Ron Williams, former CEO and chairman of Aetna, highlighted what he described as an "often-overlooked reality" in a recent article for Chief Executive: the "essential" role of executive assistants.
The top executives at many companies have executive assistants who perform multiple tasks for their leaders every day. The tasks may include setting master schedules, coordinating presentations, ensuring any requests are appropriately addressed and following up on meeting notes, among other tasks.
"They handle a bewildering amount of detail that often goes unnoticed by the executives they serve — whose work would stop in its tracks if the EAs weren't around," Mr. Williams, who helmed Aetna from 2006-10, wrote.
He added that executive assistants are often viewed as a representative of their leader in external and internal settings, "and therefore set a tone for that person's office."
"The result," he wrote, "is a business environment that may appear seamless to the outside eye but couldn't exist without many hours of hard work from the EAs."
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