From Average EA to Strategic Business Partner – A Book Launch Party with Annie Croner

Jeremy Burrows · 0:14

Hey friends, welcome to episode 401. You can check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/401. You'll also want to visit that page if you want to watch the video version of this conversation with Annie Croner. We just had a book launch party celebrating the launch of her new book, The Strategic Business Partner, and this episode is a replay of that conversation. So again, visit leaderassistant.com/401 if you want to find the link to the book that she just launched, her website, her LinkedIn, all that fun stuff. as well as a replay video of this webinar. So hope you enjoy. Again, leaderassistant.com/401 to follow up, and I'll talk to you soon. So Annie, actually, we met— I'm trying to remember if we met up in Denver. I think it was last year sometime, and you said you were working on your book. It's so exciting to actually be on the other end where the book's actually out. She sent me a copy. I've got my copy here. So live and in person, I got my physical version now. And if you didn't notice, I did actually, I had the pleasure of writing the foreword. So you can see here, if my camera will focus, foreword by Jeremy Burrows. So it was super fun to write the foreword for this book. Annie and I have known each other for a long time. What year did you start your, your business? Was it around—

Annie Croner · 1:54

2018. And I think we probably either had either later that year, first YouTube when I was doing a YouTube channel and really bad at it, but you came on my YouTube channel for an interview either later on that year or early the next year. And fortunately, thankfully, I've found my voice more. I've gotten better skilled at doing things, but you know, um, you've, you've seen me through the entire journey, which I think was Like, having you do the foreword for the book was like a full circle moment because, I mean, I think we've witnessed each other's growth and you obviously have been doing in the space advocating a lot, a bit longer than I had been at that point. But yeah, it was— I had no idea where to start. And I think you were one of the first people that I connected with when I was just starting out and had something to say in our space. So. Yeah.

Jeremy Burrows · 2:46

Yeah, so I think I started my, my assistant business, Leader Assistant, GoBurrows. It used to be called, uh, goburrows.com, now leaderassistant.com, back in 2016. And then yeah, you— we, we connected around 2017, 2018-ish, and then, um, had you on my podcast early on. And it's funny, you go back to listen to that original interview, we both would probably cringe at our own, uh, voices and what we're saying because I was, I was fresh in the space. I was like trying to be super scripted for every interview cuz I'm like, I don't wanna mess up. I gotta figure this out. And, uh, fast forward, you know, uh, what is it, 7 years since the podcast? Um, the, and over a million downloads and over 300 interviews later, and you've been on the show again and, and I featured, uh, your podcast, uh, The Whole Assistant. Yeah. On my podcast as well. And so it's like fun to see the progression and the change and the difference. And now I don't script hardly anything for my interviews. Um, it's much more fun that way. Uh, but it did require a lot of, a lot of practice and prep up front. So anyway, I'm going to stop sharing my screen and I really would love to hear just from you a little bit about, uh, a little bit, maybe a little bit more about your, your journey and then know, why the book and what's the book about?

