By Trish Butera, Founder - The Global Assistant

I started The Global Assistant online in July 2020 to empower professionals in the executive support field at a time when everything we knew as the 'normal way of business' was no more.

The breakneck speed at which work was changing and our lives impacted had us all in a tailspin. Everyone, including me, had to dig deep because we were heading towards rapid change that would transform just about everything as we now understand. Working productively has taken on a different meaning. To feel empowered and in control to proceed with confidence has been difficult for many. For me, this time of significant change was when acknowledging the challenges provided a clear view of the 'pivot' I needed to make. Feeling empowered, The Global Assistant came to be.

Very early in my administrative career - when I was a mid-level executive assistant and thanks to a defining lesson - I had an epiphany - that to feel empowered, we must first learn to acknowledge. The good, the bad and the ugly!

Acknowledging something in its true form or recognising the importance or traits of something or someone has a transformational impact. It changes our way of thinking by raising awareness and making changes to improve.

This transformation empowers us with authority, conviction, and power to affect change. 

With the right mindset, when we acknowledge something to be true – whether what we are acknowledging has a positive effect (an achievement) or negative effect (a truth bomb) – we open ourselves to clarity of action.

It's achieving this clarity that enables us to feel empowered. And with empowerment comes confidence, credibility, and authority. Personal empowerment is a state of mind that is achievable.

Personal empowerment for executive support professionals is almost an expectation, a must-have attribute that fuels their expected influence and the confidence they must exude. But it takes awareness and the willingness to be open to self-improvement to achieve empowerment.

What happens when we fail to acknowledge something or someone? We fail ourselves and those we impact due to our closed minds.

We close doors on opportunities—both for ourselves and as executive and personal assistants — for those whose leadership you are tasked with making more productive, innovative, and collaborative.

When we acknowledge we "don't know" or discover "a new approach", there is an immediate sense of the possible. There is a clearer picture of what we need to do or learn, how that new knowledge will serve us, and how that new approach will help us and others. Or how that fresh awareness will impact our lives. That's empowerment.

The Global Assistant is all about empowering administrative professionals to enrich their attributes and skills to evolve their careers. To stay still is not an option. We have a unique take on issues and tackle problems that inspire change from within rather than just on the surface. Our learning programs are not only rich in global skills; they empower individuals to pay it forward through the role models they become - role models who make a lasting impact on their careers and those whom they influence and serve.

My message, therefore, is that to achieve personal empowerment, one must first learn to acknowledge that which is true - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and be open to learning, self-improvement and, for your career growth, taking ownership of your professional development. All are within your control.