What would life be like if you were assistant to the former President of the United States?

I had the pleasure of speaking with Peggy Grande, former Executive Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, and author of "The President Will See You Now."

Tune in to hear Peggy talk about what it was like being an assistant to such a well-known world leader, and how she ended up in such a unique EA role.

Peggy also shares what she learned about communication from "The Great Communicator."
 
Show notes at leaderassistant.com/15
Subscribe at podcast.leaderassistant.com
Join the community at slack.leaderassistant.com or facebook.leaderassistant.com

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In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Are you ready to level up? Enroll in The Leader Assistant Academy at leaderassistant.com/academy to embrace the Leader Assistant frameworks used by thousands of assistants.

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

Most of my podcast guests are assistants or former assistants, so I’m excited to hear a different perspective on today’s show.

Today I talk with my wife's long-time friend and former Purdue pole vault teammate, J Ballentine. J was in corporate America for 11 years, then left to start her own business.

We talk about hiring assistants, managing assistants, as well as public speaking. In fact, I love this quote regarding public speaking from J in this episode:

"Be structured in how you prepare, but organic in how you present."

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/14
Subscribe at podcast.leaderassistant.com
Join the community at slack.leaderassistant.com or facebook.leaderassistant.com

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Are you ready to level up? Enroll in The Leader Assistant Academy at leaderassistant.com/academy to embrace the Leader Assistant frameworks used by thousands of assistants.

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

Melissa Peoples is a Certified Microsoft Trainer with over 25 years of experience supporting C-Suite level executives in companies such as National Instruments, Dell, General Motors, The Ohio State University, AllState, and Eli Lily.

We chat about managing board meetings, being vulnerable, and dealing with online trolls.

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/13
Subscribe at podcast.leaderassistant.com
Join the community at slack.leaderassistant.com or facebook.leaderassistant.com

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Are you ready to level up? Enroll in The Leader Assistant Academy at leaderassistant.com/academy to embrace the Leader Assistant frameworks used by thousands of assistants.

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

What do you get when you mix a co-founder of a remote Executive Assistant agency with a long-time, rockstar EA? A new startup company building software specifically for EAs.

In today's episode, I chat with two amazing women running an exciting new startup building an amazing software for assistants.

I'm joined by Base CEO and CoFounder, Paige McPheely, as well as Chief of Staff, Crystal Esquivel. Base’s platform and community are modernizing how assistants work, because empowered, leader assistants create more leverage for themselves and executives alike.

Paige and Crystal share a bit about their new tool for assistants, why they decided to start it, and what makes someone a leader.

We talk about running a business, interviewing assistants, whether or not tools like Slack are helping or hurting productivity, and more!

I really enjoyed this episode and I know you will too!

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/12
Subscribe at podcast.leaderassistant.com
Join the community at slack.leaderassistant.com or facebook.leaderassistant.com

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Are you ready to level up? Enroll in The Leader Assistant Academy at leaderassistant.com/academy to embrace the Leader Assistant frameworks used by thousands of assistants.

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

In this episode, I share the 12 minute version of my life story as an example of how you can share your story with others.

In fact, I challenge you to tell your story to one person this week, and ask them to do the same. This exercise is a great way to remind us we're human and help us have empathy toward others.

An artificial intelligence software program will never have a story like yours, let alone understand and relate to it, so be human and share your story!

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/11
Subscribe at podcast.leaderassistant.com
Join the community at slack.leaderassistant.com or facebook.leaderassistant.com

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

How do you burnout-proof your life?

In this episode, I continue the burnout theme from episode 9, and share 3 practical ways to avoid burnout.

Note: I burned out at my last job and it was because I failed to apply these practices.

Don't make the same mistake I did!

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/10

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

I burned out in my last job. I'm not proud of it, but it happened. 

Thankfully, I had some time off in between that job and my next one, which gave me a chance to figure out what had gone wrong.

In hindsight, I realize I missed the warning signs that could have prevented my crash and burn.

Are you burned out? If you exhibit one or more of the signs discussed in this episode, you're certainly not far from it.

My hope is this episode will help you be honest with yourself and those around you when it comes to naming and dealing with your burnout. 

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/9

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

I’m so excited to publish my first interview and even more excited that it worked out to have my friend Phoenix Normand as my first guest!

In this episode, Phoenix and I talk about artificial intelligence, being men in a role traditionally occupied by women, what we love about the executive assistant role, what executives can do to get more out of their assistants, and owning our mistakes!  

Phoenix has been a C-suite Executive Assistant for 27 years. He’s worked in Banking, Retail, Technology, and most recently, Aerospace. He created his workshop TRIBE U after attending one-too-many expensive, large conferences where he was left feeling uninspired, unchallenged, and with a stack of business cards of EAs he’d likely never see again.

TRIBE U has quickly become one of the top resources for top performing EAs looking for effective education and community with other EAs at the top of the game. I attended TRIBE U in San Francisco and was blown away. I highly recommend you check it out.

Phoenix also has a book coming out so be sure to connect with him on LinkedIn so you’re in the know when it drops.

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/8

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Are you ready to level up? Enroll in The Leader Assistant Academy at leaderassistant.com/academy to embrace the Leader Assistant frameworks used by thousands of assistants.

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

Taking time off is seen as lazy and many people don't use their allotted paid vacation time.

Can we stop pretending the world revolves around us?

Let's stop making excuses and use all of our paid time off.

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/7

--
In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

There are times when my to-do list and calendar and inbox are all so cluttered and jam-packed that glancing at them for 10 seconds makes my head hurt. It’s in moments like this where paper suddenly becomes useful.

In today's episode I rant a bit about why I hate paper but I end up giving paper mad props for being useful for at least one thing.

Show notes at leaderassistant.com/6

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In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you’re organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.

Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more!

--
Automate scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.

More from The Leader Assistant...

• Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com
• The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy
• Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership
• Events -> leaderassistantlive.com
• Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community