How to Develop Resilience for Work and Life
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to speak to a group of Executive Business Partners at an IT service management company on the topic of The Future of Work. There are so many directions that this conversation could go in – the economy, The Great Resignation, technology, back to the office, quiet quitting, […]
Survey Says: Confidence, Career Development Opportunities, and Communication are Key
A few months ago, we conducted a survey for Founders, leaders, Force Multipliers, Executive Assistants, and Chiefs of Staff to find out more about how we can help you grow in your business, your career, and your life. Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey! This information is invaluable in learning more about […]
How to Find Your Purpose with One Simple Question
“What’s your purpose?” That is such a loaded question. I don’t know about you, but it’s one that tends to cause me a bit of anxiety, feelings of self-doubt, and perhaps a little envy towards those who feel so sure of why they were put here on Earth. I know many people feel a deep […]
6 Ways to Get Your Boss to Share Their Time, Knowledge, and Work
What do Force Multipliers want? What do most Force Multipliers (Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff) want? Believe it or not, they want more! Specifically, they want more time with their Executive, more insight into, and context around, their leader’s thinking and priorities, and more responsibility and projects. Why? Because they want to make an […]
Job Crafting Your Way to a Better Career
What is Job Crafting and Why Does it Matter? Job crafting – otherwise known as taking proactive steps and actions to redesign what we do at work to make it more engaging and meaningful – is one way to increase your job satisfaction, overall fulfillment and maybe even your income! And all of this without […]
9 Myths About Being an Executive Assistant
There are all sorts of myths and misperceptions about being an Executive Assistant (EA). Most of them stem from what others have seen on TV or in movies (hello, The Devil Wears Prada!). After all, there aren’t that many books or articles (fiction or non-fiction) written with assistants as the protagonist. But books, TV, movies, […]
How to Measure Success as an Executive Assistant or Chief of Staff
I was recently speaking at a summit for high-performing EAs and one of the questions that was asked was, “How do you measure success?” That’s a tough one for us Force Multipliers (Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff), isn’t it? For many other positions in an organization, the answers seem so cut and dry. For […]
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Work Life
As I enter the latter half of my third decade (I know, I know… age is just a number!), it got me thinking about all that we can learn from those who’ve come before us. Philosophers, spiritual teachers, and ancient world leaders examined the human experience, questioned the status quo, provided insights to inspire transformation […]
Are Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff the Ultimate Intrapreneurs?
Join Hallie Warner, Chief of Staff, for a FREE webinar at 3pm EST on September 28 about how to tap into your natural entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial tendencies to create a career and life you love. I’ve always been entrepreneurially inclined. I’ve dabbled with starting different businesses over the years – coaching, some freelance public relations […]
Pitch, Please! How to Ask for a Raise, a New Title, or a Promotion at Work
Entrepreneurs and business owners use pitch decks to help explain their business to potential investors to enable them to make the right decision (i.e. invest in their business). The art of the pitch doesn’t just apply to entrepreneurs looking to secure funding. As an employee, you too can use a pitch to outline your career […]
Survey Says: How Do I Focus on Less, But Do More?
Last week I posed this question to the Founder & Force Multiplier community: What one thing do you want to learn or change this year that would change the trajectory of your career or business? We got a lot of great responses ranging from tactical skills such as finance, marketing, and public speaking, to more […]
Should Force Multipliers Be Friends with Their Bosses?
Friendships and business partnerships. It can be a tricky situation to navigate. Should Force Multipliers be friends with their bosses? With the amount of time you spend together, how do you NOT cross over into a friendship with your Executive? A couple of weeks ago this topic came up during one of my webinars. I […]
How Executive Support Professionals Set SMART Goals
Goal-setting advice is ubiquitous these days. Every productivity expert, leadership article, and entrepreneurship podcast talks about goals (and… of course that includes our own The Founder & The Force Multiplier and The 200% Life podcasts). I get it. You’re probably all goaled-out. But hang with me here a minute. As Executive Support Professionals and Force […]
The 36 Best Quotes for Maximizing Your Productivity
Dictionary.com defines productivity as “the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services”. If you couple that with Investopedia’s definition—”productivity, in economics, measures output per unit of input, such as labor, capital, or any other resource”—then you get a pretty good sense of what productivity means. […]
Chief of Staff Job Description
PLEASE NOTE – This post will continue to evolve as we learn more about the Chief of Staff position and its application across various business sectors. The sample job description below is certainly not exhaustive and serves as a jumping-off point for you to craft a job description that encompasses the work you do (or […]
The Best Books of 2021 to Read in 2022
I am a bibliophile (noun: a person who collects or has a great love of books). For the past several years I’ve set a goal to read 52 books a year. In 2021, I upped my game a bit and set my goal at 60. To date, I’ve read 79 books and will likely read a […]
11 Books for Executive Assistants & Aspiring Chiefs of Staff 2022
2021 was the year of upskilling, resignations, promotions, starting new careers, starting businesses, and more. Suffice it to say that there was a lot of movement in and out of the workforce this year. I saw this first hand with countless Executive Assistants who moved, were moving, or wanted to move into Chief of Staff […]
A Day in the Life of a Chief of Staff
For more content like this delivered straight to your inbox each week, subscribe to The Inner Circle! The Inner Circle is a weekly email for leaders and Force Multipliers to learn together, lead together, and achieve more together. Each week, we share a carefully curated collection of useful insights, trending business and leadership topics, quotes, questions, career […]
How to Create an Awesome Elevator Pitch for Executive Support Professionals
Explaining what I do in my role as a Chief of Staff is not always easy to sum up in a sentence or two. And to complicate matters, Chief of Staff roles, like that of Executive Assistants, can vary greatly between organizations. There is not a common frame of reference to well, reference. Long story […]
Do Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff Need an MBA Degree?
As I talk to Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff from around the world, one common question emerges: “Do I need an MBA?” I often answer that question with a few questions of my own, “Why do you want one? Do you think you need one? Why?” I’ll preface the rest of this post by […]
Why Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff Continue to Thrive Amidst Constant Change
If I were to go into battle with anyone, it would be someone who was growth-minded, resourceful, adaptable, a creative problem solver, and an influential leader. Why? Because those individuals are not paralyzed by uncertainty, can take various pieces of information and come up with a workable solution, they are not afraid to take action, […]
Force Multiplier Survey Results: Growth, Respect, Training, Impact, Communication, and Leadership
Last week we conducted a survey to learn more about what is important to Force Multipliers – what is working in their roles, what their biggest professional challenges are, and what they would like to see change in the future. What was most evident to me from the results was that Force Multipliers are overall […]
Own Your Executive Assistant Career and Invest in Yourself
There are a lot of resources out there about how to ask your boss or your company to pay for a professional development course, coaching, a certification program, or online training (see list at the bottom of this post). I’m a huge proponent of organizations setting aside sufficient funds for a training budget – particularly […]
Communicating Your Role as an Executive Assistant or Chief of Staff to Your Colleagues & Leadership Team
I’ve been working with Adam for about 10 years now and a couple of years ago the CFO for one of our companies said, “You realize no one has any idea what you do, right?” I laughed. How could it be possible that someone in our organization didn’t understand everything I do day in and […]