#24 How You Can Be A Star Without Needing To Be The Star

02/13/17 • 13 min

A solo episode sharing an aha moment that Liz has experienced in the process of developing a new intro for the podcast. It’s a short 15 minute episode this week ruminating on the confidence that comes from realising that in order to be an advocate and influencer in the Executive Assistant space she doesn't need to have been the ‘best’ Executive Assistant that has ever done the role. That it's legitimate and perfectly okay to be passionate about giving a voice to those who are the ‘best’ and that by doing so her role as an influencer of the values and behaviours that make an EA indispensable is valid and useful.

Podcast mentioned (Glen Carlson interviewed on Business Addicts) can be found here

Podcast mentioned (Glen Carlson interviewed on Business Addicts) can be found here

Previous Episode

#23 How Wellness Is The Key To Thriving Not Surviving As An Executive Assistant - Interview with Sonia Petersen

Sonia Petersen has over 15 year's experience as an Executive Assistant working with successful leaders within the construction industry. She is passionate about operations and driving efficiency and really enjoys the collaborative nature of the Executive Assistant role. Amongst her fellow EA’s she is known for her dedication to support and inspire others which she has done by informally mentoring and coaching other Executive Assistants. This is such a passion for her that she has recently began a side hustle business offering individual and group coaching around Wellbeing at Work. Sonia truly believes that if we focus on our wellbeing we will see improvements not just in our health but also in our ability to build relationships as well as increased productivity and even greater success.

For those of us that are working on being indispensable these outcomes are what we’re looking for. As I have shared with you, when your wellbeing and wellness is challenged everything else is affected and your ability to show up as indispensable is compromised...and we don’t want that!

As Sonia describes on her website

“My goal is to create a movement for Executive Assistants and Corporate Women to be respected and recognised, to be united and empowered in what we do as a profession”

Key Takeaways from our discussion:

Importance of understanding your Exec’s temperament
Needs to be aligned and working as a team (like a marriage)
Trusting yourself, being able to back yourself up
‘You are the right hand man to the boss’
Being the ears and eyes of the company

Dowload a free copy of Sonia's eBook 'Unstick The Stuck' A Woman's Guide to Finding Career Clarity, Creating a Life You Love and Taking Care of Your Well-being' at soniapetersen.com.au

Next Episode

#25 Get Started On Your Personal Skills Audit

Liz has developed a 5 step process to identifying the skills, values and behaviours that will make you an indispensable Assistant to your business leader.

Step 1 is to conduct a personal skills audit. In this episode, the first in a five part series to be released over coming weeks, Liz outlines two different approaches to conduct a personal skills audit. Liz also discusses how the results of this exercise will form the basis for Step 3 which is to identify what indispensable looks like to your business leader and how Adam Fidler’s Executive Assistant ‘manifesto’ which he formulated through his coaching and training work with EA’s may serve as a useful conversation starter.

Resources discussed in this episode

'5 Steps To Being Indispensable' Factsheet - download on the website www.beingindispensable.com

Adam Fidler Executive Assistant role description

Vickie Evan’s Tech Savvy Assistant diagrams

Tools like MBTI, Strengthfinder and the DISC profile are also valuable to helping you ‘flesh’ out the total picture of what you bring to your role. Learn more about these tools via the links:

Myers Briggs Online

Strengthfinder 2.0

DISC Profile