What would life be like if you were assistant to the former President of the United States? I had the pleasure of speaking with Peggy Grande, former Executive Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, and author of The President Will See You Now. Tune in to hear Peggy talk about what it was like being an assistant to such a well-known world leader, and how [...]
Most of my guests on The Leader Assistant Podcast are assistants or former assistants, so I’m excited to hear a different perspective on the show. In this episode, I chat with my wife Meghan's long-time friend, and former Purdue pole vault teammate, J Ballentine. J was in corporate America for 11 years, then left to start her own business. We talk about hiring assistants, [...]
Melissa Peoples is a Certified Microsoft Trainer with over 25 years of experience supporting C-Suite level executives in companies such as National Instruments, Dell, General Motors, The Ohio State University, AllState, and Eli Lily. Tune in as we chat about managing board meetings, being vulnerable, and dealing with online trolls. I hope you enjoy our conversation! LEADERSHIP QUOTE When you finally do get a [...]
What do you get when you mix a co-founder of a remote Executive Assistant agency with a long-time, rockstar EA? A new startup company building software specifically for EAs. In today's episode, I chat with two amazing women running an exciting new startup building a software platform for assistants. I'm joined by Base CEO and CoFounder, Paige McPheely, as well as Base's Chief of [...]
In this episode, I share the 12 minute version of my life story as an example of how you can share your unique story with others. In fact, I challenge you to tell your story to one person this week, and ask them to do the same. This exercise is a great way to remind us we're human and help us have empathy toward [...]
How do you burnout-proof your life? In this episode, I continue the burnout theme from episode 9, and share 3 practical ways to avoid burnout. Note: I burned out at my last job and it was because I failed to apply these practices. Don't make the same mistake I did! LINKS IN EPISODE Read 10 Driving Forces Behind Burnout for more on what's behind [...]
I burned out in my last job. I'm not proud of it, but it happened. Thankfully, I had some time off in between that job and my next one, which gave me a chance to figure out what had gone wrong. In hindsight, I realize I missed the warning signs that could have prevented my crash and burn. Are you burned out? If you [...]
I’m so excited to publish my first interview and even more excited that it worked out to have my friend Phoenix Normand as my first guest on The Leader Assistant Podcast. In this episode, Phoenix and I talk about artificial intelligence, being men in a role traditionally occupied by women, what we love about the executive assistant role, what executives can do to get [...]
Taking time off is seen as lazy and many people don't use their allotted paid vacation time. Can we stop pretending the world revolves around us? Let's stop making excuses and use all of our paid time off. Don’t wait till you retire to take a vacation! Here's my article to executives urging them to leave their assistants alone during off ours and vacations. [...]
There are times when my to-do list and calendar and inbox are all so cluttered and jam-packed that glancing at them for 10 seconds makes my head hurt. It’s in moments like this where paper suddenly becomes useful. In today's episode I rant a bit about why I hate paper but I end up giving paper mad props for being useful for at least [...]