When you treat your Executive Assistant like a task-taker, you miss the point and the potential.
A great EA doesn’t just execute. They learn, anticipate, guide, and lead. And when they’re welcomed as a true member of the leadership team, the transformation is undeniable, not just for them, but for you too.
At Base, we’ve seen it time and time again. When executives give their EA access, insight, and trust, the results multiply.
Here’s why high-performing EAs do their best work when they’re embedded into the strategic core of your team, and what it looks like when they’re not.
1. Great EAs are relentless learners.
They’re not just keeping your calendar straight. They’re studying how your time shapes your leadership. They’re noticing patterns, asking smart questions, and leveling up every week. When you loop them into strategic conversations, they bring sharper insights and stronger support with every iteration.
Example:
You return from a leadership offsite with fresh priorities.
- Task-Taker EA: Waits for you to delegate. Keeps executing the old priorities. Doesn’t realign your calendar or team communications.
Strategic EA: Reviews the updated OKRs, realigns your calendar, and flags mismatches in priorities. Asks how you’d like to cascade the changes across your team.
2. They’re often the strongest team collaborator in the room.
Your EA is already connected across departments, picking up on nuance, friction, and flow. They build trust quickly. If they’re seen as peripheral, you’re cutting off a powerful bridge between your vision and your team’s execution.
Example:
A last-minute board meeting needs to be scheduled.
- Task-Taker EA: Books the first time that works. No follow-up when folks don’t respond. You show up underprepared.
Strategic EA: Pre-holds slots based on past preferences, confirms attendance personally, gathers materials, and checks if you’d like her to run point on coordination. You walk in calm and confident.
3. They’ll tell you the truth, if you let them.
There’s a unique kind of feedback that only an EA can give. I regularly check in with my EA, Tabby, after important meetings. If I felt unsure of how something landed with the team, I’ll ask her directly: “How did that go over, do you think?” Her perspective is honest, insightful, and invaluable.
Example:
You leave an all-hands meeting wondering if your message landed.
- Task-Taker EA: Moves on to the next calendar entry. No signal, no feedback.
Strategic EA: Proactively checks in. “Want to hear what I noticed?” Offers trusted, confidential insight about how the message was received and what might need follow-up.
4. EAs are stewards of institutional memory, but only if you trust them with it.
If your assistant is out of the loop on key decisions, you’re setting up a knowledge vacuum. But if they’re included in conversations and context, they become a stabilizing force in times of transition. They remember what worked, why it worked, and where things went off track.
Example:
You’re trying to piece together how your last product launch was managed.
- Task-Taker EA: Doesn’t know. She wasn’t looped in and wasn’t given access to the strategy.
Strategic EA: Pulls up notes, decisions, and playbooks from the last launch. Reminds you of what was changed midstream and why. Saves you hours of second-guessing.
5. The more context you give, the more value they create.
The more your EA knows about your goals, decisions, and long-term vision, the more they can act as your proxy. That means fewer bottlenecks, faster decisions, and more time spent doing what only you can do.
Example:
You’re overwhelmed with small approvals and scheduling questions.
- Task-Taker EA: Brings everything back to you for signoff.
Strategic EA: Knows your values, preferences, and priorities. Makes those decisions for you, just like you would.
Here’s the truth:
If your current assistant doesn’t feel like they could step into this kind of strategic role, it may not be a mismatch of expectations. It may be a mismatch of support.
At Base, we don’t do surface-level support. Our entire business is built around strategic, integrated, U.S.-based EAs who know how to lead from behind the scenes. We offer coaching, onboarding, and custom matching to ensure every executive gets the kind of partnership that lifts their entire business.
Because when your EA rises, so do you.
