Jeremy Burrows is a longtime executive assistant, international speaker, author of the #1 bestselling book, The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant, founder of The Leader Assistant Community, and host of the #1 podcast for assistants – The Leader Assistant Podcast. Jeremy has worked with CEOs, professional athletes, Fortune 100 board members, and billionaires across the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Jeremy has had the opportunity to speak to assistants all over the world at multiple conferences of various sizes in Hong Kong, Thailand, Germany, and the United States. He’s currently Senior EA to the Founder and CEO of Capacity – a fast-growing, artificial intelligence software company. Jeremy’s passion is to help you lead well, resist burnout, and automate before you’re automated. Jeremy lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife and 2 boys. To connect with Jeremy or learn more about his training resources for executives and assistants, visit LeaderAssistant.com.
It is with great pleasure that I share my interview with Jeremy on Rosy BVM. For my professional background, I have served as an Executive Assistant for one of the world’s leading management consulting firms for over seven years. I have experience understanding the unique challenges that assistants can face and what it means to bring consistency and high quality executive support in rigorous client-facing environments. Jeremy and his book, The Leader Assistant, is a breath of fresh air in an industry that sometimes can be marred with so many differentiated ideas of the successful EA role.
Assistants across industries have more cross-cutting capabilities and commonalities than they initially might think. As an Executive Assistant, you can sometimes feel at odds with the positionality of the role you play within your firm. For example, Executive Assistants can be referred to as “gatekeepers” for discretionary information purposes and are not meant to hold the most approachable role in a firm as they are uniquely positioned to perform by ensuring the most effective use of their executive’s time, thus making their executive less available might be one aspect of the success in their role (this is often supporting executives at a C-Suite level). However, the other side of the work as an Executive Assistant can also be true, where Executive Assistants are seen as the culture carriers of an office and are regarded as extremely collaborative, approachable individuals who work cross-functionally and adapt to the needs of their executives with flexibility and precision. Both scenarios are true and more often than not, EAs are known to be the “go-to” people in a company.
Both scenarios of EA styles can be true, and as an Executive Assistant there is room for professional style shifts depending on a certain role and there is always learning to be done in between (sometimes throughout the duration of a career) and finding a sense of community as an assistant in the field becomes highly valuable. Enter Jeremy Burrows, the leading voice for Executive Assistants and the communities which underpin the fascinating executive support industry. The vast and extensive style of executive support that exists displays how remarkably valuable executive support truly is when there is alignment between the firm’s purpose and goals and the ability for assistants to lead and thrive.
Bianca: What inspired you to pursue a career as an administrative professional / Executive Assistant?
Jeremy: Honestly, I never thought I’d be an assistant, but at some point, I fell into an assistant role and quickly realized I was good at organization, details, and project management. From there, it kind of progressed slowly over time until I ended up in the C-Suite as an EA.
Bianca: You have created a noteworthy online community, The Leader Assistant, which connects and supports administrative professionals in online forums such as LinkedIn. What are the amazing benefits of joining such a community and how did you start this?
Jeremy: The first nine years of my career, I did not network with anyone, let alone assistants. But when my prior executive was fired unexpectedly, I decided it was time for a career change, and suddenly needed that network that I didn’t have. I started reaching out to assistants on LinkedIn almost every day. I started becoming active in other assistant communities, and to put it simply, put myself out there. 8 years later, I’m humbled to have gathered a global community of Leader Assistants.
Bianca: You have written a bestselling book about Executive Assistants called The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant, a bestseller on Amazon that was released in 2020. What gave you the idea to put these ideas to paper and share with others?
Jeremy: After 3+ years of blogging, networking, and training assistants, I started seeing what content was helpful to career administrative professionals. I wanted to replicate the coaching and training sessions I’d had in a format that was accessible to assistants all over the world. So I wrote the book. 🙂
Bianca: What makes you proud of your work as an assistant?
Jeremy: Nothing makes me prouder than helping other people and teams reach their goals.
Bianca: You work as an EA in the Artificial Intelligence sector right now, correct? This has become a fascinating yet fraught topic in mainstream discourse regarding the potential misconception of how AI could “replace” assistants in a broader context. What are your thoughts around the human experience as a critical part of guiding the executives and leaders as administrative professionals?
Jeremy: Yes, I have worked in the AI industry since 2017. In short, executives and assistants need to embrace automation and AI before they are automated. But, the best way to embrace AI and automation is to start with a problem to solve, then explore an AI solution to solve it.
Bianca: What motivates you to strive for excellence? Do you tap into your community as a source of motivation as well?
Jeremy: I’m motivated by helping others, so anytime I can play a small part in someone’s success, I’m grateful. And yes, I definitely tap into my community to motivate me. They are so supportive and encouraging.
Bianca: Thank you for your time, Jeremy, I certainly plan to stay a part of this assistant community!
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