Editor In Chief

Working with an executive assistant often begins with mere task completion. Book this meeting, plan my trip to Chicago, order more paper, repeat. This mindset shortcuts the path to achieving compound leverage.

A common first step toward advanced delegation is shifting your mindset from 'task assigner' to 'editor-in-chief.' Your assistant should handle the initial build phase of any project, at which point you step in as an “editor” to refine and make decisions.

Here's why this approach is so powerful:

1. Time-saving: You shift from “I’ll start this task myself” to “My assistant can compile the info first”—and save potentially hours by doing so.
2. Better decision-making: When presented with organized information, you can make more informed decisions more quickly. It's far easier and more efficient to review and edit pre-compiled information than to start from scratch.

Real-world, simple examples of the “Editor-in-Chief” approach:

1. Travel Planning: Instead of booking your own trips, have your assistant create a comprehensive travel book. This could include flight details, boarding passes, confirmation numbers, hotel information, recommended restaurants, and activities. You can then review and make final decisions or adjustments (and explain why for future reference) as needed.
   • Travel Planning: Instead of booking your own trips, have your assistant create a comprehensive travel book. This could include flight details, boarding passes, confirmation numbers, hotel information, recommended restaurants, and activities. You can then review and make final decisions or adjustments (and explain why for future reference) as needed.
   • Grocery Shopping: Task your assistant with creating a weekly meal plan and corresponding grocery list. They can research recipes and compile the corresponding shopping list. You can then review the plan, make any adjustments, and approve the final list.
   • Gift Buying: When you need to buy gifts, ask your assistant to research options based on the recipient's interests and your budget. They can create a document with potential gift ideas, including prices, where to buy them, and any other criteria interesting to you. You can then select the best option or provide further guidance.
   • Home Maintenance: Have your assistant create a schedule for regular home maintenance tasks. They can research recommended frequencies for tasks like HVAC servicing, gutter cleaning, or carpet cleaning. They can also find and compare local service providers. You can review the proposed schedule and service options, making final decisions on timing and providers.

Tips on how to get started:

1. Start with a low-stakes task, where information is relatively accessible to the assistant (for example: they can find most of what they need from your inbox, or from logging into certain accounts)
2. Begin with information gathering tasks. Ask your assistant to collect, centralize, and organize disparate information. For example:some text
   • Compile details for the complete set of activities and extracurriculars your children are attending into one doc. This allows you to see tactical things like deadlines and to-do’s, but also higher level themes of how your children spend their time
   • Gather and organize your medical lab results and all health scans from the past few years. This allows you to organize all your biomarkers in one place and view trends over time
   • Research and compare different venues for an upcoming event you're hosting. This allows you to spot trade offs and make a faster decision on which venue to select
3. Provide clear parameters for tasks. When assigning work, clearly define:some text
   • The objective of this exercise - what insights are you trying to find? What decisions do you need to make?
   • The specific information or data points you need (think: if you made an Excel file, what would be the columns and the rows to fill out)
   • Any constraints or considerations (e.g., budget limits, time frames)
   • The format you prefer for the final output
4. Review, refine, and expand. After each completed task:some text
   • Use the "this is what A+ would look like” script to deliver feedback and paint a picture of what excellence looks like rather than coming across as providing a list of criticism
   • Identify opportunities for further delegation, like asking your assistant to draft a stakeholder email after compiling a report.
   • Maintain a shared document of your preferences, covering everything from email etiquette to presentation styles—updating it after each project.

Remember, your role is to make high-level decisions and provide direction, not to get bogged down in the details of every task. Think of your assistant as the action-taker of all things 0 → 1, and think of yourself as the editor that takes those tasks from 1 → approved.