipline. She’s not managing tasks, she’s protecting the President’s attention.

The brilliance isn’t in what she adds. It’s in what she limits AND that it doesn’t have to be more complicated than seven notecards.

Most leaders, especially the ones you serve, don’t struggle with strategy. They are visionary, forward-thinking and strategic by nature. But that’s exactly the type of leader who struggles with strategy sprawl.

Everything feels important. The stove only has four burners yet there are 28 pots boiling.

This is what makes Suzie’s system so effective. It builds friction.

You can’t just say yes to a new initiative. You have to give something up. Add one? Remove one.

It’s uncomfortable and that’s the point. Prioritization without tradeoffs isn’t prioritization. It’s a wish list you keep adding to.

The best Chiefs of Staff I know don’t just track the strategy. They protect it. They create the systems that force decisions. And they know this: The simpler the system, the harder it is to ignore.

Seven cards. One rule. You either believe in your priorities or you don’t.

How many cards should you have?

The number isn’t seven by default. It should reflect what your principal and core team can actually make progress on. If you’re unsure, test it.

Make an educated guess. Track it for a month. If everything on the list moves forward week after week, you’e found the right number. If things stall or slip you’ve got too many.

Start small and adjust as you go. Let capacity set the limit.

Write down your principal’s top priorities.
Not everything that matters, just the things that matter most. Focus on the ones that should drive 80% of their focus.

Use index cards.
Not Notion. Not slides. Physical cards create friction and that’s the point.

Keep them visible.
Glance at them before major meetings, decisions or when the shiny “oh what if!” ideas show up.

Apply the rule.
Add one? Remove one.
If it doesn’t deserve a card, it doesn’t deserve your energy.

Let’s be honest: this will be hard to execute.

If your principal is anything like mine, they love a good idea. They see the possibility both in the idea and in the team. They believe the team can do anything.

And sometimes, it’s hard to bring them back down to Earth with the rest of us.

My hypothesis: It’s the physicality—and the fact that they are hand-written—that makes them work.

They don’t just represent ideas. They remind your principal that those ideas are real.
Real commitments developed by their really smart team. Real focus. Real tradeoffs.

They anchor what would otherwise float around in the idea ether. The cards are your grounding tool in a visionary’s world.

Then, the moment you limit your focus, you see how little you can actually move forward and how quickly time runs out. Over time this naturally sharpens your ability to select the most impactful priorities.

Two weeks ago now I learned about this concept. Since then, I’ve told every single Chief of Staff I’ve met about the seven notecards. Without fail, their mouths drop. Every time! And then they say the same thing: That’s insane.

It’s easy to confuse complexity with importance. To believe that more inputs mean better leadership.

But the real flex isn’t managing at all. It’s knowing what matters most and refusing to let anything else in.

Thanks for reading Right Hand Brief!

P.S If you want to go deeper on why prioritization breaks down in the first place, I wrote about it here → Why Priorities Collapse