During a CEO transition, an assistant who follows me was told:
“Don’t you bury the slaves with the pharaoh?”
Yes. In 2025. That was the comment used to describe the role. In other words, when the CEO went, the EA should go too.
This isn’t just a throwaway line. It’s a perfect example of the mindset that some assistants are still up against – seen as disposable, replaceable, subordinate.
And it matters. Because an assistant is not an accessory to the CEO. They are infrastructure. They hold institutional memory, guard critical relationships, and provide continuity that no system or handover can replicate.
Half a billion people worldwide – 98% of them women, work in administration. As a profession, it is the largest employer of women. And every day, this type of perception strips away their credibility, their authority, and their ability to do the job they are hired to do.
It’s been a problem for as long as I have worked in this profession but it matters at this point, now, more than ever.
Because when we add AI into the mix, if leaders don’t already understand what assistants really do, they will assume the tech can replace them. Not because it can, but because they never looked beyond the stereotype.
That makes this mindset more than offensive. It makes it dangerous.
And here’s the thing. When you keep treating assistants as disposable, you’re throwing away years of business knowledge, continuity, and trusted relationships in the process.
This isn’t optional. It’s Business 101. Until organisations wake up to it, they will keep burning out leaders, underutilising assistants, haemorrhaging knowledge, and bleeding money.
Enough.
