Executive Assistants As Strategic Support

Copy rig ht © 2 007, Me lba J. D unca n. All rig hts res erv ed.
www.d unc angroupinc.c om
Executive Assistants
as Strategic Support Specialists,
Managers and Leaders: An
Expanding Universe
Melba J. Duncan
The Duncan Group Inc.
www.duncangroupinc.com
melba@duncangroupinc.com
212.297.6118
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This is the best of times for Executive Assistants! Your

sense of humor, enormous drive, common sense, perseverance,
self-confidence, legendary discipline and integrity can propel
you to new levels not formerly associated with a support role --
in a New World in which military or civilian leaders, who are
effective at optimizing talent, will recognize and richly reward
the right people.
The Executive Assistant position is a “role on the rise.”
You are at the center of a changing work environment, one
that offers immediate advantages and opens up to a world with
infinite possibilities.
Today, I invite you to accompany me on a journey of
discovery that will take us from some of the very
concrete aspects of the role of the Executive Assistant, with
which many of you are already familiar, to a vision of the new
possibilities and learning opportunities that you will encounter
on your path to repositioning your role.
First, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the special

role of the Executive Assistant in the Military. You are part of
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a very elite group, and you should know that we are proud of
what you do.
Most of the people I recruit into the executive assistant
position work in the private sector. But I am as comfortable
speaking with you, as I am with those assistants. I understand
the role, because the core skills and personality requirements
are the same in business, non-profit or government.
The job is often the same, although the goals and the
environment in which you function are vastly different. What
changes is the environment in which we make our journey, not
the nature of the journey itself.
Corporate Assistants contribute order, accountability,
and efficiency to the worlds of corporate executives who are
committed to the search for market share.
On the other hand, you add order, accountability, and
efficiency to the daily efforts of those whose leadership have
freedom as its aim.
One skill all expert Executive Assistants have in common,
regardless of their mission or environment, are highly
developed anticipatory skills.
In fact, like the character “Radar” on the satirical

American comedy, M*A*S*H, you have mastered knowing
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exactly what your superiors are going to need next. You have a
way of seeing the most critical logistical challenges just over
the horizon, perhaps before your superiors do. You develop a
way of offering solutions to problems before they materialize.
As we travel together this afternoon, let’s look at where
the Executive Assistant position is headed in the New World of
work. We will discuss the MEGATRENDS that are driving
change in the workplace, and their impact on skill
development needs at the Executive Assistant level.
In this New World of work, you will find a new
perspective, a new optimism, and a new respect for the
Executive Assistant position. To reach these new levels of
performance requires an understanding of, and adaptability
to, the complex skills that are steadily being incorporated into
your daily routine. Keen attention must be given to building
complementary strengths to adapt to this changing role.
Career Assistants must seize every opportunity to learn new
techniques and protocols to keep up with rapidly advancing
changes.
If ever there was a time to exercise your adaptive

capacity, it is now. History tells us that the Executive Assistant
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position is not threatened by change; rather change provides

the framework for this role’s ascension.
This is why those who do this work, and the work itself,
are so difficult to typecast: Assistants and the work they do are
continually evolving in order to accommodate, respond to and
complement any new demands. Assistants have always taken
on new challenges, thereby ignoring the traditional definitions
and boundaries of the role, and ensured a smooth transition
process.
If we pay careful attention to the changes and present
shifts in responsibility and accountability, we can readily
observe a blurring of the lines between Management and the
Executive Assistant role of Strategic Administrative Support.
Collectively, you have prevailed and earned your place in your
organization’s structure. This marks an important new stage
in the evolution of the Role of Assisting.
In my work as a recruiter for senior level assistants, and
as a consultant to management, I am privileged to meet with
the Captains of Industry. From each conversation, I am able
to determine a collective view of what these leaders consider
excellent performance. I listen to their views on what they
need and expect from their Assistants. I learn about the key
skills that are required for continued success in the coming
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years. I see this position from a different perspective; and I

share this collective experience with you in the following
observations and predictions:
FIRST: I observe that these shifting New World
dynamics are transforming the daily routine, the social status,
and the economic rewards of Executive Assistants. New
possibilities abound as these changes drive civilian and
military leaders to look for talent INSIDE their organizations,
as they strive to match their employees’ experience, skills and
aptitudes, and aspirations, to their evolving strategic needs.
Today’s organizations are cultivating high performers from
within their ranks for key positions. This is an ideal state of
affairs for Executive Assistants, who have previously not been
“officially” given this level of strategic responsibility.
SECOND: I observe that because you are Masters of
Change, you are expected to play a central role in supporting
your superior’s efforts to manage the extraordinary transitions
that await us in the coming years. Your work will be more
diverse, challenging and rewarding than ever before.
THIRD: I predict that to rise to the level of “value-added

colleague” you must continue to build on your basic skills to
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effectively manage the most mundane task to the most strategic

assignment, from beginning to end. In this changing
environment, flawless execution is what matters most.
This means that Assistants cannot overcome these and
other obstacles to execution by doing more of the same;
instead, they must fundamentally rethink how work gets done.
Learning how to expand your position by letting observations
teach is your real opportunity.
Fourth: I predict that your success is based on the ability
to apply intelligence, common sense and creativity to the
challenges you encounter, while learning every step of the way.
Fifth: I predict that you will excel in this “New World”
because you truly enjoy the self-management focus, the
opportunity for independent decision-making and a lot more
autonomy.
Sixth: I predict that the techniques you have honed will
be even more important to your organization’s success. This is
a very good time to be a skilled professional!
All of these predictions have many powerful implications;
so let me point to one implication, which is an idea of
outstanding importance: this role is never stagnant; “nothing
stands still.” Career mobility requires focused and specialized
attention. Assistants of the future will have to expand on
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everything they can now do to achieve record-breaking

