Despite being early adopters of AI tools, most administrative professionals are navigating this shift without support, strategy, or inclusion in company-wide plans. With CEOs banking on AI to drive profitability, it’s time to stop excluding assistants from digital transformation and start recognising their role as strategic operators, not just support staff.
Despite persistent myths, Executive Assistants are not just tactical support — they’re already playing strategic roles in high-performing companies. With AI automating logistical tasks, EAs are shifting toward project management, data analysis, and internal communications. It’s time we stop reducing them to booking systems and start recognising their true value as strategic partners.
In the administrative profession, too many talented individuals have been taught to stay small. But true support isn’t about shrinking — it’s about showing up with impact. Your potential isn’t waiting for permission from others. It’s waiting for you. Say the thing. Ask for more. Step into the space fully. You weren’t hired to hide. You were hired to lead.
New research from MIT and IBM reveals that AI won’t replace Executive Assistants — it will transform their roles. By automating routine tasks, AI frees EAs to focus on strategic planning, decision support, and relationship-building. The future is a powerful partnership between human insight and technology, where assistants become indispensable strategic advisors.
Busy leaders often skip regular check-ins with their assistants, thinking they don’t have time. But this creates a costly cycle of overwhelm and inefficiency. By investing just 10 minutes a day to align with your assistant, you unlock clarity, focus, and momentum—turning your assistant from overhead into your most valuable strategic partner.
If your career check-ins never include your goals, your growth, or your aspirations—then it’s not development, it’s deployment. Assistants deserve more than support plans. They deserve progression plans. Don’t wait to be asked.
When new leaders bring in their own assistants, it may seem efficient—but it reveals a deeper issue. Executive Assistants are not personal extensions of leadership; they’re strategic roles within the organisation. Tying them to individuals instead of business infrastructure undermines careers and perpetuates outdated thinking.
Executive Assistants and Chiefs of Staff may work closely with leaders, but they solve entirely different problems. It’s time to stop treating one as a rung below the other — and start building true career progression within the assistant profession.
Piers Morgan’s heartfelt tribute to his assistant of 20 years, Tracey Chapman, is a rare and powerful acknowledgment of the unseen brilliance behind a high-performing life. It’s time we recognised the assistants who don’t just support success — they sustain it.