A Conversation with Nova Chief of Staff Graduates

Speaker 2 · 0:05

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

Jeremy · 0:21

Hey, Leader Assistants. Have you heard the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course is about to see a price increase? But don't worry. You can enroll now, lock in the current rate, and start whenever you're ready with lifetime access. Nova's mission is to give you the ultimate student experience. They've packed the course with dozens of templates, self-paced learning, hands-on practice, multiple instructor touchpoints, peer engagement, and even guest-authored assignments. With over 500 students across 22 countries, Nova is the top spot for Chief of Staff Learning and Development. Don't wait. Enroll today and join the community at leaderassistant.com/nova. Hey friends, welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast. It's your host, Jeremy Burrows, and this is episode 294. It's a very special episode, a very different episode than many of the ones that you've heard, and I'm going to be actually interviewing three people at one time. So all the pressure is on me to not screw this up. But it's going to be a fun chat today. I've got a conversation with some Nova Chief of Staff graduates. This is the certification course put together by my friend, Maggie Olson, who you've heard from on several episodes of the show. And also my current sponsor for the show is Maggie and Nova Chief of Staff. And so really excited to have a few assistants on today who have taking Maggie's course and gotten certified through the Nova Chief of Staff program. And so we're going to just hear a little bit about their stories, hear a little bit about why they decided to jump in and invest in their career and invest in their future and their professional development through Nova Chief of Staff course and then what they learned from it and anything and everything in between. So thank you so much for joining us today for Episode 294. And my three guests, and I got to make sure I pronounce all their names right. Again, like I said, the pressure is on me today. But first, first is Leah Mlitchin Carson. Leah is a career administrative professional and recent graduate of the course, as I mentioned. She has more than 25 years of office administrative experience. So we're excited to chat with Leah and to have you on the show today, Leah. Hello. Oh, and her mic is not working. So we will see if we can get that fixed. And it's always something. It's always something.

Leah · 3:06

Always something. Sorry about that, Jeremy. Thank you for having me today.

Jeremy · 3:11

Yeah, no problem. And then we've also got Mallory Zier. Mallory is a passionate executive assistant who celebrates the EA role and is really devoted to leadership and development. So Mallory, thank you so much for joining us as well.

Mallory · 3:30

Yeah, so happy to be here.

Jeremy · 3:32

Awesome. And then finally, and last but not least, we have Jess Pigot. Jess is an accomplished senior executive business partner with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. So Jess, we're excited to hear from you today as well.

Jess · 3:49

Howdy from Austin. It's my pleasure to be here.

Jeremy · 3:52

Awesome. Well, I am going to, since there's three of you and there could be a lot of chaos and confusion, I'm going to go ahead and just basically put one of you on the spot. When I ask the questions and then kind of round Robin and go to the next person. And so we're going to jump right in. And I'd love to hear, Jess, I'm going to pick on you first. You said you're in Texas, is that right?

Jess · 4:17

Yes, I live just outside of Austin, Texas.

Jeremy · 4:20

Awesome. Okay. And then are you from that area?

Jess · 4:23

No, I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I'm relocated down here about 10 years ago.

Jeremy · 4:29

Nice, nice. And what is your favorite thing to do when you're not working?

Jess · 4:35

I am an avid animal advocate. So I spend most of my time volunteering and fostering with some local and national dog rescues.

Jeremy · 4:46

Love it.

Speaker 2 · 4:47

Love it.

Jeremy · 4:47

That's a lot of A's. Avid animal advocate. Is that what you said? That's great. My boys actually, they volunteer with my wife at the local Casey Pet Project. Do they go walk dogs and hang out with the cats and stuff like that? So that's awesome.

Jess · 5:06

That's fantastic.

Jeremy · 5:07

Yeah. Well, tell us real quickly what your current title is, Jess. Then I think it's Senior Executive Business Partner, but you can confirm that. What industry you're in? Are you still in technology? Then maybe just a quick story about how you became an assistant.

Jess · 5:28

Sure.

Jeremy · 5:32

I lost your audio too.

Jess · 5:34

I'm sorry.

