I carry a knife to work every day; I use it for light duty like cutting up cardboard boxes or sharpening pencils, and sometimes just to have an enhanced "fingernail" to scrape bits of things. With that in mind...

I use a CIVIVI Chevalier virtually every day, and if I only had one knife, ever, it would be that one. It flicks open and shut silky smooth one-handed. The blade is a perfectly medium size. The pocket clip is reversible if needed. Mine has micarta scales and feels very grippy, but not sticky. I love this knife.

The only close competition for me in my CRKT Squid. It's tiny, but mighty. I've put a pinky lanyard on mine, and with that on my finger I can easily open and close it one-handed, a task I've struggled with with some liner locks. The blade is no longer than my thumb, which in truth is as much as I need for 90% of jobs. Did I mention it's tiny? I can tuck it into the little coin pocket on my pants and forget it's there until it's needed. I've also got a Squid Compact which is even smaller but still plenty ergonomic, and I quite like, but the Compact has an assisted open, which can be nice but sometimes I don't want the spring loaded action. I haven't run into tasks the Squid couldn't handle, though I'm not out here carving up deer carcasses; the only thing is that the blade geometry is just a tiny bit chunkier than the Chevalier, so it's not quite as good at those "fingernail" jobs that I mentioned earlier. Not a complaint, and honestly if you want a knife that will do lots of work and still present itself as more "diplomatic" than "scary knifey knife," then the Squid is one hundred percent recommended. Without exaggeration, because I keep seeing them at surplus shops, I've got four of them, because they're so nice and I'm afraid of how I'll feel if I lose or break one and can't easily get a replacement.

And since you mentioned Buck, I've got their 256, which is a lot like the CEO. It's got a lovely smooth action, and I did a bit of light whittling with it the other night and it did just fine.