performance! You are expected to fill the capability gap.
So, put yourselves in the driver’s seat, organize and
create your own career paths and position yourselves to
manage these major transitions. Think critically about these
new skill demands that I talk about this afternoon. Think
carefully about how to address your career-development needs.
Ultimately, you are responsible for advancing your skills in
order to continue building on what you have already mastered.
Your role of providing strategic administrative support to
executives has already taken on some role-related management
and leadership responsibilities, even though this may not have
previously been acknowledged. And, that expanding role will
be recognized and rewarded going forward, and you
will be expected to take on more and more of these
responsibilities.
So, let’s get on the path of discovering the new skills and
protocols and think about where we fit in this impressive new
role. The magical way to do this is to step outside of ourselves,
and put someone else in our place: the recruiting process will
provide the right model.
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This afternoon, we will work together on a new

assignment to identify an Outstanding Executive Assistant for
a very important client. Our strategy is to begin with a blank
page, ask targeted questions of our candidates – and watch the
process unfold.
If we listen closely, we will notice that while our
candidates are answering these and many other questions we
will pose, we are also learning about ourselves – and targeting
the skills we need to develop to master these new
responsibilities in a New World of work.
Let’s agree that our goal in this search process is to
identify what is meant by a “signature experience”, which tells
the full story about the skills, attitudes and aptitudes of our
potential candidates.
After many years in the field of recruiting, I have learned
that our observation and investigation process is like peeling
back an onion, layer by layer. Each layer is connected to the
next. As we observe and gather information, this gives us a
richer understanding of the personal characteristics, skills,
education, experience and types of people who will “fit” the
executive’s personality, attitude and work habits.
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As you work with me on this assignment, keep in mind

how you “fit” with the executive to whom you report.
A solid match ensures a lasting partnership relationship,
which is the underpinning for long-term success.
So, let’s begin by peeling back the onion. Ideally, the
following questions will provide the feedback, insight and
focused strategies of the 21st Century Assistant:
What are the core characteristics of the New Role?
What are the essential requirements for success in the
workplace?
What basic and new skills, and professional manner,
should these candidates have? What should be their attitudes
toward work?
Our candidates must possess at least these three non-
negotiable, core characteristics:
Accountability. Trust. Adaptability.
The right candidate must ACTUALLY possess these
characteristics --because they create the foundation for highly
productive employee-employer relationships. Let’s think this
through by looking at how and why these characteristics are so
important:
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The Accountability Factor

Accountability requires unquestionable integrity and
impeccable ethical standards. Once a commitment is made, it
should always be fulfilled. Absolute honesty and integrity is
expected in whatever you say and do. Those who break
commitments have fallen down on the job … and have hurt
their own and their colleagues’ credibility and performance.
Doing what you say you are going to do, when you said you
would do it, is not negotiable. You accept responsibility for all
assigned tasks; nothing is left to chance. You honor and fulfill
any commitments you make; you do your job so that you know
it better than anyone.
The Trust Factor

To develop trust you have to act in such a way that others
will recognize that you’re acting not on behalf of your personal
interests, but on behalf of the organization as a whole and the
welfare of the individuals in your work community. Your
colleagues’ welfare is as important as your own. As a trusted
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and valued colleague, you are relied upon to protect

confidential information. Trust and credibility form an
important alliance between you and your manager.
The Adaptability Factor

The world of work has been transformed by Professional
Assistants’ contribution, where change is a constant and where
innovative ideas perpetually speak to something new.
I see the changing work of Assisting being defined as a
matter of art rather than science. It is more easily recognized
rather than described, and it is known by its effects rather than
by logical analysis. Assistants thrive in changing
environments. You watch for change and adapt accordingly.
If we are going to sustain excellent performance,
then we will need these three specific traits (Accountability,
Trust and Adaptability) in order to meet the challenges of at
least four critical MEGATRENDS that are shaping our future
at an ever-quickening pace:
The first is TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE – a force that
is transforming the way we work. You will be reinventing
systems and processes, and this requires the skill of creative
systems management. For better or worse technology is
moving at an unprecedented pace. Microsoft recently released
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an entirely new product line including but not limited to

Windows Vista and Office 2007. Microsoft has completely
redesigned their core product line and Executive Assistants are
going to have to adapt.
Further, the increasing mobility of the executive is
translating into work-flow issues for the Assistant. No one can
be in the office all the time so we are seeing many Assistants
using mobile technologies, like Blackberry and Windows
Mobile to keep up.
The second is the INTEGRATIVE WORKPLACE. You
must successfully manage multi-generational/multi-cultural
influences, and this requires complex social and cultural-
management skills.
The third is the DO MORE WITH LESS WORKPLACE
– the system under which we now all live - which demands that
fewer and fewer team members produce an ever accelerating
greater number of goods and services. New ideas are
welcomed. Your input is sought in solving problems. This
requires the skill of Innovation.
The fourth is SUSTAINABILITY. How do we attain our
goals in an environmentally and organizationally sustainable
way? This requires skills in management and leadership
practices.
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All of these MEGATRENDS – which tend to overlap and

