A Thank You Note to Assistants

Jeremy · 0:00

Welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast. You're listening to Episode 2.

Speaker 2 · 0:08

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become irreplaceable, game-changing leader assistants. The leadership quote today is from Harry Truman. My definition of a leader is a man who can persuade people to do what they don't want to do or to do what they're too lazy to do and to like it.

Speaker 3 · 0:35

And here's your host, my dad.

Jeremy · 0:38

Thanks, Weston. I appreciate the intro. Hey everyone, it's Jeremy Burrows. It's episode two of The Leader Assistant Podcast. I wanted to take a minute to thank all of the assistants out there. For years, I foolishly thought that the ones with the most important titles were the leaders. It turns out everyone has influence and is a leader to those around them, even if they don't acknowledge it. Do you see yourself as a leader? I wrote a couple of open letters, one to executives, asking them to respect assistants, and then I wrote another one to thank the executives that do respect assistants. You can check those out on my blog at goburrows.com forward slash blog. Today I wanted to share the letter that I wrote to assistants. So buckle up and take this to heart all my fellow assistants out there. If you're an executive assistant, if you're a personal assistant, physicians or dental assistant, pastors assistant, office assistant, virtual assistant, administrative assistant, coaches assistant, or maybe you're a combination of all of the above, this letter is for you. I want to take a few minutes to encourage you. You are crucial to the success of your organization and your direct supervisor. In fact, you're one of the most valuable members of the team. So here it is, a thank you note to assistants. My fellow assistants, thank you for replying to that e-mail. Thank you for picking up lunch, creating that slide deck and booking that flight all at the last minute. Thank you for being hospitable to billionaires and other VIPs while waiting for your always late CEO to show up. Thank you for fixing a typo that would have made your boss look unprofessional. Thank you for taking out the trash and ordering more toilet paper. Thank you for cleaning that coffee spill off the conference room carpet. Thank you for helping that new hire figure out the office printer. Thank you for having the courage to say no for your executive and to your executive. Thank you for drafting that proposal while your manager was out sick. Thank you for scheduling meetings, rescheduling meetings, taking notes in meetings, canceling pointless meetings, and getting the best snacks for meetings. Thank you for proactively managing your boss's calendar so they can spend time on what matters. Thank you for making an executive decision on your boss's behalf when they asked you for help, and when they didn't ask you for help. Without you, things fall apart. Without you, there's chaos. Without you, your boss's growth is stunted, and your company's growth is stunted. You are a go-getter, mind reader, task-doer, project manager, peacekeeper, travel booker, get-things-done, rock star assistant. Any executive, manager, vendor, pastor, janitor, or other team member with a brain is grateful for the things you do. You are a leader. Go lead. Your fellow assistant, Jeremy Burrows. So that's my letter to assistants thanking you all. I hope you are encouraged by it. Some of the assistants I've heard from say they've never been thanked. So it's very sad and unfortunate. Those of you who are listening and are not being appreciated, just hang in there and know that you are appreciated. Yeah, so hope that was encouraging. A couple things I wanted to say at the end. So I once was asked by a top level assistant this question, and it changed the way I think about my job as an assistant. He said, do you believe your job is a stepping stone or a career? He went on to say, if you do see being an assistant as a stepping stone to something better, you will not be very good at your job because you will use your boss to get what you want instead of focusing on serving them. So this is a very interesting question, very interesting thing to consider as assistants. And I've seen this a lot where an assistant will treat will treat their job as a stepping stone. And so they're all they're thinking about what's next. What's next? What's next? And so they're using their boss to get them to the next place. And that's just not a good attitude. I will say that if you do want to do something other than being an assistant, if you do see it as a stepping stone, that's okay. But I don't think the word or the phrase stepping stone is helpful as you practically work to serve your boss and lead your boss day in and day out. I think if you're always thinking about what you're going to do next, you're not going to be present and as helpful. All right. So thanks again for listening. Stay tuned for the next episode. And just remember, you are a leader. Go lead.

Speaker 2 · 5:58

Check out this episode's show notes at leaderassistant.com forward slash two. Thank you for being a leader. goburrows.com.