Annie Croner · 4:09

Yeah. So I have had a winding path in this career. And like Jeremy mentioned, I had a 20-year career as an executive assistant. And I never saw myself leaving the role, actually. I loved the role. And in my last role, I was supporting high net worth people in VC and family office spaces for the last 7 years of my career. And in my last role, I woke up one morning and I just had something to say about the role. And I also had a story that I wanted to share but wasn't quite ready to share it yet with regards to burnout. And so I just started sharing and talking about the role and how to approach it in a way that will allow you to not burn out and some tips and tricks and strategies that I had learned along the way. And this is before I even knew about coaching. My first coaching experience was back in 2019 when I got pregnant with my son, because I knew I'd had this dramatic story of burnout. I was a career person. My identity was strongly based in my career, and yet I was going to have this other little human that I needed to take care of. And what does that look like? So I was looking for a coach who understood the role of executive assistant, and there really wasn't anybody at the time. I found one gal who had moved away from executive assistant work and was now coaching, and her niche wasn't to support executive support professionals. But she helped me through that season. And so I think that, like, as I've been on this journey and as I've gone down this path, I've literally clocked thousands of hours of coaching support professionals at this point. I'm a certified coach. I also train in corporate and I train in different environments as well. And I think the idea of the book was just a desire to make my thought leadership in this space more available and more widespread and more accessible. Because as demand for coaching went up, so did my prices. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to create a lower ticket offer to help more people. Like, that's where my membership came into play. And then I also just wanted to really solidify all that I learned over the last 6, 7 years and put it down on paper. And it's kind of disconcerting, Jeremy. I'm sure you can probably relate to this too. Like, there are certain things and aspects as we evolve and grow that we would probably change about something that we have written, would be my guess. And I knew that this is going to be a snapshot in time for me, but also it has been a long time coming. Like, I've run a podcast for a couple years now, a few years now. And I also, um, just wanted to help more people, and I wanted to get it, the book, in the hands of more people and get these concepts in the hands of more people. So the book is written in 3 parts. The first section deals with your mindset, um, and I think that we often downplay the role of executive assistant. We often downplay our contribution because what comes naturally to us, we just assume comes naturally to everybody else. And on the back of my book, it says at the top, what if you're more strategic than you think? And so becoming a strategic business partner, more strategic in our roles, isn't about doing more. It's about recognizing the contribution as it fits into the larger picture of the business objectives, because we often are doing tasks in kind of a void. We're like, I'm doing this task, then I'm going to do this task, but we don't connect it to larger business outcomes. And that's where we go wrong. And I'm a huge fan of really harnessing our strengths and not downplaying them or discounting them because things come naturally to us. And I've said this before, but like I spent the last 7 years of my career supporting high net worth people and common sense is not that common. Like what you bring to the table and your perspective is so unique and so powerful and You have a different vantage point than anybody else in the company, in that you have access to leadership, and you also have access to the team. And nobody else in the company is that bridge piece between those 2 groups of people. So, that's a very powerful place to be. And so, really, recognition is where it's at for me, in terms of the mindset piece. And then, the second kind of part is, like, power moves as an executive, as executive assistants. And, and there are different power moves that we can totally harness as well. And then the third part of the book is career flexes. So how, how you can steer your career into being whatever it is you want to be that really aligns with you, and really getting clear on what you're currently valuing, and then aligning your career with those things. And, um, yeah, it's a culmination of like 20 years boots on the ground lived experience. And then there again, thousands of hours helping other executive assistants level up and add value to their executives and also live better, more holistic, great lives as well.

Jeremy Burrows · 9:31

So. Awesome. So what we'll get into maybe a couple of practical things, uh, from, and you mentioned, uh, tying what you, what you do to the business impact, but as one. But what about— I want to, you know, as an author too, I want to know like the behind the scenes a little bit of the title. Like, what— how long did you wrestle with the title? How painful was it to wrestle with the title? Like, you know, I love the title, by the way. I'm just curious that process of finalizing and just because, you know, you have to kind of make the decision at some point. And so how did that process go?

Annie Croner · 10:10

Yeah, I mean, I thought my book would be called The Whole Assistant because my brand is The Whole Assistant. Oh, this is really great. It'll just be— I'm just going to call it The Whole Assistant and that it was decided. But then as I started to pen the book and as I actually started to like pull my ideas together, I began to see this common thread of strategy and like helping executive assistants see themselves as more strategic and to step fully into their power. as that person to partner with their executive. And I also spent lots of time coaching on how to do that. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is— I don't— this is— the book is not The Whole Assistant. The book is The Strategic Assistant. And Jeremy is— I know you're kind of laughing at this because we had so much back and forth about the tagline, like the under— the other part, an assistant's playbook for thinking bigger, leading better, and building a dream career. Like, we— We just had so much back and forth, you and I, about that tagline. Like, what about this tagline? You're like, well, but da da da da. And then we had like, the word assistant needs to be in there. And like, we just had so much. I think I had much more drama about the tagline than I did about the actual title of the book.

Jeremy Burrows · 11:17

Yeah, for sure. The subtitle was harder than the title.

Annie Croner · 11:21

The subtitle, yes. Yeah, yeah. Not the tagline, the subtitle.

Jeremy Burrows · 11:23

Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, super, super impressed. And I know it's a huge project to undertake. Uh, yeah, really excited to get it out into the world and help you spread the news. And again, if you're on this call and you haven't ordered it yet, please go order it. It's 99 cents on ebook. Uh, even if you don't have a Kindle device, you can log in and read it on the browser. Um, but let's talk about the, get a little bit, uh, in the weeds with the practical things that we can do. And for those that don't know, I'm currently a senior executive assistant to a CEO. Uh, I've been an assistant for about 20 years and I'm going to log off of this call and go back to my day job. But what can we do to level up or develop, or like the webinar title is, from average, go from average to strategic?