bounce off of each other in the contemporary workforce –
RELY upon the three core characteristics I mentioned earlier.
ACCOUNTABILITY -- your own ability to meet agreed-
upon commitments, or own up; … the ability to inspire
TRUST in others … and the ADAPTABILITY to develop new
solutions in the face of the many new circumstances that will
arise from these MEGATRENDS.
As private and public sector leaders take action around
these MEGATRENDS, they look within their organizations for
“Critical Talent”. It is wise for us to observe where we are,
what we do, and how we can improve on what it is we do to
distinguish ourselves as “critical talent.”
A report from Deloitte Research entitled “It’s 2008: Do
You Know Where Your Talent Is?” describes “critical talent”
as “those individuals who possess highly developed skills and
deep knowledge, not just of the work itself but also of ‘how to
make things happen….’”
Now, that report is not referring only to senior executives
who command the highest salaries; it is also talking about
those employees who drive the infrastructure of their work
environments.
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Deloitte is talking about those people who do not avoid

responsibility, but welcome it, and welcome the task of helping
to build constituencies for critical initiatives.
The report suggests that these “critical talent” people
should be fairly easy to identify: “they’re the ones who
repeatedly make the most CRITICAL decisions that impact
the efficiency and effectiveness of their departments and
organizations. They are flexible and contribute to operational
innovation.”
This brings us to the next step in our search process,
which is to identify points of comparison – the links between
the candidates we have selected and their performance
capabilities -- so we can begin to appreciate their potential for
success, and determine if they are among the “Critical Talent”
population.
We ask our candidates to give us specific examples of how
they contribute to their companies’ intellectual leadership. We
look for intellectual flexibility and operational innovation
skills. These are important strategies at the Executive
Assistant levels because for almost every business operational
innovation is a matter of survival. This requires that
businesses streamline systems, focus strategies and implement
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more effective processes. Your ability to demonstrate

operational innovation is among your most measurable
contributions.
The necessity for operational innovation opens up
significant opportunities for those employees who work most
closely with executives to support them in their strategic
agendas by organizing their complex lives. I am talking about
Executive Assistants – Adaptive Assistants. I am talking about
you.
The facts:
Organizations need highly analytical individuals with
technological savvy, creativity, global-know-how, adaptability
and great communication skills. Assistants are expected to
collaboratively solve complex and rapidly-changing problems
every moment of every day.
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Organizations need greater flexibility and innovative

ideas from their employees. People must be able to connect
across institutions, divisions and regions to create new ways to
promote high-quality decisions and lightening-fast execution.
Organizations will expect continuous learning and growth
from their employees. They will identify “critical talent” from
within their ranks. The best business leaders know that the
most important lessons don’t take place in the classroom – but
on the job.
As I pointed out earlier, during the recruiting interviews,
it is useful to ask ourselves the same questions we pose to our
potential candidates. How would you answer the following
questions?
Are you recognized for your innovative problem-solving
skills?
Are you teachable?
Are you willing to totally immerse yourself in everything
you do?
Are you able to think in the short-term and the long-
term?
Are you building on your transitional skills?
Are you among the “Critical Talent” population?
Do you have the skills of Indispensability?
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For all workers – not just executive assistants, but for

each and every contributor in organizations who will thrive in
the coming years -- the key is to learn and adapt to your
environment, and to exhibit innovative problem-solving skills
and to master the Skills of Indispensability. Let me tell you
what I know about that.
For over 20 years, most of my work has been focused on
workplace resource requirements and circumstances.
My colleague, Brandon Toropov, and I, are in the midst
of a research project to determine “what it takes to be
indispensable” in the 21st Century world of work. This is a
passion of mine, since I have never believed that people are
dispensable.
We are interviewing 100 CEOs worldwide for our book,
“The Art of Indispensability.” Those we have interviewed thus
far support the possibility that the skills of indispensability
often can be hidden within their organizations.
I interviewed Donald Gogel, President and CEO of the
prestigious private equity firm, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, to
share with us what he believes are the characteristics that
make an Executive Assistant “indispensable.” He responded
as follows:
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“An intuitive sense of the priorities of the business and

the executive – for example: what’s really important.
A high success rate in getting things done (whether that is
getting through an important phone call or obtaining tickets
for a concert).
A high degree of consistency and loyalty.
“Street smarts” and raw intelligence.
Knowledge of and sympathy with the business culture.
Respect from executives and executive assistants.
“If an Executive Assistant has most of these
characteristics, let me assure you that he/she is indispensable.”
This is the Assistants’ Professional Edge.
This excellent advice translates, in practical terms, into
six key principles:
FIRST: Being Indispensable means being one of the team
members that the key people in the organization simply can’t
do without. That means taking on projects that you are
UNIQUELY qualified to manage. It means being one of the
elite “mission-critical” employees.
Being indispensable means being proactive – to take the
initiative to create and capture true value from ideas and
technologies, wherever they are found, and to do all this in
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addition to, and to better address, your existing

