I'm self-conscious about telling people that I am hiring for an Executive Personal Assistant. There is something about it that sounds self-important, indulgent, that makes me wonder what our clients, prospects, and even my own Bellwood Labs team will think about it. I wonder why I would need that sort of help and why I and my team can't just handle these details myself.
But since we are hiring for the role, and since we like to recognize and announce our new hires, I might as well own up to staffing the role sooner rather than later.
Our company vibe can also be deceptive. On my average day, my view of the company is still "Rob working from the basement, a coffee shop, or co-working space", but the reality as the company grows from 25 people up toward 30, that the complexity of the company is not shrinking, and some tasks need to be done in-person.
In moments of clarity, I can realize - the longer I keep going WITHOUT an Executive Assistant, the longer I AM the Executive Assistant. Dan Martell's recent book, "Buy Back Your Time" illuminates this in the bottom left quadrant of this diagram. When we have tasks that are not the highest and best use of my time, and are also not energizing, I shouldn't be doing them. There may even be someone else who ENJOYS doing those things!
It's not to say I'm doing everything on my own. We've done pretty well in the "Replacement" quadrant. When I first had the instinct to hire a Director of Operations, I was originally targeting a very Junior hire, was persuaded to hire someone more experienced, and today that person is our COO and provides huge value to the company. When our hiring process got BUSY, I called up a former co-worker who has absolutely taken over and OWNED the role of Recruiting Coordinator in a wonderful way.
But in hiring these roles high up on Dan's "Replacement Ladder", I've inadvertently ended up holding onto a whole bundle of simple tasks that I don't enjoy and don't help the rest of our team.
So here's my public admission and commitment. We're staffing this role and I am firing myself and the rest of our Leadership Team as the Executive Assistant of Bellwood Labs.