Melinda Vail-Goodnight is an accidental executive assistant who stayed by choice and has enjoyed over 14 years in the role, including the last 6 years at Southwest Airlines. In this episode, Melinda talks about managing email, interruptions, and the various types of professional development available for assistants. Enjoy our conversation and be sure to fly Southwest once it's safe to travel. ;-) LEADERSHIP QUOTE [...]
Jackie Ludwig's career includes working as an EA for senior level and c-suite executives at Korn Ferry, Rolex and YPO, to name just a few. In this episode, Jackie shares a bit of her story and tips on professional development, managing an executive's inbox, networking, and more! LEADERSHIP QUOTE Another of Madiba's (Nelson Mandela) great lessons: you can have a vast difference of opinion [...]
Lucy Chamberlain has motivated, empowered, and armed audiences with tools to support a life and career that serves the individual and organization better. Lucy and I had a great conversation about job hunting, networking, resumes, interviews, and negotiation. Speaking of negotiation, Lucy walks through a helpful tool for negotiating your compensation. It's called STAR: Situation Task Actions Result And here's the negotiation prep sheet [...]
Scott Miller is the author of Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow and other bestselling books. As assistants, we're great at learning from each other, attending assistant training events, listening to assistant podcasts, etc. But Leader Assistants will read books and listen to podcasts their executive's listen to, and attend training events that their executive's attend. [...]
Elijah D. Griffiths is a career executive assistant that has operated with chief of staff and senior advisor grit to c-suite staff for over 8 years. Elijah (aka The EA Guru) chats about managing an executive's inbox, networking, getting the respect we deserve, and more! LEADERSHIP QUOTE To remain as number 1, you’ll always need a number 2. I am your number 2! - [...]
James Sobczak [SOB-zak] is currently an executive assistant staffing both the Chief Physician & Dean for Clinical Affairs and the Dean for Academic Affairs in the Biological Sciences Division at the University of Chicago. James is a kind, articulate, wise executive assistant and I'm so thrilled to share our conversation! James talks about being a male assistant in a female-dominated profession, how he's prioritized [...]
Mallory Rothstein is an Administrative Business Partner at Google, and previously was an Associate to the Chairman and CEO of Henry Schein, Stan Bergman. Mallory talks about getting a TEDx speaking opportunity, tips for public speaking, landing an assistant role with Stan Bergman (CEO of Henry Schein), what it's like to work as an administrative business partner at Google, and she also talks about [...]
Linda McFarland has supported a dozen CEOs in Silicon Valley and in this episode, Linda shares her decades of experience through stories that bring out the thoughtful lessons learned throughout her career. Linda has more executive assistant experience than most, yet she is also one of the most humble Leader Assistants I've met. We chat about working at large and small companies, how your [...]
Jennifer Connelly began her career in fashion working for designer Jeff Garner of Prophetik Clothing. After working her way up from intern to Brand Director, the 2008 downturn left her looking for the next chapter and she found her place working side by side with deeply talented visionaries in both the private and non-profit sectors. Jennifer talks about her path from executive assistant to [...]
Diana Faz is a seasoned, top level assistant with 15+ years of experience, a global EA mentor and advocate, and an all-around amazing person. Diana opens up about her experience with burnout during the pandemic, and also shares practical tips on managing email, networking, leading a team of admins, and anticipating your executive's needs. Enjoy our conversation! Note: The quote Diana references at the [...]