Lead Them to the Future
We need to take the younger ones by the hand and lead them to the future ~ Sherideen Inge Meyer I have been singing the song of evolution for this profession for almost 10 years and sometimes it seems...
View ArticleGive the Gift of Time
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend” ~ Theophrastus Ancient Philosopher, Theophrastus understood time as an accident of motion that could not be stopped or reversed. He said that wasting...
View ArticleThe Dangers of Being Ill-Informed
Lucy Brazier responds to the recent article in the Wall Street Journal As a journalist, I was always trained that my role was to seek the truth and to give the truth a voice. This is why I have waited...
View Article“If You Can Keep Your Head When All About You Are Losing Theirs” ~ Rudyard...
Now is the time for assistants to step into leadership explains Lucy Brazier This morning I saw a post on Facebook from one of our speakers, Cathy Harris. In it, she explained ‘We are now moving to MS...
View Article#HelpUsHelpYou
Administrative Professionals Week 2020 This week, we are celebrating the most unusual Administrative Professionals Week of our time. It coincides with what for us in the UK is the beginning of our...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to Anyone Working with an Assistant
There has never been a more difficult time to be a business leader. In these unprecedented times, most of you are in uncharted territory, trying to work it out as you go along. You’re reinventing...
View ArticleSawabona
I wholly condemn any form of racism. On the other hand, I try to stay away from politics of any kind in my professional capacity. It took Ayanna Castro’s brilliant ‘Work Your Package Wednesday’...
View ArticleWhat is Happening Now, Has Happened Before
It’s starting to look serious out there. My timeline is full of people being let go. And whilst it is reminiscent of the last recession, it feels different because everything just changed for everyone...
View ArticleBuilding Momentum for Change
Back in August 2019, Bonnie Low Kramen had a conversation with compensation expert Jeremy Spake. Jeremy had delivered two major presentations at the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)...
View ArticleThe Renaissance is Within Reach
2020 has been traumatic for many of you and it is easy to look at all the negative press and get tied up in fear. My timeline is full of people saying that they just want to see the back of 2020 and...
View ArticleNever Alone
By the time I am done this year, I will have been to 21 different countries delivering presentations on all things administrative. Sometimes I go to Chair conferences or to speak at them, I have...
View ArticleChanging Lives
Back in the March issue of Executive Secretary, we featured a truly inspiring young Assistant who I met at the BEL Conference in Anaheim in February. Marina Ivey‘s leg had been amputated at the age of...
View ArticleBack to School
As most of you know, I have spent the majority of my summer working from my balcony in Spain. I didn’t take the Summer off, but I did ensure that for two months, I closed the computer at 5pm every...
View ArticleChanging Perceptions
Here at Executive Secretary, we are gearing up for a year that could change the world for Assistants. Did you know that 2014 is the International Year of the Secretary and that we have just been...
View ArticleAn Open Invitation
So here we are. It’s finally the year that we have all been waiting for. It’s our year! The year when we spread the word that Assistants are no longer just ‘assisting’, they are ‘doing’ as business...
View ArticleThe Spring is Sprung
It’s that time of the year again when here at Executive Secretary Towers we celebrate our birthday. It’s three years since we relaunched the magazine as a global publication and what a ride it has...
View ArticleFeel the Fear and Do it Anyway
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...
View ArticleSummer Space
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...
View ArticleComing Full Circle
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...
View ArticleExcellence and the Assistant – doing ordinary things extraordinarily well
Striving for excellence is an important part of professionalism in any job. It involves trying to put quality into everything you do, and this attitude tends to separate the achievers, who make rapid...
View ArticleThe Way Forward
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...
View ArticleOne Profession, One Voice
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...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the World’s CEOs on Administrative Professionals Day
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...
View ArticleVive la Difference
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...
View ArticleA New Dawn
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...
View ArticleThe best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others ~...
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...
View ArticleReflections
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...
View ArticleThe Gift
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...
View ArticleDon’t just count your years, make your years count
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...
View ArticleI am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul ~ Invictus, William...
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...
