Beyond the Gatekeeper: How the EA Role Is Evolving in the Age of AI
I've been an EA for a long time, and when I think about how much the role has changed over the past decade, I think one of the biggest shifts is that we are no longer just the gatekeeper.
Of course, we still manage diaries, organise travel, deal with inboxes and make sure things happen. But that's only part of the role now.
For me, being a great EA is about really understanding the person you support and the business you work in. It's knowing what's important and what isn't. It's knowing when something needs your executive's attention and when you can deal with it yourself. It's being confident enough to make decisions and, sometimes, being confident enough to challenge a decision. That's where trust comes in.
Learning their rhythm
I've worked with different executives throughout my career and no two are the same. When I start supporting someone new, I spend a lot of time watching and listening. How do they work? How do they like information presented? Do they want all the detail or just the key points? What do they want to know immediately and what don't they need to know at all? You learn their rhythm.
Eventually you get to the point where you can anticipate what they're going to need before they ask for it. But you don't get there because you've mastered Outlook. You get there because you've built a relationship.
Why I'm excited about AI
And now we have AI coming into the workplace and personally, I'm excited about it. If AI can organise a meeting, help manage an inbox, research a trip or take a task that used to take me an hour and do it in ten minutes, fantastic. I don't need to prove my value by spending hours doing administration.
Give me those hours back, because there are plenty of things I can do with that time that are far more valuable to my executive and the business.
The human part AI can't replace
What AI can't replace is the human part of what we do. AI doesn't walk into a room and sense the mood. It doesn't know that your executive has had back-to-back meetings all morning and, although there's technically a free half hour in the diary, that's probably not the place to squeeze in another meeting. It doesn't see someone's body language and realise that something is wrong. And it doesn't have the relationship you've spent years building with your executive, their family, colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
I think emotional intelligence has always been one of the greatest skills an EA can have. Maybe we just haven't talked about it enough.
Reading the room. Knowing when to push. Knowing when to back off. Knowing who needs your executive's time. Picking up on something that hasn't actually been said. Understanding the personalities around you and changing your approach accordingly.
That's the stuff that's difficult to teach.
So, when people ask whether I'm worried about what AI will do to the EA profession, I'm really not. The tasks will change. They already are. But I think that's going to force us to think much more carefully about where our real value sits.
For me, it has never just been in managing a diary, it's in the trust, judgement, relationships and understanding that sit behind it.
Emma Lindell is a Senior Executive Assistant, with over two decades of experience supporting executives, founding families, and high-net-worth individuals. Known for her calm under pressure, strategic thinking, and relationship management, Emma is a passionate advocate for the evolving role of the EA and has been recognised nationally for her excellence and leadership.
