Help Isn’t What It Used to Be

Office Help Is On the Way, Virtually Speaking

….Today, to tell a new business contact “I’ll email your assistant” is potentially to cause your interlocutor to launch into a shame spiral. Or, in other situations, to scoff.

“Some of the younger people out of M.B.A. programs want to do their own administrative work,” said Bonnie Low-Kramen, who was the personal assistant to the actress Olympia Dukakis for 25 years and now offers customized training for administrative staff members.

The D.I.Y. ethos is particularly prevalent in Silicon Valley, where chief executives like to boast of “flat” companies and wonkish grit.

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