Editor's Letters
Issue: September / October 2016

How Will You Serve Your Profession?

By - September 26, 2016

Those of us that are doing well have a duty to give back. As Gandhi said ‘the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others’.
Editor's Letters
Issue: July / August 2016

Space – the final frontier

By - July 26, 2016

I am a great believer that if you don’t make time for recreation then ultimately you will need to make time for illness, explains Lucy Brazier
Editor's Letters
Issue: May / June 2016

I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul ~ Invictus, William Ernest Henley

By - May 29, 2016

In 1987, back when I was 18, I had the opportunity to visit Kenya. The plan was that I would spend a year in the middle of nowhere and teach English at a local school. But somewhere in the middle of all the plans, my boyfriend at the time announced that if I went then... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: May / June 2016

Don’t just count your years, make your years count

By - May 24, 2016

Back in 2011, with 23 years’ publishing experience behind me, I took the leap of faith and launched Executive Secretary as a global magazine. I had never been an Assistant and to be honest, initially I saw this market as a business opportunity – after all, administrative professionals make up a fifth of the world’s... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: January / February 2016

The Gift

By - January 28, 2016

The saying goes that if you give a man a fish, you have fed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime. For the last year we have been working on something very special. It is amongst one the most exciting projects that I have... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: November / December 2015

Reflections

By - November 30, 2015

The year is drawing to an end and we are entering the period traditionally associated with reflecting on all we have to be grateful for. In many ways this has been an incredible year and there is much to be grateful for. We have travelled to all four corners of the world and met some... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: September / October 2015

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others ~ Mahatma Gandhi

By - September 25, 2015

It’s been an extraordinary couple of months. I have only been in London for just over two weeks and three days since mid July and most of the rest of that time was spent travelling in countries with totally different cultures where I had only ever dreamed of going. It has truly been a time where I have... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: July / August 2015

A New Dawn

By - July 27, 2015

It has been ten years since there was an in depth piece of research on the Assistant role in the United Kingdom. Of course part of the reason for this was the recession – who wants to invest to get doom and gloom results? But the drought is over and we have been lucky enough... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: May / June 2015

Vive la Difference

By - May 26, 2015

This weekend I spent an informative and inspirational day with over 200 Assistants from Italy. I spoke at their Secretary Day conference with a translator using consecutive as opposed to simultaneous translation. It meant that I had to pause every couple of lines in order to allow the translator to relay what I was saying... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: May / June 2015

An Open Letter to the World’s CEOs on Administrative Professionals Day

By - May 6, 2015

There is a quiet revolution going on in offices across the world and it is coming from the most unlikely of employees. Last year, the American Society of Administrative Professionals conducted   research across its 50,000 members which categorically proved that since the recession and the cull of many middle management jobs across the world, Assistants... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: March / April 2015

One Profession, One Voice

By - March 25, 2015

Our friend Bonnie Low Kramen is fond of saying that there has never been a more exciting time to be an Assistant. She’s right! There is so much change in the pipeline and the role is evolving like never before. As promised, the video we made of Assistants all over the world that we put... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: January / February 2015

The Way Forward

By - January 26, 2015

So that’s it! The International Year of the Secretary and Assistant is no more. After a year of speaking, writing, campaigning and generally stirring up the world’s Assistants and Executives it has all come to an end. PAFSA in South Africa will be collating all the results over the next couple of months in order to take a view... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: November / December 2014

Excellence and the Assistant – doing ordinary things extraordinarily well

By - November 25, 2014

Striving for excellence is an important part of professionalism in any job explains Lucy Brazier
Editor's Letters
Issue: September / October 2014

Coming Full Circle

By - September 27, 2014

Earlier in the month, I had the honour of presenting the keynote at PAFSA’s IYOTSA Conference in South Africa. As Global Brand Ambassador for International Year of the Secretary and Assistant, I have visited many countries this year, explaining to Assistants how the role has changed and encouraging them to think of themselves as strategic... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: July / August 2014

Summer Space

By - July 25, 2014

As many of you know, I spend my summers out at our apartment in Spain. I am still working but it gives me head space to plan and look at new options that we might offer you in the coming year. It’s a precious time, where I have time and space to step back from... Read more »
Editor's Letters
Issue: May / June 2014

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway

By - May 27, 2014

So here is the thing. Those of you that have seen me speak or met me in person will know that I have a pathological phobia of flying. It has been known to scare me so much that it has made me physically sick. Even the thought of flying sent me into apoplexy and heading... Read more »