A great read for any executive level EA, or one aspiring to work in executive administration. As EAs we have so much influence over how CEOs/senior leaders focus their energy and time. We have a powerful toolkit at our disposal to assist leaders and focus on the right areas—but identifying what those areas are among the onslaught of requests, priorities, and the occasional crises can be an overwhelming and impossible task.Giles’ book makes that task easier by framing those priorities as they relate to accountability, ambassadorship, culture, strategy, and succession planning. He then walks you through practical approaches and tools that will allow you to produce results in these areas.
Giles commences with a simple diagnostic that frames your focus for the remainder of the book.A drawback for EAs reading books like this is that it speaks directly to CEOs, and occasionally relies on non-standard business terminology that those not familiar with academic discourse will find confusing. I encourage you to persevere, however, as the book does get easier to read and the practical tools are very helpful. I can imagine many of us drawing on them with our management teams to great effect.
Patrick Witcombe is Executive Support Manager at cbm
