Executives make decisions; assistants make them work. The difference between a task-based assistant and a strategic business partner often comes down to one skill: scenario planning. From cancelled flights to tech failures, top assistants anticipate disruption, build robust alternatives, and execute backup plans before anyone notices a problem. This isn’t just logistics—it’s business continuity, risk management, and executive leverage.
The narrative that Gen Z and Millennials dominate today’s workforce misses a crucial truth: over half of workers are still Gen X, Boomers, or Traditionalists — and in the administrative profession, the average assistant is 48. Older professionals bring deep knowledge, resilience, and mentorship, while younger assistants bring digital fluency and fresh perspective. The future of work won’t belong to one generation. It belongs to the organisations that know how to unlock the strengths of all generations, side by side.
Too many executives hire assistants for a skillset, then freeze them at that level. Restricting access, keeping decision-making closed, and treating them as reactive task managers doesn’t just limit the assistant — it limits the leader. The assistants who become true business partners don’t get there by chance. They grow because someone invested, coached, and created space for them to develop foresight and judgement. If you want leverage, continuity, and strategic support, the question isn’t about their potential. It’s about your leadership.
When a CEO transition prompted someone to suggest an EA should “go with the pharaoh,” it revealed the persistence of a dangerous mindset: that assistants are disposable. In reality, assistants are infrastructure — holding institutional memory, guarding relationships, and ensuring continuity no handover can replicate. With AI accelerating change, organisations that still view assistants as replaceable risk burning out leaders, losing knowledge, and undermining business performance. It’s time to end the stereotype and start recognising assistants as critical strategic assets.
Grant Thornton’s decision to axe nearly 100 assistants sparked anger across the profession, but the comments under the Financial Times article tell a more hopeful story. While some still cling to outdated views that leaders should “do their own admin,” many business professionals pushed back, recognising assistants as critical to productivity and profitability. From consultants warning that outsourcing admin is “a disaster waiting to happen,” to senior leaders pointing out that good assistants drive firm-wide efficiency, the message is clear: assistants aren’t overhead. They are infrastructure. And the wider business world is finally starting to say it too.
The Financial Times’ use of the outdated term “secretaries” in a 2025 article about Grant Thornton is a stark reminder of how language keeps the administrative profession undervalued. Administration represents one-fifth of the global workforce — over half a billion people — yet it still lacks a formal voice at leadership tables. While some companies are adopting progressive titles like Administrative Business Partner and Director of Administration, most executives continue making decisions about administration without truly understanding its strategic impact. Until administration is recognised as a core business function, organisations will keep making short-sighted choices that undermine leadership effectiveness.
A recent job ad for a senior-level EA role — positioned as a six-month “internship” with no stated pay — shows just how far the profession is still undervalued. The responsibilities demanded judgement, business literacy, and executive-level partnership, yet the contract offered insecurity and ambiguity. The disconnect? A company whose brand values celebrate “freedom” and “authenticity” for clients, but not for the assistants expected to deliver them. This isn’t just one job ad — it’s a systemic blind spot.
After time to reset, recharge, and reflect, the months ahead feel like a fresh start — a chance to finish the year with intention. For assistants, this “back-to-school” energy is a reminder of both the busyness and the possibility that lie between now and December. Gratitude for the profession, the progress, and the community sets the tone for the work ahead.
In the administrative profession, fear often hides not in our weaknesses, but in our potential. Too many assistants hold back — staying silent in meetings, waiting for permission, shrinking into the background — not because they lack skill, but because they fear their own power. The truth? Fear isn’t the enemy. It’s the signal pointing to exactly where your influence and leadership are waiting to emerge.
UK campaigner Joeli Brearley revealed this week that mothers earn 33% less than fathers — and in a profession that is 98% women, that matters. Too often, assistants are dismissed as “unambitious,” but what if that perception is simply bias in disguise? When society undervalues mothers, it undervalues women’s work — and that bias bleeds into how assistants are judged. Assistants are ambitious. They run portfolios, align leaders, and manage complexity daily. The real question isn’t why assistants don’t want to progress — it’s why ambition is still defined through a male lens.