Decision: 1Monday, 08 October 2018

I’m hiring an Executive Assistant.

To focus on maximizing my performance as a CEO.

Why are you hiring an assistant?
This may seem ironic, given that Invisible sells assistant services not just to other CEOs but to anyone at any company. But truth lies in paradox: as effective as The Digital Assembly Line is at executing processes for $10/hr, we’ve found that a talented Strategist at $40/hr is necessary to build a relationship with the client, deeply understand their needs, design processes to solve problems, review results, then iterate. Both the Strategist and The Digital Assembly line operate through the same bot, so the illusion of a single assistant is maintained.

Because I’m such a demanding client, I don’t want to pull any of our Strategists away from other clients. And because I’m an internal client, my delegations often result in changes to very system that supports me, which requires an extra-level of sophistication to handle gracefully. So I want to work with someone full-time, and I want to coach this person, so it makes sense to hire a Partner for this position, instead of an Agent.

What the thing you need most?
The single thing I need most from an EA is to be my SDR. From October 2017 to June 2018, I was my own SDR, running parallel sales, hiring, fundraising and general business development processes and funnels. Keats gave me leverage, but I wasn’t able to process map and delegate everything. This time around, I need support. Your main job is to make sure the three to four days a week that I give to heads-up external work, and the one to two days a week I give to heads-down internal work are extremely high leverage and well set up.

List Of Responsibilities

Maximizing my performance as a CEO includes taking over responsibilities for every aspect of my work life:
— My calendar. Keats schedules for me, but I need someone who can think about my schedule and ask whether it actually makes sense, both logistically and strategically. I hate feeling like a prisoner to my calendar, and there are times when I make last-minute changes that result in a lot of rescheduling, which sometimes needs to be handled delicately. I need a time-consultant, who can make sure I’m spending time on what matters most. And I want to be able to see farther into the future. Right now I’m only thinking about two weeks out. Extend my horizons. Give me more reach. Turn me into a prophet.
— My digital organization. Everything from my inbox, to my tasks on Asana, to my files on Google Drive needs to be so organized that I can easily see what’s going on at a glance, find what I need to find, and show other people, if necessary, the important views. I care a lot not just about my own individual organization but the organization of the whole company, all its teams, and all its individuals. If great organization design principles aren’t understood, applied and enforced, we won’t be able to scale.
— My management responsibilities. As much as I’d like an entirely self-healing management system, certain problems and decisions are going to escalate and require my involvement. And I am often the first one to spot structural crises. But most of the time, I empower others to oversee problem-solving and decision-making systems. I need someone who can support me manage a crisis situation, but who is mostly focused on preventing crises by making sure the management system is surfacing and solving problems before they occur, and with minimal but sufficient input from me.
— My tech and operations oversight. Our service is so simple that it is magical, but behind-the-scenes the tech and operations are extremely complex, and I need to not only understand it all, but guide its evolution. I have been and need to continue to be the driving force behind our design and user experience vision. You’ll be responsible for making sure I see the information I need to see, participate in the decisions I need to participate in, and skip the noise — retaining abstraction and a high-level view without missing anything important.
— My projects and delegations. At any given time I’m working on a handful of projects. I need someone who can rapidly understand my intent, intuit my approach to solving a problem, then manage it through to conclusion, including coordinating any dependencies to make sure it is done on time. I need both a designer, a planner and an executor. I delegate A LOT and need to make sure my ideas are being scoped, prioritized, sequenced, added to the roadmap, and executed. I don’t have time to hold people accountable or request status updates, so I need someone to be on top of everyone else to make sure my will is carried out.
— My network operations. I run a vast network of over 10,000 contacts, and it is not nearly large enough! I need to grow it. I need to request and receive intros and other forms of help. I need to be at the right events. My long-term goal is to be able to solve all access problems for any need that may ever arise for the company. So I want to know people at every level in every industry at every important company in those industries. I want to know people in every major city in the world. In NYC I want to know people in every neighborhood in the city. Etc.
— My business development responsibilities. I have to lead fundraising and support sales and hiring efforts. I need someone to run my network operations and scheduling (see above), but also to manage my fundraising funnel and update our sales CRM and hiring ATS. I want my meetings to be insanely high leverage, closing meetings — where my presence and magic is essential.
— My external meetings. I do a ton of calls and meetings with clients, investors and various business development contacts. I need someone helping me take notes, capture follow ups, and actually follow up on all of these meetings. I also need someone to help relay and translate information to the relevant people internally.
— My internal meetings. I do a ton of routine 1:1s, syncs and check-ins with partners, agents, teams and team leaders. I often don’t have time to take notes and follow up on everything. I need project management support, and someone to help me hold them accountable, someone to help me write my evaluations, etc.
— My decision-making, policy-setting and coaching principles. When I make decisions, people ask questions. So the decisions need to be communicated clearly to pre-empt questions rooted in misunderstanding, and for intelligent questions, I need help responding quickly to keep everyone aligned. This is even more the case when I set policy, as it has longevity, and needs to translate into a system. I’m also constantly coaching my direct reports, and I provide guidance to all partners and agents as well. You’ll hear me say the same things over and over again. Spare me the repetition! Help me translate these principles into words, and publish these words in an organized library.
— My writing, reporting and research. I’ve got to do a ton of work reading, research and writing. I should do more market research than I do, and have a strong radar for any news that affects the company, and make time for books or deeper materials that contain information and ideas I should have a strong command of. I write everything from monthly reports, to marketing posts, to emails. I may rely on you for drafting and editing support. I’d like to wake up in the morning with all of my emails draft responded-to, for example. I may rely on you to not only write for me, but generate reports, decks or sheets.