Jeremy · 5:35

There we go.

Jess · 5:37

Those are three questions I hope I get to answer, all three for you.

Jeremy · 5:39

Yeah, sorry. Sometimes I get on these crazy, when I do these interviews, sometimes I get on these crazy like, I'm just going to ask four questions and one question and that's going to really, and then as I'm doing it, I'm like, maybe I should just stick to one question at a time. So anyway.

Jess · 5:55

So, I think I forgot the question.

Jeremy · 5:58

No, that's right. Just tell us about where you work and then how you got into the assistant role.

Jess · 6:04

Sure. Yeah. So I am currently unemployed and I am seeking my next career adventure. I am looking to make the leap fully into the Chief of Staff world or business operation. I would love the opportunity to work in healthcare instead of technology. I have spent the last 20 years in technology or data and access management. Health care is another passion of mine and I think it would be really amazing to learn. Learn that.

Jeremy · 6:34

Yeah. Awesome. Then why did you become an assistant originally?

Jess · 6:39

I fell into it or it fell into my lap. In 2003, I was looking for a new job and I was hired as what they called a specialist, which was essentially coming into this company and picking up all the pieces and plugging holes, figuring out what needed to be done, what was getting missed. That's how I got my start. It's just rolling up my sleeves and figuring things out and having some really good mentors along the way.

Jeremy · 7:14

Nice. You said you're currently looking for your next role. Were you in between roles when you decided to take the Nova Chief of Staff course?

Jess · 7:26

I decided to take it last middle of last year, but I had some personal things I needed to attend to first. Then it just so happened that it did coincide with my position was impacted due to a merger. Then I found myself with some time and what better use of time than investing in myself.

Jeremy · 7:44

Yeah, totally. We'll get into the course a little bit more later, but I do want to ask just you mentioned, you're considering that Chief of Staff role. Was taking the course, were you already considering that title Chief of Staff before you took the course, and did taking the course maybe lean you even more into liking the idea of that role?

Jess · 8:10

I have had my eyes set on a Chief of Staff type role for the last five years or so.

Jeremy · 8:16

Okay.

Jess · 8:17

I was able to work with some phenomenal Chief of Staffs as a Senior Executive Assistant and learning from them really helped me understand that I have a bigger passion for that type of work. So, taking the course just kind of solidified that every single module I loved doing and putting my heart and soul into and so, yeah.

Jeremy · 8:46

Awesome. Good. Well, thanks for sharing and we'll hear more from you here in a minute. But next, I want to go to Leah. Leah, tell us a little bit about what city you're in and what you like to do when you're not working.

Leah · 9:00

I'm in the Great White North, so I'm in a small city called Richmond Hill, which is just north of Toronto, Ontario. When I'm not working, which is not too often these days because we're very busy, one of the things I love, I'm an amateur in the strictest sense of the world is I love to paint. I'm self-taught. I'm certainly never going to have my paintings in a gallery or anything, but it's something that I really enjoy. I love working with color. I love depicting beauty and texture and all of those good things. So that's my primary hobby.

Jeremy · 9:38

Love it. Love it. What do you like to paint?

Leah · 9:41

I've painted a lot of different things. I've tried my hand at animals. I will not do humans because I just know I'd never be able to do that. My favorite things are landscape type pictures, mountains, stone cottages with flowers in front of them, anything with ocean in it, all of the nature stuff that I'm really too much of a wuss to actually set foot.

Jeremy · 10:12

Nice. Well, how did you get into the assistant profession? Then tell us a little bit about your current role.

Leah · 10:20

Okay. So I think like a lot of executive assistants, I got into office assistant work by circumstance rather than by design. I had done some temp work as a student between school years, and a couple of university programs I took. As I took them, I found they just weren't for me. So while I was taking some time to figure out what I wanted to do, I thought I would go and do some office temp work. And as it turned out, the office temp work was what I loved to do. I decided that I really enjoyed helping people. I enjoyed putting my organizational skills to good use. And my career trajectory has been a little bit odd. I've kind of moved through the different assistant type ranks, you know, receptionist, secretary. I took a few twists and turns along the way. Ended up working in medical transcription and as an assistant for event planning. And I ended up back doing office work, mostly in the nonprofit sector, which I absolutely love. So long story short, here I am working as an executive assistant in the national office of a charity here in Canada. Although we're national, we're very small. So my assistant work has really evolved into a lot besides what most people think of when they think of executive assistant work. You know, anything from project management to, you know, heading up projects, government relations, writing, all kinds of fun things.

