Executive assistants are powers behind the throne

The San Francisco Chronicle Online

Bonnie quoted in San Francisco Chronicle – Aug 13, 2014:

Executive assistants are powers behind the throne…Women, by far, dominate this profession. About 95 percent of the nation’s 4.1 million executive and personal assistants are female, according to the Executive Assistants Organization.

In these jobs, women have the numbers, access to leadership and in many cases influence. Why is it then, those at the executive assistants conferences wondered, that gender diversity remains such a problem in the business world, especially in Silicon Valley?

Some executive assistants lack the confidence to speak up, said Bonnie Low-Kramen, who worked as the personal assistant to the Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis for 25 years.

“I know what it’s like to be mute or paralyzed,” she told the conference. “I had difficulty finding my own voice. I felt stupid and didn’t talk.”

That can be because it’s difficult defining the position, especially if the assistant’s responsibilities are mundane. It’s tough to find time to talk strategy with an executive when you are picking up the dry cleaning or on the phone with caterers.

“We undervalue our work, and we underestimate our value,” Low-Kramen said. “We’re comfortable being the eyes and ears of managers but not the voice. But (assistants) hold more information than they do. You’re already natural leaders because you have to manage the managers.”

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