Annie Croner · 12:21

Yeah. So I think first and foremost, we have to go back to the basics. And in my book, I call this the power of boring magic. Because when we nail the basics and when we have that down and we actually have our system set up for ourselves, that's where we're going to be showing up more consistently and less things are going to fall through the cracks, less mistakes are going to be made. So really making sure that your systems are solid. And when I talk about systems, I talk about it using the framework of a building and the systems are the foundation. And when you think about how a foundation is laid, there's like rebar and it's very like thought out and very intentional in how the foundation is laid. But nobody sees it. Nobody sees the foundation. But when the foundation is weak, the building crumbles. And so, really making sure that you are really fine-tuning your process for managing all the things. Your task tracking system is probably the best system you could ever develop or refine. And what I love about a digital centralized task tracking— Tracking system is that you can create automations for those things that just need to land on your list and when they need to land on your list. Or if you don't want to, like, utilize a digitalized centralized task tracking system, then leverage your calendar, have repeating things on your calendar actually for different times of year. So for example, with my last executive, I managed his personal life as well as his professional life. I managed collecting tax documentation. So January, 15th, I'd be like, start collecting tax docs. And I would, I would request the spreadsheet from the accountant or use last year's spreadsheet and ask for updates. And I would just start collecting. But I like that I didn't have to think about it. And it also reduces your mental load. So then you're going to be much more present with the work you actually need to be doing. And it just keeps us out of that whack-a-mole energy, which is the exact opposite of strategic thinking. So really, I know it's really boring and it's not glamorous at all, but really refining your systems, making sure they're you're dialed in, making sure that you're using AI tools and strategies to be able to help you leverage them to be able to help reduce the mental load. I think that's probably one of the biggest flexes, really boots on the ground, easy, practical thing that we can do. And I also think finding strategic alignment with your executive is also going to be important. Like, have you had a strategic planning session with your executive recently? Have you Have you dove in with them around what their priorities are for this upcoming season? And here's the thing: your executive probably has no idea what their priorities are. They're probably like up here riding the waves, and they're like, "Um, now I need to do this, and now I need to do this, and now I need to do this." But if we can like be that calming anchoring force and have the and have these great conversations with our executive around what the actual priorities are, then when when there is something that comes up that doesn't align with those priorities, you can actually have that more strategic conversation around like, okay, so these are the priorities for this quarter. Where does this new priority fit in and what can be deprioritized from this list in order to make room for this new priority? Instead of what generally happens, which is it's a new priority and everything is now a priority. So nothing is actually being deprioritized. So these, these are some practical tools and practical things that you can leverage and utilize that will really help you level up yourself and also bring more value and show up more strategically.

Jeremy Burrows · 16:04

Love it. Okay. I want to ask one thing about, um, I'm looking here at the, uh, contents of the book and there's a section called From Rescuer to Guide.

Annie Croner · 16:19

Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Burrows · 16:19

Um, and I love that concept. And I, I wrote a little bit about that in my book where this concept of, you know, we're not the hero, we're the guide. And it's this, this idea that, you know, you're in Star Wars, for example, you know, Luke Skywalker is, is the hero, but there's so many guides along the way that have to help him. Right.

Annie Croner · 16:45

Yeah.

Jeremy Burrows · 16:46

And I love the analogy of, of an assistant being the guide, not the hero. And so tell us a little bit about that portion and that, that concept of going from rescuer to guide.

