Are you holding your assistant hostage at the level you hired them?
Or are you equipping them to become the administrative business partner you actually need?
I see so many executives hiring for skillset and then treating that moment as the ceiling. They restrict access to information, issue instructions instead of insight, and keep decision-making behind closed doors.
The cost of this mindset isn’t just underutilisation. It weakens your own leadership. An assistant kept in the dark, and restricted to reactive, task-based, firefighting mode cannot anticipate, cannot flag risk, and cannot extend your reach. Keeping them ‘in their place’ might make things look controlled, but in reality it strips you of the leverage you hired them to provide. And that loss sits squarely on your shoulders.
The assistants who become indispensable – the ones who protect continuity, build relationships, and expand a leader’s reach, did not get there by accident.
They got there because someone invested in them. Because a leader chose coaching over instructing. Because someone understood that foresight, judgement, and strategic partnership are not innate. They are built.
Which leaves every executive with a choice. You can keep your assistant stuck in the role you hired, and guarantee the limits of that decision. Or you can create the conditions for growth, and unlock a level of partnership you cannot buy, automate, or replace.
Assistants who change the game aren’t simply found. They are developed. And the measure of whether yours remains static or soars is not their potential. It is your leadership.
