In this edition:
- Thursday Thoughts – Is AI Actually EAs’ Biggest Stan?
- Weekly Top 5 – Behind the World’s Greatest Minds, Career Advice from Your Parents, Jack Welch’s EA, Communication Intelligence, & Career Path Quiz
- Language of Business Series – Marketing & Branding
- Reading Recommendations – This is Marketing, Day Trading Attention, & HBR On Marketing
THURSDAY THOUGHTS
Is AI actually EAs’ and Chiefs of Staffs’ biggest stan?
Think about it…
If every AI/tech company’s selling point is that its product can be “your EA” or “your Chief of Staff,” doesn’t that intrinsically tell us how important those roles are?
So important that Big Tech is using them to describe the value of their products. And powerful enough to be the comparison.
Big Tech keeps using “EA” and “Chief of Staff” as shorthand for powerful AI because those roles are already synonymous with leverage. I think that’s actually an endorsement of the profession!
Those of us who are actually in these roles know that these tools don’t replace the value of having a great right-hand partner.
And leaders with a big vision who want long-term growth, not a cheat code, understand that too.
AI can organize information. Draft the email. Summarize the meeting. Create the to-do list. Maybe even tell you what you should do next.
But a great EA or Chief of Staff knows the leader, the company, the market, and the stakeholders.
They understand the context, the relationships, the history, the nuance, the politics, the priorities, and the vision behind the work. They know when to push, when to protect, when to question, and when to just get shit done.
So maybe we should stop looking at every “AI Chief of Staff” headline as a threat to the profession?
Maybe it’s actually telling us something we’ve known all along: Having a powerful right-hand partner is so valuable that the entire tech industry is trying to market their products based on that already well-established truth.
Alright, talk to me. What’s your take?
WEEKLY TOP 5
- Get inside the mind of founders with this Modern Wisdom podcast episode with David Senra, investor and host of Founders podcast. In this episode, expect to learn the work habits behind the genius of Rick Rubin, the 3 different types of founders with 3 specific traits who find unparalleled success, the simple advice most founders abide by when building their ideas into companies, why making mistakes is actually a badge of honor, how to have an obscene level of focus and much more.
- Did your parents’ career advice do more harm than good? Maybe… In this article, Melody Wilding, author of Managing Up, shares 5 “rules” your parents taught you that are sabotaging your career and what to do instead.
- Speaking of managing up… one of the very first Executive Assistant specific books I read was Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You by Rosanee Badowski, long-time right-hand to GE’s CEO Jack Welch. Published in 2004, many of the administrative and partnership tips are still applicable today. Not to mention, it’s just a fun, behind the scenes look at an EA/CEO relationship. Which are always some of my favorite reads!
- Communication Intelligence™ (CQ) is your ability to read, interpret, and adapt to communication differences in real time. This concept was created by Nicole Seawell, founder of Communication Intelligence™ and author of the forthcoming book How to Talk to Everyone. And is incredibly applicable to Force Multipliers and leaders (really any professional!) alike. Click here to read more about why Communication Intelligence is a Chief of Staff’s (and a Force Multipliers) strategic advantage.
- Some work brings out your best. Some rapidly drains you. When you see which is which, your career feels like yours again. Take this short quiz to see if you’re on the right path and suggestions for what to do if you’re not.
LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS SERIES – MARKETING & BRANDING
- How to Identify Your Business’s Target Audience [Forbes] – It’s critical for your business to create crave-worthy products and assemble an all-star team of employees. But all of that is moot if you don’t have the most important ingredient of all: an understanding of your target audience. This article can help you get started.
- Defining Your Value Proposition for Early Stage Startups [Antler] – Defining a value proposition is one of the most valuable things a startup can do. And if you’re past the startup stage, review these tips to ensure you have a strong value prop!
- Marketing Expenses: Methods, Examples and Importance [Indeed] – Marketing must be budgeted. Check out these different marketing expenses and why it’s important to track them.
- The Mad Men Era is Dead. The New Rules of Advertising When Taste Meets Technology [Little Black Book] – As technology reshapes how brands are discovered, how creative work is made and how marketing drives growth, the real differentiator will be those who can combine data, technology and creativity into work that people notice, trust and choose. Check out this article to see what the experts share what this moment demands from brands, marketers, and their partners.
READING RECOMMENDATIONS
- This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin | No matter what your product or service, this book will help you reframe how it’s presented to the world, in order to meaningfully connect with people who want it. Now, for the first time, Godin offers the core of his marketing wisdom in one compact, accessible, timeless package. You can do work that matters for people who care. This book shows you the way.
- Day Trading Attention: How to Actually Build Brand and Sales in the New Social Media World by Gary Vaynerchuk | In this book, Vaynerchuk argues that today’s fast-growing businesses, brands, content creators, and influencers have one thing in common: They mastered storytelling in areas of underpriced attention, which predominantly exists across a handful of social media platforms. Informed by 20+ years of business and marketing success, he contends that the biggest transformation and opportunity is the “TikTokification of Social Media.” Increasingly, platforms are distributing content based on what users are interested in, rather than who they follow.
- HBR’s 10 Must Reads – Marketing | HBR has chosen a new selection of current and classic Harvard Business Review articles that will help you connect better with your established customers, develop offerings that attract new ones, and unlock opportunities for growth.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make,
Seth Godin
but about the stories you tell.”
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