Annie Croner · 16:58

Yeah. So that, uh, so actually it's funny that you talk about Star Wars because I actually like, I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan. So I talk about Gandalf being this like guide for the Fellowship of the Ring and he, so I'm going to give, use him as an example. Right. So, if you followed, if you know what Lord of the Rings is, if you're not familiar with what Lord of the Rings is, it's this great story and there's this wise wizard who brings everyone together to destroy this ring of power. He understands the history of the ring of power and he guides different people at different points in time. He gives pep talks and he's like, rah-rah, go, you've got this and I see this in you, and that sort of thing. But he never takes the ring on himself, right? He's never, he's never like, I'm gonna take this thing and I'm gonna run with it. So I think, first of all, what happens when we're rescuing is we're really reactive. And it can be exhausting to be that reactive. And it can just be like, it keeps us in there again in that whack-a-mole fate, in that whack-a-mole state. And then we end up owning things that we shouldn't own. Like, we end up owning our executive state of being, or we end up getting wrapped up in what they're thinking about us or whatever. What I love about making that shift to guide is that we no longer have to fix everything. Like, we don't have to fix our executive state of being. We don't have to fix his grumpy mood. We don't have to fix their, like, their ego, or whatever the thing is with your executive. I think we're all dealing with humans. If you allow your executive to have a human experience, and you don't have to rescue them from that human experience, it frees you up to take a wide-angle lens of what's actually going on, and to actually ask and assess, like, How can I be of the most value here? Like, what can I lend my executive that they may be unaware of? And there again, we have a unique vantage point in our organizations in that we hear complaints that our executive will never hear because no one wants to go complain to the executive, but they sure don't mind complaining to the assistant. And then we also have the inside scoop with the, with the executive as well, because we are in such close proximity to them that we pick up on their moods and everything. So, if somebody is like, oh, I need to speak with the leader today, or whatever, and you're like, not today, let's schedule you for tomorrow because we're having a moment. But it's so hard to do that because often we are so empathetic and we take on things that we shouldn't be taking on, like their emotional state, that frenetic energy that they often operate in. But then what happens is that we aren't removed to be able to see clearly. And at least one of you guys need to be seeing clearly, at least the executive or you. And oftentimes it is you because your executive is just so in their head. And it's fascinating now that I run my own business because I do the same thing. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm giving equal weight to all these things. I'm feeling like the mental load of all that I've got going on, even though I've got a great task tracking system and all those things. So I now just hired my first executive assistant and I'm like, okay, you're going to be the calm in the storm for me, and you're going to keep me lined up, and you're going to help me run my calendar and help me run everything. But being that grounding presence is really important. And so, when we make the shift from rescuing everybody and rescuing our executives and how they're feeling and rescuing everyone else, even from our executives, and we allow everyone to have their own human experience, and we also don't insert ourselves where we shouldn't, because oftentimes too, we can see holes And so, we try to insert ourselves, and then we fill the holes. And then nobody's aware that those holes exist because we're filling them when we probably shouldn't be. So, I think that's really important. I think it's really good to be that grounding force and to have a level of, like, distance between you and your executive.

Jeremy Burrows · 21:09

Mm-hmm.

Annie Croner · 21:09

And realize that being empathetic is a total superpower. And there's also this shadow side that we need to be aware of so that we don't end up in the same frenetic state as our executives are most of the time.

Jeremy Burrows · 21:22

Yeah,

Annie Croner · 21:23

if that makes any sort of sense.

Jeremy Burrows · 21:24

No, yeah, I love that. I love— and I'm jealous that you use Lord of the Rings instead of Star Wars because I actually like Lord of the Rings more than Star Wars. Um, but the, but the thing about the ring too, it's kind of like, it can kind of be a funny thing too where it's like, no, sorry boss, you're, you're, you're the CEO, that's above my pay grade, here, You, you, that's yours. Like, there's some things that I do that I take off of the plate of my CEO, uh, but there are some things I'm like, nope, that's your job. That's— I will help you, support you along the way, but you've got to handle this one. Yeah. So that's awesome. Well, what I'd love to do for the remainder of the time— I know we're getting closer to the hour, but there's a lot of questions here in the in the Q&A. So thank you everyone for, for asking good questions. So I'm going to go through and try to do some rapid fire, uh, and, uh, get through as many of these as possible, if that's all right. Does that sound good?

Annie Croner · 22:21

Yeah.

Jeremy Burrows · 22:22

All right, so let's go back to— Cheryl asks about— oh wait, sorry, that's not a question, that's a comment. Thank you, Cheryl, for your comment. Um, the, uh, R. Parks, uh, have you helped executive assistants who are overcoming perfectionists and help them do their work focusing on progression and progress versus perfection? Great question.

