6th December, 2024

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AI, the evolving assistant career, and carving your own career path

Hello, and a very happy Friday to you from New York City! Earlier this week, before departing for the US and another conference presentation, I participated in an international panel covering a range of topics associated with career paths and the ongoing evolution of the assistant career.

Victoria Wratten, founder of the UK’s Executive & Personal Assistants Association (EPAA), hosted what she introduced as a fireside chat, intended as an unfiltered discussion of various aspects of what I refer to as the assistant career. I was the sole Canuck (Canadian) panelist, while Fiona Kelly of Ireland’s PA Forum Global offered her insights from that beautiful island. We missed Candice Burningham, who recently returned to Australia from England and was scheduled to be part of the discussion, but was under the weather. South Africa’s Anel Martin was there and in good form, and we also had the benefit of Mallory Rothstein and her thoughtful American perspective, while the UK’s Paul Pennant and Victoria spoke from their experiences.

The state of the career

Each of us online offered perspectives on labour markets for those in the career, and the conversation also included projections as to how GenAI and NextGenAI will impact the assistant role and career opportunities. You’ll see near the base of this article that I’m including a link to the recording of our Zoom discussion, should you wish to hear our thoughts. This comes with thanks to Victoria Wratten and EPAA for making the recording available.

Whether this is a career for life

We heard that some people who’ve chosen to leave the assistant career have encountered pressure and/or negative feedback from colleagues or peers, and I offered my conviction that no one needs anyone else’s permission to make such choices. Each of us needs to do what makes sense to us, and what makes sense to any given individual is shaped by a combination of factors. These include our values, which shape our priorities, In turn, those priorities impact our career choices, and economics are also a fact of life.

I made a series of intentional moves along my own career path, beginning with one that reflected ambitions. I was working with the person atop our org chart, a COO who to this day remains the leader I consider the best I worked alongside. We had open conversations about my career goals, which led to me launching a provincial newsletter and serving as our BC editor. That led to my assignment as a contributing editor to the national corporate newsletter, and I held both roles while continuing to support our BC COO. Then, when the corporation introduced a proprietary software system, I was tapped – again, in response to me having articulated ambitions and proving my capabilities – to becoming the first corporate trainer beyond our national headquarters.

Did I stop working altogether? No; my husband and I did a lot of juggling during our two children’s early years. He chose less than ideal working hours, which enabled me to build a successful sales career – still with the same corporation – and for the two of us to spend as much time as possible with our two young ones. When that sales career began to consume too much time, and to feed a need for creativity, I made another shift, to freelance writing and photography.

Rebooting my assistant career

Then, once our two were both in school, I rebooted my assistant career in the late 1990s – at the bottom of the ladder in a smaller city with fewer opportunities. To say it was difficult to secure an assistant role at that point in time in a smaller city is an understatement. I went back to school, and earned every software certification I could. Even at that, the best I could initially achieve was “on call” work. Within less than a year of such work at a university college, though, I was offered my first full time role back in the assistant career.

In the early days, I was earning a mere fraction of what I’d achieved in earnings in my sales career. In fact, it took until 2015 or so before my EA and governance career saw me matching and ever so slightly surpassing my earnings levels of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Still, I’d chosen to make the return to an assistant role because it was again a good fit for my personal priorities.

Plan for your future

That said, within five years of returning to the assistant role, I’d begun planning and preparing for my current speaking and training career. That was in 2003, when I enrolled in higher education courses in adult learning. The economic realities of raising a family meant biding my time before doing what I now do. I took one paid engagement for a national library association. Apart from that, though, I spoke – unpaid – for a few years at conferences in Canada and the USA.

Then, for a couple of years, I began using vacation time to travel internationally for paid speaking engagements. It was in 2019 that I made speaking, training and writing the next phase of my career. The reality of my longer term goals did not adversely impact my performance or commitment while still in the assistant career; I remained heavily invested. Each of us needs to make our own informed choices – shaped by values, priorities and economic realities – about our own career path. We also need to be intentional, as no one else will be as invested in your success as you; shape and influence your career outcomes to the extent you can, rather than letting it simply unfold.

