Reflections on EUMA Convention – Paris

By Bonnie Low-Kramen for proActive Magazine

Nov, 2014

Fortune Favors the Bold

Delivering the keynote speech for EUMA’s 40th Anniversary Conference in Paris on October 31st was a highlight of my career. It was an honor and a total pleasure.

I was deeply impressed with the EUMA members’ professionalism and commitment to excellence. As an American, I felt it was important to speak about what I am seeing as I train assistants around the world. I thought about the burning issues that would be relevant and important to an international audience of 250 from 24 countries.

One of those issues is about leadership and the great need we have for assistants to step up as leaders within their roles. Being a leader is a key to achieving excellence at every level. There has never been a better time to be an assistant than right now. There’s also never been a more complicated time to be working as an assistant than right now which is precisely why the role of the assistant is in exciting motion once again.

Job descriptions are demanding and more technical than ever before. While the profession has made great progress, the fact is that our pressured 24/7 workplace has much room for improvement. Assistants can play a major and significant role in making these improvements.

The only way I know to successfully navigate the complications in our modern workplace is to acknowledge the realities of our profession. Here are three of them.

1.  The profession is dominated by females which impacts how assistants relate to one another and how the work gets done. We are seeing more men entering the profession worldwide.

2 . In general, assistants do not view themselves as leaders despite the fact that women make excellent leaders. Case in point would be the leadership of EUMA! The assistants who make the mental mind shift to leadership are the ones destined for greatness.

3.  Workplace bullying is an epidemic that is causing costly damage in companies from the inside out. The price we are all paying is too high and action is called for. Assistants can be integral in breaking the silence surrounding bullying to effect positive change.

Building skills, confidence and self-esteem is crucial to addressing these realities. It is more important than ever for assistants to commit to ongoing professional development. In America, investing in training for the administrative staff is still a fairly new idea in 2014. Frankly, it needs to stop being such a new idea in order for companies and the people who work for them to thrive.

Mentors are vital for success. My mentor for leadership was my employer Olympia Dukakis. She is a strong woman who very clearly wanted me to challenge myself. I believe all assistants need mentors in order to grow and excel and given the response in at the Conference, mentoring is an idea whose time has come.

For 25 years I worked as the PA/EA to Oscar winning actress Olympia Dukakis. The work was never dull or boring and no two days were ever the same. The work definitely had its glamourous moments such as meeting famous people and attending high profile events. However, most of the time, my work was 80% of what every assistants does. (It’s that other 20% that made the work a bit unusual.) Working as an assistant is demanding and challenging work that is most definitely not for everyone.

What I now know is that assistants all around the world have so much more in common than not. We want to collaborate and partner with each other and with our leaders. After all, managing people and offices is a learned skill and too few leaders have received any formal training. Assistants can be invaluable in supporting their managers to manage. What this requires is speaking up to the issues that need to be addressed. It requires stepping up to fulfill our promise as leaders and everyone benefits when that happens.

My book is titled “Be the Ultimate Assistant” and thanks to the EUMA leadership, all attendees received a copy. The book is my way of supporting assistants around the world to approach their work with a commitment to excellence, enthusiasm and solid resources. I welcome hearing from EUMA members to know how the book resonates with them.

I ended my keynote with one of my favorite quotes.

“The two best days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain

PAs work as PAs for good reasons and it is not only about the paycheck. The best among you are superb problem-solvers with a passion to help your leaders to manage offices. Together, I have no doubt that we can solve the challenges before us and we can do it with honesty, strength of purpose, and yes, joy. I am rooting you all on to embrace the leaders inside you and in so doing, elevate yourselves, your colleagues and the profession.