Jeremy · 12:20

Nice, nice. So what was maybe the trigger for you to jump into the Nova Chief of Staff course?

Leah · 12:30

Interestingly, unlike Jess, it wasn't something I had ever considered. And in fact, up until I'd say a couple of years ago, I didn't really know much about the Chief of Staff role other than, you know, having heard the title on soap operas, things like that. I started seeing more and more about it on LinkedIn. People were posting about it. I was kind of curious as to what exactly was involved in it. I did notice, I saw the Nova Chief of Staff course being advertised. I decided I wanted to find out a little bit more about it. I looked into it and while I was mulling over whether or not I should dive right in, I entered a giveaway, which I happened to have been fortunate enough to win, one of three winners, and the prize was half price tuition for the Nova Chief of Staff course. So I took that as a definite sign from the universe that this is what I was meant to do. And I dove right in, enjoyed it and have absolutely no regrets. I just loved it.

Jeremy · 13:43

That's awesome. That's awesome. And congrats on winning the prize.

Leah · 13:47

Thank you. I don't win anything.

Jeremy · 13:48

So that came as a real shock to me.

Leah · 13:51

Absolutely.

Jeremy · 13:53

Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing. And we look forward to hearing more from you in a minute. Mallory, it's your turn. Tell us what city you're in and what you like to do when you're not working.

Mallory · 14:04

Yes. Well, I am tuning in today from Fort Collins, Colorado, which is about an hour north of Denver, right along the beautiful foothills of the Rockies. And so like most people here, when I'm not working, I dive outside, which is really easy to do. Fresh air fills my soul and it's really easy to gobble that up here. So solo or friends and family, you'll find me playing outside when I'm not working. The other thing I really geek out over, which is funny, but I own it with pride. If I can scrounge free time, I love books on the study of leadership. And I love books about the world of admin support. And so I ingest those whenever I can. I'm really, really passionate about leadership.

Jeremy · 14:51

Awesome. Love to hear it. And love to speak with someone in lovely Colorado. I love Colorado. I try to go once or twice a year. My brother lives out there in Denver. So it's just beautiful to be in the mountains. One of my favorite places in the world. So what what got you into the assistant role initially?

Mallory · 15:12

As with Leah and many, many folks listening, I'm sure it was it wasn't planned. It was accidental, but it worked out beautifully. And the EA role for me is a wonderful culmination of everything. Every stepping stone up to this point. So I got an English degree thinking I might want to teach English or be an editor. But I went straight into the world of corporate event planning. Did that for several years, spent some time in hospitality and hotels. And then I ventured into the editing world and was in publishing for a while. And then made my way slowly into the assistant realm, building on all of those skills and beautifully. The EA role has used all of that stuff in great capacity. And I really, really love it. It makes my heart happy and it's my happy place. That said, I too became curious about what is this Chief of Staff role I've started hearing so much about. Is it different than what I'm doing? Might I be able to do it? And how on earth do I find out about any of this stuff? And so like these gals, I hopped online, started doing research, and thank goodness this course has materialized because boy, did I find the answers I was seeking. It was awesome. And I think it was made just for me. I told Maggie that many times. Pretty sure it was custom made just for me.

Jeremy · 16:40

Awesome.

Mallory · 16:41

Yeah.

Jeremy · 16:42

Great. Well, we'll stay with you for a minute. Thanks for sharing. Super excited to have you on the show. What was maybe the number one thing you, you know, biggest takeaway or what you liked most about the material and the experience of going through the Nova Chief of Staff course?