Annie Croner · 22:47

Yeah, for sure. I think that we can be totally detail-oriented, and I think that that can have the shadow side of becoming a perfectionist. But here's my thing with that: done is better than perfect, like, 98% of the time. And so for me, the thought that I, like, that I cling to that helps me move past that perfectionism piece is like, B+ work can change the world, or even A- work can change the world. Like, it doesn't have to be perfect in order to be effective. And realizing that piece— and I think also everyone has a different definition of perfect. So even if it's perfect to you, it may not be perfect to somebody else or the people you're working with. So there again, like, what can you do to keep things moving forward? What is the highest and best use of your time? Is it spinning out and wordsmithing an email for 20 minutes? It could have taking you 3 minutes to write, or is the highest and best use of your time to write the email, send it out, and to keep moving forward with what you've got going on that day?

Jeremy Burrows · 23:45

Yeah, that's great. Does the book— Karen asks, does the book go into how we can use AI to work strategically?

Annie Croner · 23:53

No, because honestly, I use AI tools, and I talk a lot about AI tools in my training that I like to do, especially around systems. I have a lot of different tools that I like to utilize with that piece. But there are so many more, there are so many people who are better equipped to deal with AI than I am. And I bring those people into my training sessions, into Empowered Seat, to train for me. And I also promote those programs as well. But it does not specifically go into any, it's not specifically noted in this book.

Jeremy Burrows · 24:26

Gotcha. Yeah, and I like to say, like, 'cause I wrote a chapter on AI, like, in 2019 and published my book in 2020. But I was very intentional, and I like to say I'm right because I'm not right very often, but on this point I was right. I was very intentional about not sharing specific tools in the book because I knew that they changed so much. And this is before Claude and large language models and everything, but I was in the AI company and I kind of saw how fast everything changed. I'm like, you know, the tactics are more important than the tools. And so I love how you've focused on the strategy tactics in your book as well.

Annie Croner · 25:03

Yeah.

Jeremy Burrows · 25:04

Okay, so put your questions in the question box, not the chat, otherwise I won't see it. Okay, so I'm going to go to— we don't have time for every single one because there are a lot of good ones, but let's see how many we can get through. How do you best be strategic when you are supporting 5 executives and their teams?

Annie Croner · 25:23

Yeah, it's going to be really hard to deep dive, right? Like, if you're supporting 5 executives and you're also tasked with supporting their teams, you can really only do so much. So that's just a good— like, I talk about this in Career Fluxes when it comes to— in that part of the book, in the third part of the book, where it comes to, like, making sure that your values align with your role. And that if you want to grow into a more strategic partnership, or you want to have a more strategic partnership, you may need to look for a different type of role that will allow you to grow into that. Because if you're supporting 5 people plus their teams, it's going to be very hard to offer high levels of support. Because you're you're going to be spread too thin in order to be able to actually do that, right? So I think I always think that you can show up more strategically for yourself for sure. There again, setting up your systems, making sure that you've got things automated as much as you can, leveraging AI tools as much as you can. That's how we show up strategically for ourselves, and that's always available to us. But when it comes to a strategic partnership, it's going to be very hard to strategically partner at a high level. when you're supporting so many people and you've got so many things that you are overseeing and helping with.

Jeremy Burrows · 26:38

Awesome. Uh, actually, I am going— I said I wasn't going to do any of the questions in the chat, but Marion has a question about your glasses. Uh,

Annie Croner · 26:49

oh, I don't remember where I got them.

Jeremy Burrows · 26:50

Are they Tom Fords? Is her question.

Annie Croner · 26:52

Oh no, they're not. But I, I, I'm pleased that you think so because I really love that I— when I stumble across a good dupe and I didn't even know. So, that's good. So, great.

Jeremy Burrows · 27:03

Okay, so, let's go with, what if you have an executive who wants to handle most things themselves?

Annie Croner · 27:13

Yeah, so, part of this is, like, establishing trust, and trust comes with time. It also comes with, like, good communication, making sure the consistency piece is on point, which is where the systems come into play with building trust, and then just time. So, depending on how long you've been working with your executive, it just takes time to develop that trust piece. And then, once that trust is established, just kind of sometimes asking for forgiveness and not permission. So, you notice something needs done, and you just action on it. And if it's not right, that's okay. They will give you feedback, and they will let you know if you missed something. But I think that those things... I think that that's how I'd handle that situation. So make sure you've established trust, number one, first and foremost. Communication is good, your consistency is on point, you aren't letting things fall through the cracks. And then yeah, just take action and see what happens if you've established that trust. You got— do you have any— what about you, Jeremy? Do you have anything to add?

