I researched AI and the EA role for my MBA. Here’s what I found.

I didn’t plan to work in this profession. Very few people do. 

I started my career in investment banking — the obvious next move after studying maths at university. I found the intellectual rigour genuinely satisfying. But it quickly became clear that a life of three meals a day at a desk, seven days a week, wasn’t one I could sustain. I needed human connection. I needed sleep. So I left.

What happened next changed everything. While I worked out my next move, I signed up with a temp agency. One morning, a recruiter called asking if I could step in that day for an EA who had injured her ankle. I arrived expecting a few quiet days covering a calendar.

Instead, I found myself working alongside a founder whose world – personally and professionally – was anything but ordinary.

That temp assignment became permanent. Two years later, it took me to New York, where I helped establish and grow his family office, stepping into an operations and HR role at the heart of a genuinely complex, high-stakes environment.

Over seven years, I experienced how the family office ecosystem actually operates: investments, philanthropy, people, long-term strategy. It was an extraordinary vantage point. From the outside, this world can appear defined by capital. From the inside, it’s defined by judgement, a high degree of trust and relationships.

After that, I moved into consulting across operations, HR, research and organisational design. And it was somewhere during that timeframe that I noticed a shift in myself. I understood how to get things done. But I wanted to understand why. That curiosity led me back into full-time study, and in 2024, I completed my MBA, graduating one month before my son was born.

The questions being asked – and what I asked instead 

For my MBA dissertation, I chose to research something that felt both urgent and personal: how the rise of artificial intelligence would reshape the skills required of Executive Assistants.

When I began, the prevailing narrative was dominated by one word: replacement. Headlines were predicting that automation would eliminate swathes of administrative work. The EA profession was consistently cited as one of the roles most exposed.

The more I examined the data, the less convincing that story became. So I changed the question.

Instead of asking which tasks might disappear, I asked: what are the underlying skills that actually make someone exceptional in this role?

After analysing hundreds of EA job descriptions and conducting a systematic literature review on AI and workplace skills, five capabilities kept emerging: communication, collaboration, technological literacy, flexibility and proactivity.

And it became clear to me: None of these are going anywhere.

Intelligence without instinct

AI is genuinely exceptional at handling structured, repetitive processes. Scheduling, formatting, summarising, sorting — many tasks that have traditionally lived inside administrative roles will become more automated. That’s real, and it’s already happening.

But there are things it cannot do: Read a room in a tense meeting. Manage the interpersonal dynamics of a founder-led organisation. Quietly influence a decision by framing information in exactly the right way at exactly the right moment.

The skills that distinguish the most effective EAs have never really been about tasks. They have always been about observation and judgement. And judgement – contextual, relational, instinctive – is something no model can replicate.

Working with AI to do more

The real shift AI introduces is not replacement. It’s augmentation. In practical terms, that means two things to get serious about.

First, technological confidence will become non-negotiable. The EAs who thrive will be those who feel genuinely comfortable experimenting with AI tools — understanding how they work, and just as importantly, knowing where their limitations lie. The future EA is not a passive user of technology. They are an intelligent collaborator with it.

Second, the value of human skills will rise rather than fall. Communication, emotional intelligence, collaboration and critical thinking are precisely the capabilities that become more valuable as technology absorbs routine processes. The space created by automation is not a threat to the best of us assistants, it’s an invitation to operate at a different level.

The vantage point you already have

Something I have come to appreciate deeply, from working at the centre of complex organisations and from studying the literature, is how singular the EA’s position actually is.

You see the patterns others miss. You observe how decisions are really made – not the version that gets written up afterwards, but the actual process. You notice where information flows freely and where it quietly stalls. You understand the unspoken dynamics between people in a room before anyone else has registered them.

That observational intelligence – earned through proximity, trust and sustained attention – is something no AI model can acquire. It is one of the most genuinely rare capabilities in any organisation.

Why continuous learning matters more now

One of the most consistent themes across the research I reviewed was the growing expectation that individuals will take active responsibility for their own development. Organisations will provide some support — but the professionals who remain relevant will be those who seek out opportunities to expand their capabilities, rather than waiting to be given them.

In many ways, this mirrors what the best EAs have always done. The role has rarely come with a clearly defined career ladder. Progression has depended on curiosity, on exposure, on the willingness to step slightly outside the comfort zone before you feel completely ready.

I’m now studying for my CIPD Level 5 qualification, almost two years after completing my MBA, and with a young child at home. I mention this not to suggest that everyone should be pursuing formal qualifications, but because I believe in what the process represents: staying curious, staying engaged, refusing to assume that what got you here is sufficient for where things are heading.

I didn’t set out to build a career in this field. But looking back, I cannot imagine a more interesting, demanding or genuinely consequential place to have been. The EA profession sits at the nerve centre of how organisations actually function — and the people who do it well carry an influence that rarely shows up in job titles.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the world of work will keep changing at speed. But the core of this profession – sound judgement, high trust, the ability to connect people and ideas – remains remarkably resilient.

The qualities of this role is only becoming increasingly important. So my final question is this: how are you ready to grow with it?

Five things I keep coming back to

These are lessons I’ve lived and learned.

1 Look beyond the task in front of you

The most valuable people, regardless of role, are those who understand the wider context. Ask yourself how the work you are doing connects to the bigger picture, and then act accordingly.

2 Know your worth

Confidence is not arrogance. If you bring judgement, insight and genuine reliability to an organisation, that value deserves to be seen, and named. Don’t let modesty become invisibility.

3 Build your network early and often

Your network is one of the most powerful assets you will ever build. Invest in relationships across industries, geographies and disciplines, long before you need them.

4 Have the courage to evolve

Careers rarely follow a straight line. Some of the most interesting opportunities appear when you are willing to step into something new before you feel completely ready. That discomfort is usually a signal worth paying attention to.

5 Never stop learning

The world of work is evolving faster than at any point in living memory. The professionals who remain relevant are not the most specialised or the most credentialed. They are the most curious.