There are a lot of folks who don&#x27;t understand how important it is for a leader to have a personal secretary, executive admin, executive assistant, deputy or whatever you want to call the role.<p>The sad truth is that, as hard as he might work, a man can&#x27;t add a single hour to the day: every hour he spends dealing with one matter is an hour he <i>doesn&#x27;t</i> spend attending to another.  Leaders, despite being in many cases quite remarkable, aren&#x27;t so remarkable that they can perform 15 minutes of manual labour in 15 seconds.  That&#x27;s where a good secretary can add so much value: he&#x27;s a leader&#x27;s right hand man, his second self.  He can cut through or deal with the paperwork, the waits, the scheduling &amp;c. and free the executive up to <i>lead</i>.  An EA is an enabler in the best sense of the word.<p>I&#x27;ve never had a secretary, but I&#x27;ve had the opportunity to work in that role.  It&#x27;s exhilarating to see someone one respects able to do his job that much better because of what one has been able to do.<p>Obviously, in an ideal world almost anyone would have a deputy.  Sadly, that&#x27;s not numerically possible (and what about the assistants: surely they would benefit from having their own?).  But I think it&#x27;s close to vital that anyone whose value consists of meeting, connecting, travelling and so forth have a lieutenant to help smooth the way.