The Executive Assistant Iceberg: Why the Smartest Leaders Look Beneath the Surface

Richard Arnott
Oct 6
3 min read

There are two kinds of people in business. Those who see only what’s visible and those who understand the power of what lies beneath. The same distinction applies when it comes to understanding the role of the Executive Assistant (EA).

To some, an EA’s work appears straightforward — diaries, travel, emails, meetings. The visible, transactional, practical, tangible side of support. The “tip of the iceberg”. It’s what the less observant notice — the administrative precision that keeps an executive’s day flowing.

But those who stop there — who believe that’s all the EA does — reveal more about their own limitations than the EA’s.

The smarter leaders know better. They’ve looked beneath the surface. They understand that what makes an exceptional EA invaluable isn’t what you can see — it’s what you can’t.

The Visible: What the Poor Eye Sees

Above the waterline are the visible duties:

Scheduling, travel, and logistics
Meeting preparation and follow-up
Managing correspondence and communication

These tasks require discipline, skill, and attention to detail, but they’re only the surface expression of something far more sophisticated. To see only this is to misunderstand the role entirely.

The Invisible: What the Smart Leaders Notice

Beneath the surface lies the true depth of the EA’s influence — the realm of foresight, intelligence, and strategic impact. This is where great EAs transform from “assistants” into indispensable business partners.

Below the waterline, the best EAs are quietly mastering:

Strategic Insight: Understanding the executive’s objectives and aligning every action and decision to support them.
Project Management: Coordinating key initiatives, tracking milestones, and ensuring delivery long after others have lost focus.
Risk Management: Spotting potential issues — operational, reputational, or political — and mitigating them before they escalate.
Stakeholder Management: Navigating relationships across the organisation, smoothing egos, aligning interests, and ensuring influence flows both ways.
Leadership and Influence: Leading initiatives without formal authority, guiding teams, shaping culture, and influencing outcomes through trust, persuasion, and example.
AI Championing: Supporting the C-Suite in adopting AI tools, identifying opportunities for automation, and helping teams adapt confidently to change.
Data and Performance Awareness: Interpreting KPIs, dashboards, and performance metrics to anticipate implications for the executive’s agenda.
Change Facilitation: Acting as a quiet change agent — reinforcing strategy, bridging communication gaps, and guiding others through uncertainty.
Governance and Compliance Awareness: Ensuring the executive’s office operates within the right frameworks — ethical, procedural, and regulatory.
Crisis Prevention and Response: Anticipating bottlenecks, misunderstandings, and conflicts — and resolving them before they become visible.
Emotional Intelligence and Diplomacy: Reading tone, timing, and temperament — knowing when to challenge, when to shield, and when to act.
Discretion and Judgement: Managing sensitive information and relationships with integrity and absolute professionalism.

The less insightful see an assistant. The smarter ones see a strategic operator — a partner who underpins leadership effectiveness, organisational stability, and cultural influence.

The Iceberg Analogy

Think of the EA’s work as an iceberg.

The visible part — the diary management, travel planning, and flawless meetings — is impressive. But it’s the invisible mass below that gives the iceberg its strength: the judgement, intuition, strategy, influence, and trust that hold everything together.

Those who only see the visible believe they understand the role. Those who grasp the invisible know they couldn’t function without it.

Seeing Beneath the Surface

It’s easy to admire the visible efficiency of an EA. It takes genuine intelligence to appreciate the invisible architecture of influence, insight, leadership, and anticipation that makes it possible.

The visible EA manages the day. The invisible EA shapes the outcome.

And the difference between those who notice only the tip of the iceberg and those who understand the mass beneath it is, quite simply, the difference between average managers and truly insightful leaders.

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About the Author: Richard Arnott, BA, FInstAM, FIToL, is a Director of BMTG (UK) Ltd, and the author and lead presenter of the groundbreaking, globally recognised Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant: ACEA® program. Richard also sits on the editorial board of Lucy Brazier OBE's Executive Support Magazine.