responsibilities.
SECOND: Being Indispensable means being FUTURE-
FOCUSED. It means taking responsibility for looking around
corners, for understanding the immediate and long-term
results of any course of action. Team members who are future-
focused are those who think a lot more like a CEO, and a lot
less like a member of the so-called “typing pool” of years past.
THIRD: Being Indispensable means being committed to
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY LEARNING. People who do this
may be really, really good in many areas, and they are also
eager to learn about lots of different things. They are
generalists and specialists. They are willing to cross disciplines
and department lines to extend their own personal knowledge
base, because they understand that education extends across a
lifetime. Remember we cannot remain stagnant, but must
forever be moving forward in our own growth.
FOURTH: It means ADAPTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
AND SKILLS TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE of
your employer. People can be brilliant and not fit in. To be
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Indispensable, you must know how get your work done within
a certain work environment.
FIFTH: It means MAKING NO ASSUMPTIONS. The
simple fact that something is familiar to us is no guarantee, in
today’s economy, that it is useful or relevant to a given
challenge that our organization faces. To me, assumptions are
like perceptions: they are opinions not fact, and always
require thorough scrutiny.
To be Indispensable, we must learn when to look past our
assumptions about a given situation. We must check the facts.
SIXTH: To be Indispensable means connecting
PROCESS INNOVATION to your role. Tomorrow’s leaders
will invest in innovative ideas, and they will appreciate those
employees who bring about process change and thereby create
a winning situation for more than one person or team.
I predict that mastering these practices is necessary for
EVERYBODY in virtually EVERY thriving organization.
These six elements – being Proactive, Future-Focused,
Committed to Multi-Disciplinary Learning, Adapting Your
Knowledge and Skills to the Personality of Your Organization,
The Make-no-Assumptions Principle, and Connecting to
Process Innovation -- are the building blocks to acquiring and
maintaining what I refer to as “Long-Term Indispensability.”
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The scope of implications of this new job profile is nearly

limitless. The biggest mistake is to believe that you will
continue to be as successful, as in the past, by relying on
certain skills and abilities.
In my line of work, I am always looking at the vital life
signs, searching for the real performance indicators…the
nuanced new ways to assess top performing Executive
Assistants. By asking hard questions, we can identify decisions
that we must make to achieve a higher level of performance –
what we are capable of – what to do and what not to do.
So let’s ask the same questions of ourselves as we ask of
our candidates:
What are your highest impact skills?
What are the defining characteristics of this new
role?
Do you feel qualified to be successful in your
position? If you don’t what are your developmental
goals?
Are you at an impasse?
The future security of your role is that you are prepared
to offer techniques and great ideas that add the most value,
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and that you are committed to delivering the highest levels of

performance.
The key to global competitiveness is knowledge.
This means that you appreciate the nature of knowledge and
you make a commitment to remain up to date in your personal
knowledge base. The key is to acquire new knowledge and tie
it to your experience. Complete knowledge involves both
understanding and experience.
Your impact skills should enable you to offer:
A commitment to quality. You ensure the quality of your
work and help those around you to do the same. An
understanding of and commitment to quality will make the
difference.
Inventiveness. You are willing to try new things; you
search for creative solutions to improve processes and thereby
productivity.
New standards for productivity, performance, and value.
As Peter Drucker has so often said, “The best way to predict
the future is to create it.” You are positioned to manage major
transitions.
Intelligence and common sense skills. I know, because you
speak excitedly in a language only you understand, about what
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it is you do that is different every day, and about things that

nobody else seems to able to do, or even define.
Your repertoire of skills and capacity for achievement
extends far, far beyond what most people in your organization
can even imagine. Your position connects to four capabilities:
The specific work to be done – the formal job elements –
engaging your ability to focus on what it will really take to be
successful in the new role; and taking responsibility for
learning these new skills.
Your understanding of your environment’s values
personality and identity;
The unique structure and capacities of your organization,
or, if you will, the understanding of “how we do things here”;
And the constantly changing individual needs of the
people you support.
I ask you: Who else can balance all that? There is no
single agreed upon description of what your job entails, or
even what the title should be. The tremendous variations
among administrative professional roles arise from the
different motives behind creating the position in the first place.
This position is structurally, strategically, socially and
politically unique … and extraordinarily situational. And, not
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to your surprise, there is a certain inference of Murphy’s Law

that resides in this work; we know to expect the unexpected.
Some months ago, I led a round-table conversation with
Executive Assistants. Our purpose was to look at the
motivating factors, career development strategies and specific
innovation actions necessary to distinguish this role.
We described the potential offered by business model
changes. Our goal is to help organizations AND their
Executive Assistants stay ahead of the curve … by identifying
growth opportunities in this unique role.
We agreed that the work of the Assistant is surrounded
by change on so many fronts, that we are now at the critical
point where we can and should transform the organization’s
understanding of this position, thereby defying standard
definitions, as technological advances and globalization
redefine its core processes and functions.
How do you do that? What are the imperative Career
Objectives?
As we trace some developments, remember that this is a
position that is continually being transformed and redefined by
outside and inside circumstances.
Think for a moment about how YOUR CAREER will
be affected by the four forces that we spoke about earlier, that
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are driving changes in the world of work:

! Technology
! Demographics
! Globalization
! Sustainability
Consider that continuing to grow is a critical priority.
Consider your Personal Strategy, which is necessary for
you to achieve your career objectives. There is no simple, one-
time response that will address all of these complex issues.
Instead, we will have to do a NUMBER of things, over time,
and we have to get a little better at doing A GREATER
NUMBER OF THINGS as we move forward.
Those four driving forces of change (technological
advances, the integrative workplace, the “do more with less
economy”, and sustainability) require adjustments from us
that are going to take us longer than a day. Or a week, or a
month. Or even a number of years. We’re talking about a
series of changes that we have to be willing to build into our
working lives, by committing to small improvements on a
regular basis, for the rest of our careers.
It is important to consider two very important
components of CONTINUING GROWTH.
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FIRST: SEIZE NEW OPPORTUNITIES, and make a

habit of doing so. Shying away from new challenges, new
lessons, can be a disaster in the new economy. Because our
organizations are constantly changing, evolving, and adapting
to new realities, that means the executives are, as well – and we
must step up as well. There is no room for complacency.
SECOND: While you are embracing those new
opportunities, be sure to keep your eye on new approaches to
DEVELOP NEW PROFESSIONAL CAPACITIES. If the
skills you have today are exactly the same skills as the ones you
had a year ago, there’s something wrong. If the abilities you
had yesterday have not been augmented TODAY by new ways
of doing things, new understandings of old processes, and new
ways of introducing ideas to the people with whom you work,
there’s something wrong. You’re not yet ready for the forces of
change you’re going to be facing. Find out what you don’t
know.
To sum up what I have said so far:
Suitability for key positions requires individuals to create
their STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE… for attaining superior
results in a complex business world. This actionable guide will
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help us to stay at the top of our game in this economy. To

achieve success requires that we constantly:
• Model the organization’s core values
• Build expertise
• Support key relationships and build alliances
1. Be a trusted member of the team
(your success as a member of the team
will be determined by your ability to
work cooperatively with other team
members toward a given end).
and
2. Be an effective communicator
I predict that by adopting these strategies … and by
focusing your efforts on what it will really take to be successful
in the new role, with the same intensity throughout every part
of your work… and by your obsessive quest for self-
improvement… you will make an extraordinary thing happen:
You will transform your role from Executive Assistant to
what I call Strategic Support Specialist.
You will begin to make the transition from Strategic
Support Specialist to “Value-Added-Colleagues”,
incorporating aspects of role-related management and
leadership. Value-Added Colleagues means that you are able
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to demonstrate in very specific terms the impact of your

contribution.
As these roles of Strategic Support Specialist and Value
Added-Colleague converge, it is expected that you will
represent your manager in dealings with others by employing
problem-solving skills based on creativity, improvisation, and
the right psychological tactics, chief among them: tact,
business etiquette, diplomacy and global social skills.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of the Success Skills that I
predict Strategic Support Specialists/Managers must have:
• Mental agility
• Speed and accuracy; check and double-check
everything you do; keen sense of timing
• Global communication and interpersonal
competence
• Analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving
skills
• Management and leadership point of view
• Ability to drive results
UNDERLYING THIS LIST are two all-important skills:

Compulsive attention to detail and doing more than is
expected.
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There can be no “sinking details,” because you work from

task lists, following up every assignment to completion,
regardless of distractions, obstacles, and time pressures. You
turn in daily status reports as a cross-check system with the
executive.
There are no short-cuts; your work habits must save
executives from frustration.
As Strategic Support Specialists, you provide a valuable
bridge for all matters involving relationships, details, time
management, disseminating information and facilitating faster
communication. You make no assumptions. You enjoy
applying your intuitive skills to the challenges you encounter,
while learning every step of the way.
You know that job satisfaction comes when you know you
are making a contribution, know what you are doing, and
know that you are of real value to your team.
You are creative and you have common sense: in many
instances, you are working with a given direction and a blank
page from which to create the intent, design the structure,
build the team and accept responsibility for the outcome. You
have a confident reliance on your ability to direct executives to
where they need to be, on the right date, at the right time, to
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the right place, with the right people and with the right
information.
As support-level Managers, you pull things together, keep
them together, and make things happen. On EVERY
executive’s behalf, you integrate the elements of their daily
activities, so that the implementation is fluid and seamless.
You set and maintain high expectations for all the work that
you do. You take an idea from conception through research,
analysis, collaboration, teambuilding, execution and follow
through.
Just as important, you know what NOT to do in a given
situation. You apply common sense and insight to understand
a situation completely, and understand the ramifications of
intentionally NOT doing something that’s clearly important.
For example, the executive says, “no calls for me during this
meeting.” Then, of course, the exceptional call comes in, a call
that you know must be taken, a call that demands action. You
interrupt for this call; you take action; your intuition and
judgment are on point. This elegant response assures that you
have transformed the traditionally administrative role to one
with clear strategic responsibility.
31
You build personal trust; admit doubt or error and

acknowledge mistakes. You are seen as a collaborator, not as a
competitor. You encourage others to do their best.
You know that if you yourself preach teamwork, you
have to manifest a personal commitment to work effectively
with others.
You have mastered your conflict resolution skills – if not,
here’s a way to think about it, from the 19th Century British
Philosopher and Political Economist, John Stuart Mill, “In all
intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they
affirm, and wrong in what they deny.”
Now let me ask you a question. What is your attitude
toward a 24/7 work world? Before you answer – let me remind
you: 24/7 is about Attitude!!! Not Hours!!
Being “on call” twenty-four hours a day, seven days a
week, really is expected in some environments.
Most of you probably remember Alice in Wonderland –
let’s look at Alice in 24/7-Deadline Land.
The executive regarded Alice with a distinctly
disapproving gaze. “Am I to understand,” he said warily,
“that you plan to go home?”
32
“Why, yes,” Alice responded. “It’s nearly nine in the