Mallory · 17:04

If I had to summarize very generally, I would say answers to the questions I entered with, which primarily were, what is this role that seems pretty nebulous? Is it different from being an EA and how? Do I have the ability to be a Chief of Staff? If I might have ability, what are my gaps and how might I lean in to fill those? Is there a community that I could become part of to help me through this journey? Where are the spots with resources for further education? And if I decide I might want to do this, what's next? How do I speak about this? How do I present myself to the world in this way in a resume or LinkedIn or just even in conversation? And is there a sandbox where I can hop in and maybe play? Can I try this in a safe space and fail forward? The course did all that for me, which was not a summarized answer. Sorry.

Jeremy · 18:10

No, no, that's great. That's super, super helpful. What was the, you know, how was the interactions with Maggie? Like, you know, I'm sure a lot of people are listening or thinking, okay, course sounds interesting. How involved is the instructor? How involved is the creative, the course or is it kind of you're on your own? Tell us a little bit about your experience there.

Jess · 18:39

Have you heard? The Nova Chief of Staff Certification course price is going up in January of 2025. Enroll now and with lifetime access, start whenever you please. Here at Nova, it's our mission to provide the very best student experience possible. Our course is chocked full of features and resources designed just for you. Dozens of templates, self-paced online learning, hands-on practice, multiple instructor touchpoints, peer engagement opportunities, guest-authored assignments, the list goes on. With 500 students across 22 countries, Nova is the premier destination for Chief of Staff Learning and Development.

Leah · 19:17

Enroll today and join us.

Mallory · 19:23

It's a great question. I wondered the same beforehand. My experience was that it was a beautiful mix of both, and I got to determine how much I wanted of each of those realms, which is one of the best things about the course. I am a full-time working parent, and I was apprehensive about diving into a certification. This is beautifully set up to be completely self-serve, and Maggie and her team are waiting to provide feedback along the way. Then your fellow classmates are also available if you would like to tap into that community, or you can do it very solo if you prefer. I loved that because for me, it fit me best to do a little bit of all of it. But everybody's experience is custom, including down to how you choose to do the activities and the practicum portions. You can actually customize those per current work projects of your own to make it immediately relevant and applicable. You can even actually get work done while doing it, which is amazing. Yeah, it's awesome.

Jeremy · 20:30

That's great. It's a great way to put it. Thanks for sharing. It's awesome. Awesome. Well, Jess, let's come back to you for a minute. What was maybe your biggest takeaway from the certification course?

Jess · 20:43

My biggest takeaway was I can do this. I now have all of the skills, the techniques, the templates, everything I need to be successful in this particular role. It was amazing to be going through the course and provide feedback. Then a few weeks later, all of a sudden there's this new module based on what felt like my personal feedback. So that was just incredible to, as a student, be able to provide feedback and then almost immediately, then have a module or a section that I can dive a little bit more into.

Jeremy · 21:29

That's great. That's great. What about the format, Jess, was what was the format? Can you kind of give just the high level of like, for those who are like, okay, well, what's the format of this course?

Jess · 21:43

Sure. It's broken into six different modules. Within each module, there are several assignments. The wonderful thing is, at the beginning of every module, there's an overview page that outlines all of the assignments and an estimation of how much time it should take you to complete that assignment. That was really helpful for me to be able to navigate and include the different assignments within my schedule. It created a lot of flexibility. Each module is specifically designed to target certain areas, like business planning or... Someone sticks out to me right now, sorry. Each module is very specific and targeted. When you complete that module, you walk away with, here's what I was told I was going to learn, and here's what I actually did learn. So there's a really, really great alignment for each.

Jeremy · 22:49

Nice. Leah, how about you? What was the biggest takeaway for you? What did you like the most about it?