Jeremy Burrows · 28:16

Uh, you know what, I, I do. I always do, but I'm gonna skip it because I want to get to these other great questions. You're the star today. So, OK, so R. Parks, I'm not naturally organized, but over time had to adapt to the environment. I'm good at helping executives stay organized, but sometimes I feel I have to work extra hard to stay ahead and be proactive. What advice would you give me— give to someone like myself who wants to be more strategic with my executives?

Annie Croner · 28:45

Yeah, I think it really is pausing, taking a wide-angle lens, And asking yourself what is required. And then when it comes to your own personal organization, I think it's hard to work at a chicken factory and to go home and eat chicken. And I think that we end up beating ourselves up over those things. But the reality is that it can be challenging to stay organized when you are yourself, when you're literally organizing other people. I think Can you repeat the question, Jeremy, just so I'm sure?

Jeremy Burrows · 29:19

Yeah, yeah. Let's see, this went to this other tab. What advice would you give someone like me who wants to be more strategic?

Annie Croner · 29:30

Yeah, okay. So then I would be setting up strategic planning sessions with my executive. And if you go to my website, wholeassistant.com, there's a whole guide for how to set up a strategic planning session and how to prepare your executive in advance that this isn't just going to be a weekly touch base, how to make sure that you have their attention, how to The questions to ask, or sample questions. You can always add or take away from those questions, and then what to do after the meeting to follow up. I find that that that these sessions are real big flexes, and if you feel like that you can't actually get your executive's attention long enough to have this conversation, you can work those questions into your weekly touch bases with them so that you can get a sense for what they're actually prioritizing now. I do think though that taking an hour and setting aside an hour on both of your calendars to go over this will not only help you establish trust with them, it'll also help you show up more strategically because then you're going to be aligned with what the priorities are. You're also going to be able to hold them accountable to the priorities they agreed to, which is the best part because often our executives are like, oh, look at chicken. And they just like chase the chicken. But if you can, if we can bring them back, that's like a huge strategic flex. So I would start there and then obviously, you know, with your systems, making sure that you're showing up consistently and all that, that the basics are solid as well.

Jeremy Burrows · 30:48

So another good question is, you know, there's uncertainty with their executive and how their days may be numbered. So how would you make yourself more visible as a strategic partner and not so tied to that executive in case that executive leaves? Or, you know, you don't want to be left out to dry, right?

Annie Croner · 31:10

Yeah, I think relationships in these roles is of like, is of high importance regardless of whether or not you're executive stays. So making sure that you have developed strong relationships with everyone from the doorman all the way up to the C-suite and other executive assistants as well. So being as helpful as possible, not taking on more work necessarily, but being a resource for others when you're able to and when you have an answer, being able to point people in the right direction. I think also just networking. And seeing what else is available in your organization currently, and feeling people out, and thinking about who you may want to work with if your executive does leave and you want to stay in your current company.

Jeremy Burrows · 31:49

Love it. What about the— sorry, there's a bunch of questions here. How do you get your executive to sit still long enough to have that strategic conversation?

Annie Croner · 32:06

Yeah, I mean, it really is about preparing them in advance and being like, okay, so I put an hour on our calendar because I was on this webinar and this lady was talking about holding a strategic planning session. So we're going to try it. And, you know, you just want to be very clear and upfront. This is not going to be a weekly touch base. We're not going to be in the weeds in our email. It's going to be my expectation that I have your undivided attention. And I think actually location can be a thing. So if you work in an environment where your executive's office is a revolving door and you feel like you wouldn't be able to focus for an hour in that space, scheduling a conference room or even taking your executive out to lunch, being like, we're going to go to lunch for an hour and we're going to, we're going to talk about this because that's a real issue. And so I, at the end of my career, even though it was just my executive and I here in Denver, we did, we went to lunch and I'd be like, okay, so here's what I want to talk about today. And I would just go, over those lists of questions to make sure we were in alignment. And that's a good way to have their undivided attention because they also get to eat. They also, they're doing something that they were probably going to do anyway, and they're having a productive conversation with their EA. So those are some good strategies that will help you help them focus. And it really is about preparing them in advance for the conversation.

