Germaine, my EA, is off all this week. What could possibly go wrong? 😂

I have absolutely no idea what’s in your pumpkin. But I do know there’s something in it. 🎃 Our Halloween giveaway starts today, and every pumpkin contains a treat. You could find up to £50 off, a free place at an online event, or a free digital magazine subscription. Everyone who doesn’t receive one of those gets a free digital issue of Executive Support Magazine. Open one pumpkin today, then come back for another tomorrow. You can open a new one every day until Halloween. We wanted to give you something to look forward to this week. Have a little fun with it. And do tell me what you get! I promise, there are no tricks, just treats! Open your first pumpkin: executivesupportmedia.com/no…

Today at the World Administrators Summit in Berlin, we announced the next stage of the Global Skills Matrix. The Global Professional Standard for Administration. A career pathway built on the Global Skills Matrix, with independently accredited certification at every level. Administrative job titles have never given us a reliable account of what someone does. The same title can cover very different levels of responsibility, while people doing comparable work may be hired, graded and paid differently. That makes it harder for employers to define roles and for administrative professionals to show the level at which they work. The Global Skills Matrix gives us a shared description of the profession’s work and levels of contribution. Certified Global Skills Matrix (CGSM) builds on it: a pathway through which capability will be taught, assessed and certified against each level. The assessment will look at whether someone can operate at that level, not simply how long they have held a title or what they can recall from a course. The pathway will extend from foundational administration through to administrative and executive operations leadership. Accountancy, HR and project management have long had recognised standards and credentials that employers understand. People can see what it takes to enter those professions, develop within them and reach leadership. Administration has always had skilled people doing essential work, but no comparable global certification pathway across the full career. CGSM is being built to provide that missing piece. CGSM is a World Administrators Alliance programme. Executive Support Media is the World Administrators Alliance’s appointed global development and implementation partner for CGSM, and I am proud to be leading that work. It is being built now, with Levels 1 to 4 planned to launch in 2027 and the Level 5A and 5B leadership pathways to be piloted. You can register your interest and receive launch updates here: executivesupportmedia.com/ce… One profession. One global standard. One certification pathway.

Almost 10 years ago, almost 60% of 3,350 assistants told us they had experienced workplace bullying. Has anything changed? @BonnieLowKramen and I will reveal the results of our new global survey at ES Thrive. Read the article and take part: lucybrazierobe.substack.com/…

Who actually owns administration in your organisation? HR looks at job architecture. IT rolls out AI. Finance looks at headcount. Leaders redesign executive support. But who is looking across the administrative workforce and joining those decisions up? My latest Substack: lucybrazierobe.substack.com/…

A couple of years ago, we began offering The Modern-Day Assistant online because some of you simply cannot travel to join me in a classroom. You have children to care for. Parents or family members who depend on you. Health or accessibility considerations. Employers who will fund the training but not the flights, hotel and additional time away. And some of you live thousands of miles from the cities where I teach. None of those things should place serious professional development beyond your reach. So, we designed the online version differently. It runs live over three days, for five hours each day, from 14:00 to 19:00 London time. You receive the same depth of learning, discussion and challenge, but in a format that works around the responsibilities and realities of your life. And it really is live. We talk. We debate. We work through real situations. You learn from me, but you also learn from the experiences of assistants joining from different organisations, industries and countries. One participant admitted that she had worried three days online might be too much. Afterwards, she told us that “the time flew by, even after having already done a day’s work!” The Modern-Day Assistant is the programme I have spent years developing and teaching around the world. It will help you understand how the profession is changing, what strategic partnership looks like in practice, and how to build the confidence, commercial awareness, organisational intelligence and influence to operate at a higher level. Our next live online programme takes place from 6 to 8 October 2026. If travel has been the reason you have not joined me before, this is your opportunity. executivesupportmedia.com/pr…

We keep telling young people they need experience before we will employ them. But experience has to come from somewhere. I started work as a receptionist at a local newspaper. I was far from “work-ready”. The workplace taught me how to work. Now AI is beginning to absorb some of the entry-level work through which people have traditionally learned how organisations function, while employers increasingly want candidates who can contribute from day one. That has left me wondering about something much bigger than AI. When did employers stop accepting responsibility for creating experienced employees? I’ve followed that question across the UK, US and the wider global workforce in this week’s column, and I think we may be storing up a problem that won’t become obvious for years. lucybrazierobe.substack.com/…

And we're off! First up - @shelleyfishel and a fantastic session - From Digital Filing to Organisational Memory: How Assistants Can Improve Information Quality, AI Readiness and Digital Trust. Administrative Professionals have been responsible for knowledge management and institutional memory for the longest time. Shelley is explaining why with AI, filing has stopped being a background task and becomes critical to how an organisation functions. #ESTECH2026 #Informationquality

3 minutes to #ESTech2026 and the excitement is growing!

