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Publisher Insight Publishing
6" x 9" Perfect Bound
252 pages
ISBN #: 1-932863-50-8
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Foreword
For more than a decade, Joan Burge has led the way in articulating and implementing a new vision for one of the most vital and overlooked professions in American business - the executive assistant. As chief executive officer of a large health benefits company, I can testify to the importance of the executive assistant role and to the value Joan has brought not only to the profession as a whole but to the many Humana executive assistants who have grown, changed and successfully assumed expanded responsibilities through her Star Achievement Series® program over the past few years.
In Become an Inner Circle Assistant, Joan outlines what it takes to become a value-added partner—for your supervisor and for the enterprise as a whole. This is ultimately what any good boss wants from his or her executive assistant: someone who suggests the best sense of the now-discredited word "secretary". The original meaning of secretary was not "someone who answers the phone and types 80 words a minute." It was "someone who could keep secrets" —a person so alert, well-trained, well-spoken and attuned to a manager’s needs, that he or she could be trusted with strategic information that was crucial to success. It is this sense of trustworthiness, born of key skills and the right personal qualities, that lies at the heart of Joan’s concept of becoming an inner circle assistant.
As with her Star Achievement Series® curriculum, this book is loaded with practical, step-by-step guidance on how to achieve the standards she sets for the next-generation executive assistant. There is a detailed road map to success, including descriptions of 12 competency areas designed to make the executive assistant a key player on the management team. There is an appropriate emphasis on the basics, because some things never change. There is an enterprise of membership in the inner circle. And—typical of Joan—there is emphasis on the sheer fun you derive from your work when you’ve earned and are recognized for your inner circle status.
I don’t know of anyone better than Joan Burge to guide executive assistants into the 21st century. With her trademark combination of hard-minded, research-based advice and her unparalleled respect for the profession’s importance, she instills—with wit and enthusiasm—the courage to excel.
Michael B. McCallister
President and Chief Executive Officer
Humana Inc.
(Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 5.8 million medical members located primarily in 15 states and Puerto Rico. Humana Inc. is a Fortune 200 company with revenues of approximately $12.2 billion) |
