Agency owner Linda Kaplan Thaler, who has had the same executive assistant, Fran Marzano, for twenty-six fricking years, told Forbes that:
“The big mistake people make is they think, ‘You’re here to get me coffee and stay late and all that, so that’s expected.'” The three words missing are please and thank you. The perfect relationship with an assistant has to be a long-term plan, not a short-term tactic, so that they never feel beaten down. It’s also about making them feel a part of whatever success you do get: ‘We won this, we did this.'”
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Of course, Linda wrote an entire book on how being nice will get you ahead in the business world. I gotta wonder here… does “please” and “thank you” really keep you satisfied as an assistant for twenty some odd years? Especially, when Thaler also said:
“I have two kids now, and my needs have evolved. There are a lot of personal things I just can’t get done during a day, so often it’s about keeping my daughter’s calendar for the year, and could you order this book from Amazon for my parents, and remind me to RSVP for this or that.”
Okay. Fran better have some points in the agency; be making some fat cash. Seriously.
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