The future of minutes

Do you see a future in which you no longer record minutes, or in which your involvement with minutes is limited to editing – and not recording – them?

In our EPAA panel conversation, both Mallory and Paul – with backgrounds in tech sectors, and with Paul’s training career reflecting his significant Microsoft expertise and increasing specialisation in AI-related training – offered their insights. Paul projected that, given AI advances, people – with the exception of one or two – won’t be taking minutes anymore by the end of 2025. This is where Paul and I exchanged our different perspectives.

Absorbing Paul’s well informed perspective, I thought about my C-Suite and boardroom experiences and insights I’ve gained on risk management, including cyber risks. I’d introduced software as a service (SaaS) for a board portal in my last organisation, and the capacity for the system to create minutes was available back then, albeit at a less advanced state that what’s coming.

I know many organisations and workplaces don’t necessarily implement changes at the pace which with tech resources are advancing. I’m also aware of the sensitivity and nuances of many meeting topics – let alone those meetings called to order to engage in crisis management – and so I respectfully challenged Paul’s projection. As the conversation unfolded, Paul spoke to the role shifting to one of editing, rather than writing, minutes. What do you think?

The power of GenAI, and the merits of being informed

All of us discussed the power and progression of GenAI. On a side note, it was December 2022 when, here on my website, I began encouraging people to play with ChatGPT – and to be both curious and cautious about it. I use GenAI routinely, yet I encourage people to be cautious in using it and I mentioned yesterday the need for AI regulation.

GenAI is both a resource and very big business. After a recent round of fundraising, OpenAI was valued this fall at $157B (yes. $157 billion!) US – an increase of $70B over the space of mere months.

OpenAI is also dealing with lawsuits citing copyright infringements. The Authors Guild, which represents almost 14,000 authors, launched a lawsuit against OpenAI in September 2023. Its website cites compelling issues. The New York Times filed suit against OpenAI and Microsoft last December. The Nov 29/24 CBC article linked here details how a coalition of Canadian media outlets filed suit against OpenAI last month.

Do such details have any bearing on assistants’ careers? Not directly. That said, it helps to be well informed, particularly when it comes to resources we’ll increasingly incorporate in our lives. When I posted surveys in February of this year, a significant portion of respondents did not know if their respective organisations had GenAI-specific policies or regulations.

Want to see and hear the conversation?

We covered a fair bit of ground, and you can access the Zoom recording by clicking here. Again, kudos to Victoria for making the recording accessible.

Professional development and your career

I mentioned, during the course of our panel discussion, the importance of learning and professional development. We needn’t pay for all such professional growth; we can gain a great deal by observing, reading, and asking informed questions. When it comes to investing finances – yours, or your employers – in professional development, we need to make wise choices. That’s just what I’m offering – choices for premium training to meet your needs – with two creative new subscription offerings. Read on, and click on the links below, to learn about EA Accelerator (EAA) and EA Governance Accelerator (EAGA).

ARE YOU INVESTED IN YOUR CAREER? Click here for FAQ about EAA and EAGA – monthly, semi-annual and annual subscription training I’ve designed to help you succeed

What are EAA and EAGA?

… and how can they help you? I know I’d do my homework, if I was you. Click here for a look at the depth of courses I’ll choose from over the course of a year; you’ll find one list under the EAA option, and another under the EAGA option. There will be some crossover of certain topics.

• FAQ – please click here
• Courses – Click here for a look at the depth and scope of my courses
• References – Click here to learn what clients around the globe have to say about my training
• SUBSCRIBE – Click here to subscribe – monthly, semi-annually or annually

I know I’d do my homework, if I was you. Click here for a look at the depth of courses I’ll choose from over the course of a year; you’ll find one list under the EAA option, and another under the EAGA option. There will be some crossover of certain topics.

Do you know someone who could benefit from either EAA or EAGA?

Do them a favour, and share the link to this page.