Jeremy Burrows · 33:28

So, okay. So I know there's not a lot about specific tools in the book, so Could you share, since this is kind of a fun bonus webinar party and everybody's going to buy the book and read the full book anyway, so what's not in the book maybe is as much about like your favorite tools or automations that you like in, or that you've seen or you've used in your executive support experience.

Annie Croner · 33:57

So Text Blaze is awesome. Text Blaze is like a Google add-on that when you're online, you can like, you can create certain notes. So if you find yourself writing certain notes on repeat, certain emails on repeat, go to Text Blaze. And how Text Blaze works is you'll go like dash whatever. So like whenever I'm sending a proposal to a client, a potential client, I'll have dash proposal and then the email will auto-populate and I can go in and make adjustments if I want to. It's a really cool tool. That will streamline everything. And what I love about it too is that my clients use it. And actually, I got this feedback from one client. She said, "What I love about it is that yearly I'll send out like annual meeting reminders, and I'll have to like scroll through my email inbox to find the last annual meeting reminder." And she's like, "I just set up a text slays shortcut to like annual meeting dash annual meeting, and then then then that will auto populate into an email." And so it streamlines a lot. Like if you're if you find yourself typing things over again, or if you do things on a regular cadence, on an annual cadence or quarterly cadence, having that in Text Blaze is really helpful. I'm also a big fan of Trello. I've been a longtime fan of Trello because you can set up your task tracking system in Kanban. And what I like about it is it's visual, so you can drag and drop. And then they also have automations in Trello. So, my last executive, There again, I was a personal assistant in addition to being an EA. Come Valentine's Day, my executive would be like, Annie, I want a reservation at this nice restaurant, and I have to dig into my contacts because it was too close to Valentine's Day. Then I put a recurring task on my Trello board. Here's a great automation. for January 15th, touch base with executive about Valentine's Day. What's he wanting to do? Because nobody's thinking about Valentine's Day on January 15th. We just got past the holidays. And so I knew I could get a reservation that way. So those things will also streamline your life and it'll make life so much simpler if you aren't having to hustle on the back end trying to find something that will be suitable. So those types of things, automate. And actually in Microsoft Planner, If you are in a Microsoft ecosystem, it has the same functionality, a bit more clunky than Trello, but you can also set up a board in Kanban style. You can also create those automations that will help you stay on top of things. And what I love about it too is that it captures your value proposition, which will be great come annual review time. How are you going to know what you actually did unless it's digitalized, centralized, like you've got it outlined somewhere? Those are my favorites. I also love ChatGPT. If I were in a Microsoft environment, I would love Copilot for sure, and I'd be leveraging those tools consistently.

Jeremy Burrows · 37:00

Awesome. Well, let's wrap up. I know we're getting close to the hour here. The last thing I wanted to ask you that you could leave us with is, What's one thing that you want people to take away from, from your book?

Annie Croner · 37:15

I think the one thing that I want people to take away from my book is that you are already capable. You are already a strategic partner. You already have all the tools. You already have all the, all of that within you. It really is a matter of seeing yourself in that light and seeing yourself as more strategic and seeing yourself as someone who offers tremendous amounts of value to your executive and organization. And then from there, it's just making subtle tweaks and like shifting a few different things to really maximize that. I think that that is my number one takeaway that I want all executive support professionals to know is that you are badasses in your own right, and that you, um, you already have it in you. You're already doing all the things. It's just a matter of perspective.

Jeremy Burrows · 38:14

Love it, Annie. That's awesome. Thank you so much again for putting all this work into this amazing resource in your book, The Strategic Business Partner and Assistant's Playbook for Thinking Bigger, Leading Better, And Building a Dream Career. And thank you everyone, to the hundreds of assistants that joined today, uh, for this little, uh, launch party webinar. Appreciate your time and investing in your own development and then supporting fellow assistants and, and supporting our profession, just being here. And, um, again, purchasing Annie's book and leaving a review on Amazon and all that. Fun stuff to support her. So yeah, thanks again for being here. If you're listening on the podcast, because we're going to share this on our, on our podcasts, appreciate you listening. And just go to wholeassistant.com to, to learn more about Annie's work, and then go to Amazon and click The Strategic Business Partner. You can also go to assistantbooks.com assistantbooks.com, and I've highlighted Annie's book there as well, so make it easy for you to find. But yeah, thank you so much everyone for joining.

Annie Croner · 39:33

Thank you guys.