Leah · 22:57

I had a few takeaways. One, like Jess, I did come away feeling like I can do this. It instilled a great deal of confidence in me. But not only, you know, I can do this, it's I have been doing this. And I think a lot of, a lot of EAs who have, you know, found themselves taking on more and more challenges of a leadership quality, would find the same thing. There's an awful lot that we do as executive assistants that, you know, most people who have never been an executive assistant wouldn't even think of. And a lot of it there, although the executive assistant and chief of staff roles are very different, there is a certain amount of overlap, particularly if you're working for a very small organization where you don't have departments and lots of staff. So that was very validating for me. You know, I also, I just, I loved, I loved the fact that the course was self-paced. I loved the various modules. My favorite one was the storytelling module. I really enjoyed that. And the fact that as I was going along, again, like Jess said, I was able to incorporate the work of the exercises into my actual work. It was very, very practical.

Jeremy · 24:27

Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing. And for those listening that can't see the video, Leah's cat walked right in front of the camera and she did not blink. She did not blink an eye. She just kept going. It was very, very impressive. Very impressive.

Leah · 24:42

All in a day's work.

Jeremy · 24:45

Awesome. Well, let's see Mallory, let's go back to you for a minute. What was maybe a problem that you had or that you were running into before you jumped into the course and then how did the course help you solve that problem?

Mallory · 25:06

It's a very good question. I was lacking words to talk about this heading into the course. I wasn't certain how to define the Chief of Staff role, and if someone encountered me in a hallway and asked me what it was, I would have had a really hard time articulating that. What are the skills and the gifts and the impact? How do we measure effectiveness and success? So for me, the specificity of the course was magnificent. From the get-go, every single lesson, article, interview is full of specific, very direct statements about it. Is this? It could be this. Five, you know, I'm looking, I jotted down some notes here, but you know, very specific things like the essence of facilitative leadership can be summarized in six major themes and things like that. So it's very specific. One other problem I had going in was, how do I look for this in the employment world? And from the get-go, one of the very first exercises is learning the many different names that a Chief of Staff role actually goes by in the world of job hunting. And I was amazed in a good way that so many of these titles, I never would have considered as a possibility for myself, are very achievable, would have never searched for those, had it not been for this course, opening my eyes. So again, I go back to this course brought me a lot of clarity.

Jeremy · 26:50

Awesome. Is there one of the titles that you never would have thought of or that you learned that you can mention? Do you remember any of them?

Mallory · 26:57

Yeah, like Director of Business Operations.

Jeremy · 27:00

Yeah.

Mallory · 27:01

Never would have thought that was something, but when you look at the actual job description and compare it to what we understand Chief of Staff to be, boy, they're pretty similar there, if not the same depending on how a given company defines it. I came out of that exercise in that module with, I think, 30 different titles that I was like, I should look into all of these.

Jeremy · 27:25

Nice.

Mallory · 27:26

Never would have thought. Yeah.

Jeremy · 27:29

That's great. Well, before I move over to Jess again, Mallory, what's maybe one thing that those listening, and specifically, assistance, executive assistants, administrative assistants, executive business partners, and all the other titles in the support world, what should they know about the course? Like, what's one thing that if you, like, saw and talked to another assistant and they just said, hey, I got 30 seconds and I just want to know one thing that I should know about the course, what is it?

Mallory · 28:06

If you are curious to grow your skill set as an EA or as a Chief of Staff, this is a beautiful, very worth your money way to do it.

Jeremy · 28:22

Love it. Super clear, super to the point. My favorite kind of communication. Awesome. Thanks Mallory. Appreciate it. Jess, how about you? Would you recommend the course to assistants even if they're like, no, I never want to be a Chief of Staff?

Jess · 28:44

Yes. Absolutely hand down. One of my other takeaways from this course is having a better understanding of the EA Chief of Staff relationship and when you have both, how you can really lean on each other to help your executive be even more successful because it does help create some boundaries and some understanding of here's what I can do, here's what they can do or I'm passionate about that. Maybe I can help the Chief of Staff complete that so they can focus on something else. So I would say yes, absolutely.