Leadership Expectations

You’ll also be a leader in your own right, guiding the evolution of our tech and operations, and shaping our culture:
— Be an archetype. This is one of the “lead roles” in the play. We’re going to model all future Executive Assistant services that we offer other clients on you. We’re going to tell your story — show how awesome you are making my life, so that everyone else wants to have someone like you in their life.
— You have unlimited access to The Digital Assembly Line — use it. I am going to delegate more to you than would be reasonable to expect from any normal human Executive Assistant. But you’re not a normal human. You’ve got The Digital Assembly Line behind you, and it should turn you into a super-soldier. You need to become living proof that our technology and operations work. If you’re 10X more effective than you should be, that’s proof — and you’re a living testament.
— Become a tech and operations leader. Provide feedback to the DAL to guide its evolution. Your needs are going to drive product development. You are the spearhead. You need a writing specialist, you’re going to get one. You need a data organization specialist, you’re going to get one. You need a network operations manager, you’re going to get one. You need a process to run faster, or differently — they will follow your lead.
— Become a cultural force. You’ll be receiving a ton of mentoring from me, and in exchange, I need you to become a cultural force. I can’t be in every meeting. But you can be places I can’t be. Wherever you are, you’re representing me. You’re carrying the signet ring and speaking with my voice. Use that power carefully or you’ll lose that privilege. You don’t have the title, but as my EA, you’re effectively operating as my Chief of Staff, which is a C-level role for a reason — you’ll have pervasive political influence. We’re the good guys (Nietzsche: “Caesar with the soul of Christ”), but we have to be Machiavellian and operate with high political intelligence to succeed, because every organization is political. Be a charismatic, smart, creative problem-solver and leader.

Broad Mandates

Taking a step back, the broad mandates are:
— Organize everything. I want my work life to be the paragon of organization. I don’t want to have to worry that nothing’s fallen through the cracks. I want to look to you, see you calm as can be, get some assurance, and relax — so I can think. Doing big picture thinking requires abstraction from urgent, anxious distractions that are not ultimately important. That will take a huge load off me mentally.
— Maximize the value of my time. By doing all these things for me, you’re saving me time. But I also want you to work closely with me in prioritizing and scheduling how I spend all the time that you’re saving me, so that I’m maximizing the value of my time.

Basically, it’s a super easy job and you’ll have nothing to worry about! ;-)

Apply at www.inv.tech/hiring. Before applying, I recommend doing some research on the company and on me. There are additional links on the application page.