View ArticleSpace – the final frontier
Holiday is a restoring thing which by a blast of magic turns a man back into himself ~ GK Chesterton There are martyrs in every office. You know the ones that I am talking about. The ones that tell you...
View ArticleHow will you serve your profession?
I have had several surreal moments in the last few weeks – some good and some bad. I was invited to take tea with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his staff at his foundation; He is such a huge personal...
View ArticleA Modern Day Epidemic
Earlier this year, Victoria Darragh, CEO of the UK’s Association – The Executive & Personal Assistants Association (EPAA) approached me about working in collaboration to produce some statistics...
View ArticleThe Power of Association
On 1 February, one of the oldest Associations for Assistants in the world, EUMA (European Management Assistants) changes its name and brand to IMA (International Management Assistants). And this year,...
View ArticleDemand to be inspired and inspire others! ~ Al-Husein N Madhany
‘We are responsible for thousands of micro-decisions every single day; decisions that drive the bottom line. Demand to be inspired and inspire others!’ ~ Al-Husein N Madhany, Executive Secretary LIVE,...
View ArticleA Small Window in Which to Make History
Two years ago, at about this time of year, leaders of the Administrative Profession from around the world sat in Papua New Guinea and discussed how we could change the world for Assistants. Our...
View ArticleLife is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans ~ John Lennon
I was once speaking at a conference with Anel Martin; author, trainer and fearless speaker and asked her if there was anything I could do for her. With typical humour, she replied that it would be...
View Article‘A Tsunami of Love’
When we relaunched Executive Secretary as a global publication back in 2011, we were very clear that we wanted to create not just a magazine, but a community. Our profession was just entering into the...
View ArticleNo man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,...
Back in 2011 when we relaunched the magazine, we created a list of over 180 associations and networks that serve this profession from all over the world. Each was working hard in their own space to...
View ArticleIf you are waiting for the right time, it’s now!
For the last seven years, I have been on a mission to change the world for Assistants. I have spoken to thousands of you in hundreds of countries and encouraged both you and your Executives to...
View ArticleChanging Lives One Person at a Time
Don’t just count your years, make your years count ~ George Meredith When I was a child, like most children, I loved my birthday. I was blessed to be bought up in a stable home, the eldest of four...
View ArticleWhy it’s time to call time on politics and do what’s right for the profession!
‘Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics’ ~ Victor Pinchuk It’s hard to avoid politics in the modern world. Between the 24-hour news coverage and constant social media...
View Article#WeLeadUp
Last year in New Orleans I met Dr Veronica Cochran for the first time. I walked away from that meeting excited. She is a true visionary and we had agreed to work together on a couple of projects. I was...
View ArticleChange has got to come
Earlier this year, I ran a training course for a group of Assistants that were having a bad time. The concepts that I presented on – empowerment, self-actualisation and the role of the assistant as a...
View ArticleOnly in the darkness can you see the stars – Martin Luther King
Sometimes, as John Lennon said, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. 2018 has been about resilience and the lessons that become obvious when we are called upon to unexpectedly...
View Article”It Doesn’t Matter Where You Came From. All That Matters Is Where You Are...
Discussions in my close circle of industry confidants appear to be overwhelmed recently with conversations about the future (or not) of the profession. In the World Economic Forum’s ‘The Future of...
View ArticleThere is Nothing to Fear Except Fear Itself
I have written and spoken plenty in the last few months about artificial intelligence and the rise of emotional intelligence – a skill that the World Economic Forum is citing as one of the most...
View ArticleThe Game Changer
In 2011, shortly after I started the magazine, I was sent an article by another new kid on the block. Bonnie Low Kramen had published her best-selling book Be the Ultimate Assistant back in 2008,...
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#AskForTraining Campaign
Everything you want is out there waiting for you. But you have to take action to get it. Every January I take the team away on a retreat. It’s a time for reflection on the past year and to look...
View ArticleEverything Old is New Again
This January issue is the very last issue ever of Executive Secretary Magazine. The brand has been in existence since 1989. March marks our 10th anniversary of the magazine in its current format and it...
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