evening and I have been here since dawn.”
“Alice, Alice, Alice,” said her employer, shaking his head
slowly, “this is no longer the me decade, but the commitment
decade. You simply must put in more hours. I fully expect you
to put in at least 200 hours every week.”
“Well, one can’t work that many hours,” Alice objected.
“Besides, there aren’t that many hours in a week. Even if I
worked round the clock and never slept, I could never work
more than 168 hours in a single week.”
“Yes, I know, Alice, said her employer. “But I expect
your family to chip in as well.”
That was Alice in Deadline-Land, but what about those of
us in Reality-Land?
The business world with which I am familiar requires
that most Executive Assistants work at least 10 hour days and
are available 24/7, as needed. If this requirement is an aspect
of your position, then your working relationship depends upon
your keeping to this commitment.
The most important aspect of your position is relationship
management: creating the executive/executive assistant
partnership. True partnerships rely on the “right fit”, entail
33
mutual trust, superior communication, and that elusive

element we call “give and take.”
The right “fit” and open communication eliminates the
schisms and antagonistic relationships that can develop
between executives and assistants.
Collaborative partnerships require communication
between the executive and assistant that is accurate and honest.
This involves knowing each other’s strengths and supporting
each other in areas for development.
Executives and their Assistants can hardly be partners in
learning if there is a one-way mirror between them. Each is
expected to learn from the other’s mistakes, understand the
other’s role, personal mission, demands and pressure, blind
spots, work habits and temperament. A famous American
Humorist and Author, Sam Levenson, said: “You must learn
from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long
enough to make them all yourself.”
Getting along with the executive you support requires
that you build trust as a collaborator. Whether you are
working with a new executive, or one you have been reporting
to for quite a few years, make sure your priorities are in line
with the executive’s priorities. Study the executive’s
personality, style and preferences. Know the best time and the
34
best way to present information and to get approval for

something you want to try. Always try to look at decisions
made from the executive’s point of view.
In a healthy partnership, successful performance is
enhanced when assistants possess real freedom and power to
influence decisions. “Influence” means that you are involved
in deciding how to accomplish your work goals. Assistants’
intellectual and technical capabilities are certainly influences;
yet, it is the “personality fit factor” that is the key to
sustainable performance, both personally and organizationally.
It is impossible to over-emphasize that the most “valued
Executive Assistant” is the person who aligns his/her strategy
with the executive and the organization’s mission. Whoever
does this work well knows that the key is in the orientation of
the role. You are there to make the executive’s vision a reality;
there must be personal chemistry between the Executive and
Assistant team; accountability, trust and adaptability must be
absolute; your ego must be checked at the door. At the same
time, you are confident and resourceful. This is your
Competitive Edge!
I realize that’s a remarkable job description … but then
again, I think you’re poised to be a remarkable contributor.
With your 50% attitude, 50% aptitude equation, you are
35
constantly changing, and consistently working toward finding

the right balance in your working partnerships, while at the
same time finding new ways to execute at full efficiency.
So -- congratulations! You have now identified the
essentials. We now know the details of your “Strategic Plan”
for outstanding PERFORMANCE. But our journey isn’t quite
over. Let’s look now at the assets that make PERFORMANCE
possible in the first place:
Your experience: What you have done – how much
you have stretched in this position.
Your competencies: What you are capable of –the
art of innovation.
Your attitude and personal attributes: Who you
are, your vision, your character, your priorities
Your knowledge: What you know, reinforced by
your passion for on-going learning.
When at peak PERFORMANCE levels, Assistants are
“world-beaters.” But guess what? When we are NOT at our
best, we create problems that diminish the value of all that
productive energy. We may just go down in flames -- and
perhaps drag our co-workers, and our organizations, down
with us.
36
To help ensure that your career path will be long and

rewarding, I want to challenge you to recognize your own
HABITUAL PERFORMANCE DEFICITS. The most
insidious of all these is the behavioral attitude known as “self-
deception.”
For an in-depth discussion of this little-known problem, I
recommend the book “Leadership and Self-Deception” by the
Arbinger Institute. Self-deception is so pervasive that it
actually determines one’s experience in every aspect of life.
I believe this behavior does play a major role in our
current, best explanation of the difficulty with building and
maintaining healthy workplace environments.
The Arbinger study points out that self-
deception, also called “resistance”, undermines successful
performance, both our own and others. It keeps us from
seeing how we can be part of the root cause of much of
the problems that impede organizational performance,
including problems relating to
37
leadership, teamwork, communication, accountability, trust,

commitment and motivation.
Being self-deceived means that we inflate others’ faults,
inflate our own virtue, inflate the value of things that justify
our actions, and we attach blame. And we pull others into our
way of being by justifying our actions.
This is easier to do than we might imagine. With very
little effort, we can become infectiously self-deceptive and
demoralizing to ourselves, our colleagues and our
organizations. We must strive not to be the person whose blind
spot becomes a flaw, or whose “derailer” activities have
become development needs. This is clearly the wrong
direction. We are successful only if we are learning how we can
be more helpful to others.
A better way is to stay focused on your development plan,
with action learning as your personal strategy.
Three important criteria are necessary:

First: you seek a constantly changing job description;
Second: you maintain a work/life balance;
Third: you execute efficiently!
38
To that PERFORMANCE STRATEGY we must add