Jeremy · 29:21

Nice. I love how you put that. It helps with your relationship with the Chief of Staff if you work with one or some assistants even have to report to a Chief of Staff. I've been saying lately more often that if somebody comes to me and say, hey, how do I be a better assistant? I say, that's the wrong question. The right question is, how can I be a better CEO? In other words, how can I do my boss' job better? How can I do my executive's job better? How can I do the Chief of Staff's job? How can I do the CFO's job? In a way, it's like even if you don't want to be a Chief of Staff or even if you don't want to be a CEO, learning how to be a better CEO or learning how to be a better Chief of Staff will help you be a better assistant. So, absolutely. Leah, how about you? What's maybe one thing that people listening specifically assistants of the world and even more specifically leader assistants of the world, what should they know about the course?

Leah · 30:29

Well, what you just said is a great segue into what I was going to say, which is that the course gives you a better glimpse and better insights into the running of a business, into although it focuses on the role of the chief of staff, by virtue of the fact that it does that, you end up learning a lot about what the CEO or principal needs to do, and how a business operates. When you say, the question is not, how can I be a better EA, but how can I be a better CEO? That ties in really beautifully with the Nova Chief of Staff course, because you do learn about that. Whatever your aspirations, there's a lot that is offered by the course. Although it's called the Chief of Staff Certification course, it really has a lot to offer, no matter what you plan for your career, whether you want to remain an EA, become a Chief of Staff, if you have other types of leadership aspirations, it gives you a really great set of foundational skills and knowledge to help you with that.

Jeremy · 31:56

Awesome. Love it. Love it. Okay. Now, I'm going to throw a curveball, a little bit of a curveball at you, and I can throw it at all of you if you guys want to answer each of you or whatever. But what's one reason why those listening should not take the course? What's one reason? It's like, you know what? I've been through this course. It's not for you if. So I'll kind of throw this out. Jess looks like she might have an answer. She's shaking her head. She's shaking her head. I put her on the spot.

Jess · 32:37

I really can't think of anything because I love learning. So for me, it's just another part of learning.

Jeremy · 32:44

It's like a win-win, yeah.

Jess · 32:46

Yeah. So I guess maybe if you're not curious or you have too much personal commitment or personal distractions that you really need to focus on and do self-care versus learning, maybe.

Jeremy · 33:00

Yeah.

Leah · 33:02

I would say if you want to become an astronaut, it's probably not the course for you.

Jeremy · 33:07

There you go. That's a good way to do it.

Leah · 33:08

I could be wrong about that too.

Jeremy · 33:09

Who knows? Mallory, you got anything? You know, you're shaking your head. Awesome. Well, okay. Actually, I did want to ask one more thing related to that. It's an investment for the course, and I'm not going to specifically say the price here because it could be different when we publish this episode. But most of the people... So I have a membership subscription where we do ongoing coaching and training calls for The Leader Assistant. And most of the members pay for their subscription through their company's professional development funds. So I'm just curious, were either of you, any of you able to do that? Or was this a personal investment for you? If you don't mind sharing.

Leah · 34:08

For me, it was it was it started off as a personal investment. And interestingly, after I had told my my CEO that I had been taking the course and received my certification, I would say within a couple of months, we were discussing my role and how it had evolved. He said, you know, we really we should really cover that that course for you. So just submit an invoice, which, you know, came as a as a lovely surprise. But it goes to show that, you know, he saw the value in the course, in the certification and, you know, the value that that I had brought to the role as a result.

Jeremy · 34:51

That's great. Great job.

Mallory · 34:55

I had a similar experience. Leah was completely planning on self-investment and chatted with my leader about it as well. We fortunately have learning and development budget at our company. And I was not even intending to ask to tap into that. But he immediately said, well, of course, we should utilize it for this. This seems very valuable. And it was fun chatting with him as I proceeded through the course about all the things I was learning. And so it ended up being very conversational with him when I really thought this would be kind of a quiet, private thing I was doing on the side. And so it's really wonderful to have that leader support.

Jeremy · 35:36

That's great. That's amazing. Love to hear that.

Speaker 2 · 35:39

Yeah.

Jess · 35:43

Mine is self-investment all the way. They were out of pocket and I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't do it again.

