AI for EAs: Don’t Start with the Tool. Start with the Problem.

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn recently, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that every Executive Assistant should already be using dozens of AI tools every day.

The pressure is real. New platforms appear almost weekly, each promising to save hours, transform productivity and revolutionise the way EAs work. It’s easy to feel that if you’re not embracing every new development, you’re somehow falling behind.

But here’s a different perspective.

The best EAs have never been successful because they use the newest technology. They’ve been successful because they solve problems.

Before downloading another AI app, ask yourself a much simpler question: What is actually slowing me down?

Is it writing first drafts of meeting notes? Managing an overflowing inbox? Summarising lengthy reports? Creating travel itineraries? Researching suppliers? Preparing presentations?

Once you’ve identified the real bottleneck, then you can look for an AI tool that genuinely solves that specific challenge.

Too often, people start with the technology rather than the problem. They adopt multiple subscriptions, spend hours learning new systems and ultimately discover they haven’t become any more productive.

AI isn’t a badge of honour. It’s simply another tool in your professional toolkit.

The most effective EAs are selective. They experiment, evaluate what genuinely saves time and quietly discard anything that creates more work than it removes.

As recruiters, we’re seeing employers become increasingly interested in candidates who are curious about AI and willing to learn. However, very few expect an EA to be an expert in every platform on the market. What they value far more is good judgement, commercial awareness and the ability to improve the way work gets done.

Technology will continue to evolve at pace.

The role of an exceptional EA remains exactly the same: identify the problem, find the smartest solution and make life easier for the people you support. Whether that solution involves AI or not is often beside the point.