I feel as if this question was asked just for me!

The French army was unencumbered by the command structures of the other Allied armies. It was thankfully simple and efficient.

Napoleon would receive information through intelligence of spies, local gossip, and cavalry recon from his corps commanders. This would be fed to his Chief of Staff, Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, the unsung hero of the Napoleonic era. He translated the information from raw to synthesized intelligence and passed it to Napoleon whom would decide on a course of movement.

From here, Napoleon would either dictate or scratch an order on paper which would in turn be handed to Berthier. He would translate the scribble or dictated orders into precise orders that would be handed to an aide hanging out at the headquarters whose express job was to take a horse and give the orders (which was in code) to the Corps commander's headquarters, which would give the order to the Corps commander. From here he would disseminate the orders to his division commanders, and it would continue down the chain of command from here to the smallest tactical unit, the Battalion, which always marched together.

Information flowed up and orders poured from above. It was effective due to Berthier knowing where each corps was and knowing how to translate Napoleon's ideas and orders into straight forward and clear orders. It would work as such for ever level of command regardless of commander and circumstance.