And by the way, I’ve met Oprah, I’ve been to her house, and she has a huge staff, too. You think Oprah remembers the birthdays and wedding anniversaries of every single person who works for her? You think Bill Gates does? Of course not. Someone reminds them.

As a mother, I am already storing so much knowledge for my family and holding on to so many dreams for us. So yeah, I need some help. Anyone who wants to criticize me for needing help isn’t in touch with the realities of modern motherhood.

I think what a lot of people were reacting to was the incredible amount of detail in the ad. You seem to want a jack-of-all-trades and a master-of-all-trades, too. Why do you need someone who’s a scratch cook if you already have a chef? Or someone who can swim like an Olympian? Do you really think you can find all those qualities in one person?

No, of course not. But you’ll never get half of what you want if you don’t ask for all of it. Obviously, we don’t expect every person who works for us to be so well-rounded, but as the leader of the team, we think the chief of staff should set a tone. A leader shouldn’t require the people who report to them to live up to standards they can’t live up to themselves.

Plus the chief of staff is someone our family will spend a lot of time with over the years. There are times when we want to be intimate as a family, and we don’t want our children to be so aware of all the people who work for us, grateful as we are—and trust me, we’re grateful! You can tell by the salaries we pay and the benefits we offer. But sometimes, we like to keep the circle small. In those moments, it’s great if the chief of staff can just jump in the pool with the kids if I need to take a phone call, so we don’t need to have a lifeguard stationed out there. My husband doesn’t get to swim as much as he’d like because he’s so busy, but the rest of us are in the water a lot, so it’s just that extra peace of mind if the adults who are with our children are strong swimmers.

Or sometimes I’ll ask the staff to meet with me in the kitchen while I’m putting out dinner, because I really don’t like missing out on quality time with my kids. Even though we have a chef, I do like to cook sometimes, and it’s great if I’ve got someone who can run through an agenda with me and chop some garlic at the same time, you know?

What about that “advanced knitting techniques” thing? What was that about?