Leadership is about the influence you have, the initiative you take, and the impact you create every day, says Kathleen Drum
In this issue, we explore the role of leadership and the Assistant, with discussion points and questions to ask of yourself and your team over the coming weeks, to really dive deep into where you are on your leadership journey.
Julia Schmidt’s excellent article Yes! You Are a Leader: The Assistant’s Role in Modern Leadership, our cover story, starts us off with a series of thought-provoking questions about the different facets of the role, covering AI, change, upskilling, and reskilling. Joan Burge’s article The Five Pillars that Support Administrative Excellence contains reflection questions on the different pillars that make up a life: Career, Family, Financial, Spiritual, and Wellness. Jodie Mears shares her take on self-leadership with her piece The New ROI: Return on Initiative and encourages all Assistants to document their wins – starting with tracking what changed because you acted.
Rhonda Scharf’s compelling article The Most Important Question You Should be Asking at Work: Why?shows us a great method for seeking knowledge from a position of curiosity, rather than criticism, with her framework of ask, offer, suggest, enabling you to understand the reason behind the tasks and create a greater impact.
We look at the distinct types of Copilot available to us in Fiona Walsh’s article Five Things I Want You to Know About Copilot,and Traci Williams explains alternative ways of Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Excel.Shelagh Donnelly asks us to keep a cool head in her article You and AI: A Career Reality Check,whilstJamie Dobson considers how our AI data practices align with our organisations’ brand values and customer expectations in his article Should Governments Regulate AI’s Use of Data?
As a counterpoint to the emphasis on AI tools, Ebony Belhumeur reminds us that “No tool, no matter how well-designed, can compensate for the absence of trust, empathy, or emotional buy-in” in her article Why Technological Literacy Needs Emotional Intelligence to Matter.The ability to apply emotional intelligence and complex thinking, a key component of the Assistant role, is a competitive advantage in our changing world of work.
If you are responsible for leading an administrative network, team, or function within your organisation, or are in the process of setting one up, I encourage you to sign up for our free Administrative Leaders’ Network,our online community. Our next quarterly webinar also takes place in October. You can find more information here: https://executivesupportmedia.com/administrative-leaders-network/
Our in-person conference, Executive Support LIVE, takes place in London on 14 & 15 November, where you can learn first-hand how to enhance your leadership skills with keynotes from Chynna Clayton, Former Special Assistant to Michelle Obama, and Libby Moore, Former Chief of Staff to Oprah Winfrey. You can find out more about the conference here: https://executivesupportlive.com/event/executive-assistant-conference-london-2025/
Leadership is a journey, not a destination. It’s about the influence you have, the initiative you take, and the impact you create every day. The more you embrace your leadership and intentionally grow your skills, the greater the difference you will make for both your organisation and yourself.
Kathleen