Action Learning:
You develop technological savvy, analytical skills,
creativity, global know-how, adaptability and great
communication skills and the ability to solve time-sensitive
issues.
You make critical connections: Who you know is as
important as what you know. You build a rich, diverse
network which enables you to gain access to information, solve
problems collaboratively and achieve goals.
People with rich networks tend to solve problems faster
and with better results. Be the person who knows “whom to
call”, the person who knows “what to do next”, and the person
who energizes others – not the person who creates bottlenecks.
Strengthen your collaborative capabilities. Much depends on
what you know and whom you talk to.
You adjust your mind-set. Course-correct; figure out
how the changes in your environment will affect what you’re
trying to do. We’ve seen that change is a constant. Expand
your responsibilities and demonstrate how much you can
contribute to your organization. Stay informed. Support and
motivate; bring the team together. Be prepared to take on
more responsibility. Your organizations expect more of you
39
personally and as part of your team, so be ready to develop

new skills and build on current ones. Be diligent. Cooperate.
Integrate.
Last but not least – you simplify!
Trust Albert Einstein when he said, “make things as
simple as possible, but no simpler.”
You have the personal responsibility for improving your
skill sets, improving your knowledge base, improving your
relationship with the executives to whom you report,
improving your relationship with your colleagues, and
maintaining a positive attitude. And, as if that weren’t enough,
you have a responsibility for something else: Setting the
standard for doing the right thing: LEADERSHIP.
Let me urge you to embrace the idea that you have
significant LEADERSHIP responsibilities in your role as
Strategic Support Specialist. Here is how you to work toward
that.
All of us develop over time. During our time together
today, I hope you recognized the importance of charting your
DEVELOPMENT COURSE … by which I mean a series of
personal development objectives … in three different, but
overlapping areas:
40
• Personal Style
• Professional Judgment
• Self-management
Your personal style is your attitude and your
communication skills.
Your professional judgment is your unique body of
accumulated experiences.
Your ability to self-manage is the source of your personal
power. An aspect of self-management is taking control of your
circumstances. British playwright, George Bernard Shaw,
puts it this way: “I don’t believe in circumstances. The people
who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for
the circumstances that they want, and if they can’t find them,
make them.”
Self-management begins with a mental aspect. Self-
managers recognize the details that need to be handled. Self-
managers recognize the qualities that make a team or
themselves high functioning. Self-managers don’t require
outward influence or supervision to complete their jobs. They
create doable tasks from the hypothetical – for example, they
don’t deal with the issues of determining direction. If it was a
41
road trip, the self-manager would (without being asked) get the
maps, plan out a route, book hotels along the way and ensure
that the executive had the money to pay for the trip. The self-
manager sticks to the plan but is also adaptable to any
unforeseen events.
As Strategic Support Specialists, with leadership and
management aspects to your role, character is your #1
attribute. And we can choose one of two paths: character or
compromise. We don’t choose our parents, the location or
circumstances of our birth and upbringing, but we do choose
our character, and we do choose whether, and how, we will
develop in each of these three areas.
Once we do that, we have identified the critical
formula for strategic success:
Attitude + Commitment + Vocabulary
=
Your Reality
Attitude determines how we handle every relationship,
task, and circumstance. Attitude is a reflection of our self-
esteem. Attitude is a choice.
Commitment is our willingness to follow through, right
here, right now, in the real world.
42
And vocabulary means the words we choose to

communicate with OURSELVES and the OUTSIDE WORLD.
We are what we think; and our reputation and influence is
determined by what we say.
Take control of those three variables, and you take
control of your reality. Take responsibility, take control of
your reality, remain in the present, and watch what happens.
As we close here, I want to urge you to create a Mission
Statement as a personal and business strategy. This is Your
Legacy. Formulate a Mission Statement that will exert a
positive effect on your work immediately.
This statement should reflect your personal ethics – and
should refocus your energies when things get hectic. You
should include certain standards of performance and personal
accountability that you want to be able to move toward day in
and day out, with thought, words, actions, and habits.
Remember, that when you want to attract something into
your life, to make sure your actions don’t contradict your
desires. High performance requires a daily “balancing act.”
So within your Mission Statement, create a list of
“Declarations” that will serve as a centering, daily reminder.
Allow me to make some declarations that can serve as a model
for the ones you can build into your own life:
43
I declare that you are wonderful.

I declare that you will speak well of your employer and
your department, your colleagues, or you do not speak at all.
That you are honest, loyal and exemplify overt integrity.
That you do not circulate confidential, sensitive
information.
That you know that values translate into behavior, and
that personal values tie into integrity.
That you understand that your greatest asset is your
reputation. That no job, promotion, or amount of money is
worth a compromise of your ethics.
That you understand that you influence the perceptions
others hold of you, you comport yourself accordingly.
That you are responsible for and take charge of your
career development.
That you are known by your work, your presentation,
your personality and your reputation.
That you are a strong team player. You handle the
inevitable stress and conflict of this job by focusing on
solutions, and on how to achieve them, rather than who did it
wrong, when it was done wrong and why someone else did it
wrong.
44
That you don’t get distracted by office politics.

