As an Executive Assistant, how do you start taking proactive action in your daily work? Once you’re used to being reactionary, changing your perspective and looking towards the future can be difficult. To help you change your habits and take charge, Base is here to help!

Base’s Spotlight Series highlights top performing Executive Assistants around the country! This week, we’re thrilled to get to know EA and Data Analyst, Mallory Greer. Based in Greenville, South Carolina, Mallory partners with a number of agencies including 33Vincent, Virtuous CRM, and Keller Williams Realty International.

We all know that the most effective EAs are proactive, not reactive—but with so many incoming tasks, emails, and obstacles, it’s difficult to get past the fire-fighting stage. As an EA, putting out fires is part of the job, but it’s important to learn efficient ways to handle these scenarios while leaving space for proactivity.

Pre-work is imperative when planning and executing successful meetings. As an Executive Assistant, it’s your job to ensure that meeting attendees are thinking ahead about the topics that will be discussed, formulating ideas and solutions, and familiarizing themselves with the other participants. Successful pre-work will ensure participants feel invested in the meeting, engaged in the topics at hand, and connected to the other attendees.

As an executive assistant, it’s important to make working from a mobile device as easy as possible for the executive you support. One way to simplify scheduled phone calls is to use “click-to-call” numbers in Google Calendar holds.

It’s likely that you spend most of your day sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen. Regardless of your desk set-up, eye strain and stress can leave you feeling exhausted and overworked. The real key to decompressing after an 8+ hour workday is finding what works best for you while sticking to three simple rules – saying no to screens, stimulating your senses, and finding activities you enjoy.

The world around us is becoming increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, and the workplace is no different. By taking a strategic approach to AI, Executive Assistants can do their jobs more effectively and provide value in new and exciting ways. Check out these top reasons why EAs should consider leveraging AI!

We talk a lot about how to write an effective email and how to get a response, but what really sets the tone for your email are the bookends: the salutations and sign-offs.

AtYourGate is an in-airport delivery service—think Uber Eats for the airport. Download the app and order your executive’s favorite airport meal to be delivered to their gate as they are boarding.

Managing travel for another person can be challenging. We all have our own preferences for how things are booked, how we are informed, and how involved we want to be in the decision making process. As no executive is the same, finding out how yours prefers to approach travel will be important when planning her trips.