IT’S TOMORROW! More than 300 administrative professionals from around the world are joining us for ES Tech 2026, and we cannot wait to welcome them. Over two days, 20 exceptional speakers will help us make sense of what is happening in technology right now. Not just AI, but the tools, systems, workflows, risks and new capabilities that are changing how administrative professionals work. Technology is moving too quickly to rely on what you learnt last year, or even six months ago. ES Tech is your opportunity to step away from the noise, hear from people who understand both the technology and this profession, and decide what deserves your attention. And if you cannot watch everything live, you will have access to every session for 30 days. If you have been meaning to book, this really is your last chance. We start tomorrow, 10 September. Join us here executivesupportmedia.com/pr…

“I think we should have a meeting about that. Could you pull the team together?” Of course. What people think that means: Send a calendar invitation. What it actually means: 1. Work out who “the team” is. 2. Discover that nobody agrees on who needs to be there. 3. Dig deeper into what “that” actually refers to. 4. Establish what decision the meeting is supposed to produce. 5. Ask for agenda items. 6. Chase the agenda items. 7. Turn six vague sentences into an agenda with a purpose. 8. Find the only available hour in twelve calendars across three time zones. 9. Move it because someone essential cannot attend after all. 10. Find a room, a Teams link, or both, because nobody knows whether they are working from home that day. 11. Gather the papers that everyone assumed somebody else was preparing. 12. Brief the executive on the history behind the issue they raised in passing. 13. Remind attendees why they have been invited. 14. Run the meeting from behind the scenes while taking notes, managing time and locating the document somebody definitely sent. 15. Notice that the meeting has drifted onto an entirely different subject and steer it back without appearing to steer it back. 16. Translate “somebody should look into that” into an actual name, action and deadline. 17. Schedule the follow-up meeting before everyone disappears back into their impossible calendars. 18. Answer three messages asking what was decided from people who attended the meeting. 19. Circulate the actions, identify the owners and begin chasing the work the meeting was held to agree. 20. Start work on the actions because several of them somehow belong to you now. All from one casual sentence uttered while walking between two other meetings.🤣

One week from today, more than 300 administrative professionals from around the world will come together for ES Tech 2026. Explore the latest in: • AI • Microsoft 365 • Automation • Digital workflows • And much more Learn from 20+ experts across 24 hours of practical, inspiring content—with 30 days of replay access included. 10–11 September | Online There’s still time to join us 👇 executivesupportmedia.com/pr…

Incredibly, we are already taking bookings for 2027. April will take me back to the United States. July and August will include a tour of Australia, a visit to New Zealand and a couple of stops in Asia. There will be plenty happening in the UK and Switzerland throughout the year, a smattering of other European dates, and we are also trying to tie down a tour across several African countries. The work itself takes many different forms. Sometimes it is a keynote for hundreds (or occasionally thousands) of people. Sometimes it is a private session with an administrative function that wants to define its value more clearly. Sometimes it is a conversation with senior leaders who know the work has changed, but have not yet changed the structures around it. Once those routes begin to be put in place, it becomes much easier to add company events, association conferences, internal network sessions and training while I am already in the region. So, if you have ever thought about bringing me into your organisation or your part of the world, this may be the moment to start the conversation. If I am already going to be nearby, we may be able to make it work. We will be adding all sorts of events and training dates for 2027 to the website this week. I am enormously excited to be properly back out on the road. Watch this space. There is a great deal more to come.

Your $100 Summer School voucher expires at midnight tonight. Use it towards ES Tech, ACEA, AI training, project management, ES Thrive or The Modern-Day Assistant. Not joined Summer School? Enrol free today, claim your voucher and spend it before midnight. How will you spend yours? executivesupportmedia.com/ex…

Assistants are paying for their own training, using annual leave to attend it and being told how “lucky” they are when funding is approved. Meanwhile, employers say they cannot find the skills they need. This has to change. Read my new article ↓ lucybrazierobe.substack.com/…

We have spent three years teaching people how to use AI. The next competitive advantage will belong to the people who understand how work, information and decisions actually flow through an organisation. lucybrazierobe.substack.com/…

The administrative profession has a problem. When HR, journalists, recruiters and AI all rely on occupational data that no longer reflects the work people are actually doing, everyone makes poorer decisions. My latest Substack: open.substack.com/pub/lucybr…