That you seek to build open and honest relationships
inside and outside your work environment.
That office rage - like road rage – degrades the
integrity of this position.
That you have learned to be optimistic even when the
chips are down. The good news on this front is that you have
to TOOLS to be optimistic: your own emotions. Let’s face it,
without emotions, life would be pretty boring. Let me quote
from the extraordinary book (and film) “What the Bleep do
We Know?”: “Certainly life without emotions is plain yogurt
on bleached oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner (with no
honey). So the question really is: How do we use these
emotions? What are we evolving them to? What are we
becoming?”
I declare that when things seem to be going astray, that
you rely on your ability to manage yourself in the moment.
I declare that when you stop to think about it, you will
realize that the work you do is probably some of the most
emotionally and intellectually demanding in the entire
organization. Yes: much of what you do parallels what a good
45
executive does. You shape the broad picture into a set of action
steps – and then you execute!
Keep moving forward. Do what you do from a sense of
deep personal commitment – from a sense of mission. Don’t
just contribute -- be inspired to contribute. Your position is
valuable and important in your organizations. Never be
imprisoned by your job description; it’s probably out of date,
anyway.
And I send a message to your employers. First, that new
titles should be considered for the advanced skills you bring to
your organizations. We are shifting to Strategic Support
Specialists or Executive Managers.
Second: That your job descriptions should updated
regularly, and should reflect the skills and attributes I have
spoken about today.
Third: That Executive Assistant compensation should be
commensurate with this new job description.
Know your power! You are entering a new
dimension of accomplishment in your career. Remember that
honesty, great interpersonal skills and flawless execution are
what matter!
46
A career, ultimately, is a journey. I read somewhere that

the best part of traveling is not the change of scene, but the
change of mind. It’s time to get started. Enjoy the trip. Great
ideas are waiting. Why not be the one to discover them?
I’ll leave you with a thought from Ralph Waldo Emerson,
who said, “Make the Most of Yourself --- for that is all there is
of you.”
And, oh, yes, who gets the job? I declare that you all do!
Thank you.
47
Sources
Papers
"Engaging Senior Management on Sustainability." In

Sustainable Production: Building Canadian Capacity, ed. Glen
Toner. By K. Brady. Published 2006. UBC Press. Available
through Research Network for Business Sustainability
(www.sustainabilityresearch.org)
“It’s 2008: Do You Know Where Your Talent Is?” report
by Deloitte Research; published 2006. Available via
www.deloitte.com/dtt/research
“The Changing Nature of Work” Paper by Jim Ware;
published 2005. Available at
www.thefutureofwork.net/blog/archives/000279.html
Books:
48
Everything but Money by Sam Levenson; published 1973.
Pocket Books:
Global Sustainability: Bending the Curve by Gilberto C.
Gallopín, Paul D. Raskin; Published 2002; Routledge
John Stuart Mill, by Maurice William Cranston; Published
1958; Longmans, Green and Co.
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by
Arbinger Institute; Published 2000; Berrett-Koehler
The New Executive Assistant: Advice for Succeeding in Your
Career by Melba J. Duncan; Published 1997; McGraw-Hill
What the Bleep Do We Know!?: Discovering the Endless
Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality by Arntz,
Chasse, and Vicente. Published 2007. HCI.
49

Executive Assistants As Strategic Support

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This is the best of times for Executive Assistants! Your

First, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the special

In fact, like the character “Radar” on the satirical

If ever there was a time to exercise your adaptive

position is not threatened by change; rather change provides

years. I see this position from a different perspective; and I

THIRD: I predict that to rise to the level of “value-added

effectively manage the most mundane task to the most strategic

everything they can now do to achieve record-breaking

This afternoon, we will work together on a new

As you work with me on this assignment, keep in mind

The Accountability Factor

The Trust Factor

and valued colleague, you are relied upon to protect

The Adaptability Factor

an entirely new product line including but not limited to

All of these MEGATRENDS – which tend to overlap and

Deloitte is talking about those people who do not avoid

more effective processes. Your ability to demonstrate

Organizations need greater flexibility and innovative

For all workers – not just executive assistants, but for

“An intuitive sense of the priorities of the business and

addition to, and to better address, your existing

The scope of implications of this new job profile is nearly

and that you are committed to delivering the highest levels of

it is you do that is different every day, and about things that

to your surprise, there is a certain inference of Murphy’s Law

are driving changes in the world of work:

FIRST: SEIZE NEW OPPORTUNITIES, and make a

help us to stay at the top of our game in this economy. To

to demonstrate in very specific terms the impact of your

UNDERLYING THIS LIST are two all-important skills:

There can be no “sinking details,” because you work from

You build personal trust; admit doubt or error and

“Why, yes,” Alice responded. “It’s nearly nine in the

mutual trust, superior communication, and that elusive

best way to present information and to get approval for

constantly changing, and consistently working toward finding

To help ensure that your career path will be long and

leadership, teamwork, communication, accountability, trust,

Three important criteria are necessary:

To that PERFORMANCE STRATEGY we must add

personally and as part of your team, so be ready to develop

And vocabulary means the words we choose to

I declare that you are wonderful.

That you don’t get distracted by office politics.

A career, ultimately, is a journey. I read somewhere that

"Engaging Senior Management on Sustainability." In

Everything but Money by Sam Levenson; published 1973.

Global Sustainability: Bending the Curve by Gilberto C.

Gallopín, Paul D. Raskin; Published 2002; Routledge

John Stuart Mill, by Maurice William Cranston; Published

1958; Longmans, Green and Co.

Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by

Arbinger Institute; Published 2000; Berrett-Koehler

The New Executive Assistant: Advice for Succeeding in Your

Career by Melba J. Duncan; Published 1997; McGraw-Hill

What the Bleep Do We Know!?: Discovering the Endless

Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality by Arntz,

Chasse, and Vicente. Published 2007. HCI.

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