Jeremy · 35:50

Yeah. I love that too. A lot of people, the way I say it, whenever they're like, hey, you've got this event coming up or you've got this membership, you've got this training or this course or whatever. My go-to is always ask your company to pay for it. That's the first step. If they won't pay for it, invest in yourself. Because if you're not going to invest in yourself, who will? Kind of a thing. But try to get your company to cover it because you see these executives and you don't just see them go to these conferences. You book their tickets, you book their flights, you book their $2,000 registration for this conference that they're attending. And they're doing multiple of these all year. And you're just like, I just want a few hundred bucks for this event. Or I want to take this course once a year or whatever. And it's fun to hear stories like what Leah and Mallory were saying, where it's like, you were planning on just investing yourself, but then your company's like, hey, we'll take care of it. And that's great. So awesome. Well, this has been super fun. Thank you, Mallory, Jess and Leah, for all of the great work that you've done in your assistant careers. And thank you for leading well and thank you for caring enough about your own journey and your own development to invest your own money, even if you did get reimbursed ultimately. But investing in your future, investing in your career, thanks for being willing to be put on the spot and tell us a little bit about specifically the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course. And I know Maggie's worked really, really hard at putting together a helpful and engaging professional development resource, and super happy to share more about it and hear from you all. I will put your linked in URLs in the show notes for those listening. I'm sure that you would love to network and connect with assistance listening. So I'll put those in the show notes at leaderassistant.com/294, leaderassistant.com/294. You can check out the bios and linked in URLs for Mallory, Jess and Leah. So does anybody have, I'll give each of you a chance for one last word, final inspirational or salutation, however you want to go off and send off. But yeah, we'll just hear from each of you for kind of the last word. So Mallory, I'll kick off with you first.

Mallory · 38:37

Yes, actually, thank you for the opportunity. I have one final thought, Jeremy. We three gals spoke earlier this week together, and something that I think is important for folks to hear who are considering the course, or maybe even not considering, but happen to be listening. We were chatting about our feeling that the rise of the Chief of Staff role does not mean the demise of the EA role, and it's a hot topic right now that seems to be a little bit contentious. But we were chatting about it, and there is blurriness in the world of the EA title and comp definitions and how people utilize EA's, the same for the Chief of Staff roles, and one can choose to look at that as frustrating or one can see opportunity in the squishiness. There is so much variance and possibility across industries, companies, and how leaders and teams decide to utilize these roles that we view this whole certification as just continuing to open doors and beckon people into new spaces and so I just want to encourage everybody to approach it that way. It continues to be the most supportive, I think the most supportive community in the professional realm. This support community, this admin support community of which I firmly believe Chiefs of Staff are part of, and so I just want to leave that thought with everybody here, and if you have questions about the course, anybody, please feel free to reach out to me. I'm so happy to chat with you about my experience further. Thank you for having me.

Jeremy · 40:19

Awesome. Thanks Mallory. That's great. Thanks for sharing and well said. Well said. Jess, how about you?

Jess · 40:27

Mallory, thank you so much for bringing that up. I was also going to bring that up and you said it so eloquently. Thank you very much for that. Thank you for having me. The final thought for me, we could just touch back on self-investment. I love to promote the fact that you never know unless you ask, and the worst you can hear is no. If that is helpful for anybody, any of the listeners, I hope it is. I would encourage you to ask because the worst you can hear is no. The best you can hear is yes.

Jeremy · 41:02

Awesome. Well said. Thank you. All right, Leah.

Leah · 41:07

I don't know that I have anything to say that Mallory and Jess haven't already said beautifully. You know, I guess my final word is, you know, keep on learning. Whatever your passion is, professionally or personally, keep on learning because everything that we do to enrich our own knowledge ultimately makes us better people and better professionals. And then finally, thank you, Jeremy, not just for having all of us on today, but for everything you have done to really position the EA role as something to be really proud of and as a role in its own right and not just something secondary to the C-suite.

Jeremy · 42:01

Awesome. Thanks, Leah. Thanks for the kind words and great send-off. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Again, please connect with Mallory, Jess, and Leah, leaderassistant.com/294 to reach out to them and say hi. Yeah, thanks, everyone, for listening. Thank you all for joining and we'll look forward to seeing you and speaking with you soon.

Speaker 2 · 42:36

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