The real power behind the throne

After our focus on the role of executive PA, Widget Finn meets women who could not only run the captain but the industry too.

Daily Telegraph - 3 December 2004

Our recent article "It's exit the dragon - enter the partner" on the changing role of the chief executive's PA brought some lively reactions.

These included a strong protest from Jeanne Dworak, who retired in 1993 after 44 years climbing the PA ladder. The article looked at old office stereotypes which have been up to date in research by Professor Yiannis Gabriel from the Tanaka Business School.

Mrs Dworak in the course of a long and distinguished career as personal assistant including posts at the United Nations, Shell and the BBC has seen many changes in the executive office and claims that they are "for the worse and to lower standards".

In the article a comment from a recruitment consultant that the title of personal assistant used to imply an all-round skivvy prompted Mrs Dworak to say: "We were never 'skivvies' even if we did (with pleasure) make endless cups of coffee for our bosses and ourselves. "The chairman of a recruitment agency who said that two decades ago PAs had just a few O-levels to back up their typing and shorthand skills was countered by Mrs Dworak, who studied French, German, Italian and Hungarian and says: "Our O-levels were sufficient provided we also had the other necessary qualities."

As for the labels, Mrs Dworak recognises the dragon, but says "The lady supervisors in the typing pool when I started work in 1950 were often dragon-like, but they didn't get promoted to PAs".
Is there any truth in the stereotypes, have standards dropped and has the PA's role indeed changed for the worse in the past two decades? We asked a recruitment specialist and six top PAs, all in their fifties, who have worked for chairmen or chief executives in major companies over the past 30 years.
They're an impressive bunch and highly competent self-starters. They work for the men (all their bosses are men) who run British business but arguably could run the business just as well themselves.

Jennifer Prosser
Spent 26 years with BAA as an administrator, then did a Pitman secretarial course and became PA to Don Cruickshank when he was chairman of the Action 2000 Millennium Bug Project, the London Stock Exchange and Scottish Media.

She now works in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Ms Prosser recognises some of the stereotypes. "The dragon is still around, but she's no longer being recruited. Her heyday was in the 1980s and early 1990s because bosses wanted to be protected, but running the chief executive's office is now more of a team effort.

The ditsy blonde 'pet' probably had potential but wasn't allowed to do much more than look decorative. As for the 'mother' type, I've never had a problem about making cups of tea. It's all part of helping the job move along happily.

The PA's role is to operate a tolerant and tranquil office."

Averil Horrocks
Currently executive assistant to Lord Watson of Richmond, chair-brought man of Burston Marsteller who sits in the House of Lords.

She claims that the demise of the 'pet' is due to economic pressures. "She would never survive today because even in the past five years everything has become revenue-focused, and PAs must have a thorough understanding of the business.

"Technology has introduced enormous changes to office life. Unusually, my boss isn't computer literate but for me that's a plus. I read all his e-mails and only pass on what he needs to know, otherwise he'd spend all his time responding to them.

I also open all the post and deal with the phone, because with so much going on in the office some things would slip through the cracks.

I see myself as my boss's right hand, and we work as a partnership. 'Personal assistant' doesn't indicate all the responsibility involved, and I prefer my title of executive assistant."

Sally Cameron
For eight years PA to Sir Ralph Robbins, chairman of Rolls-Royce. She sees the advent of technology as a mixed blessing. "Bosses think they're computer literate but they don't know how to type, spell or lay out letters so the PA still has to do a lot of that.

E-mails have made communications so fast that people expect instant replies, and sometimes there's no time to think. In the days when you went into the boss's office for morning dictation there was time to talk about the day's programme and make plans, but now we're bombarded from every side.
"I'd describe myself as a 'fixer'. The boss doesn't know half of what you do, and thinks it happens magically. But the PA is also a discreet sounding board. Chairmen are in a lonely position and sometimes need to bounce ideas around which can't go beyond the office walls."

Elisabeth Cooper
Has spent 30 years as PA including chief executives of a healthcare organisation and a public property company. She thinks many bosses confuse a secretary with a PA.

"Many senior managers now are comparatively young, and don't know how to get the best out of a PA. They think that modern technology means they can manage with less assistance, and fail to realise that a PA doesn't just do the letters and phone calls.

Mine is an executive role, assessing which issues the boss needs to be involved in and allocating the others."

Mary Goodall
Runs the PA search division of Angela Mortimer Recruitment. She agrees that bosses may need a little training. "Some bosses use their PAs intelligently, but others have a lot to learn. CEOs ask for 'someone bright because I don't want to have to explain myself twice' then fail to make the best use of them. They're nervous of delegating or of passing responsibility. We see many intelligent women who want a job with some autonomy, but the opportunities are rare."

Mary Carson
Worked at Government House in Hong Kong, then for a government minister and spent seven years as PA to Rocco Forte. She claims there have always been good bosses who draw out their assistants.
"Thirty-five years ago on my first day with the World Wildlife Fund my boss said 'How are we going to answer this letter?' and from then on I was involved 100 per cent. It set me on the right path, and I've always had bosses who relied on me to share their workload."

Lynn Barlow
Was PA to the chief executive of Hill Samuel. "As a chairman's PA you know more about the business than most other people. "I enjoyed the responsibility and one of my main duties was to liaise between my boss and the management board. So is the office dragon extinct? Ms Barlow says: "Twenty years ago dragons still abounded. I joined a company where people shook when they went into the office of the chairman's PA. I sometimes think it would be good to have a few around today."

Dragon or Partner?
Professor Yiannis Gabriel  of the Tanaka Business School has researched the role of top-flight PAs, following up on a 20-year-old study which at the time categorised them as three definitive types:

• the dragon - fiercely protective of her charge, she repels every approach and puts off all but the most persistent enquirers
• the mother - soothing the boss's brow and producing a cup of tea before he - and it's always a he - knows he wants it
• the pet - blonde and ditsy, her face not typing speeds got her the job

• the anchor - keeping the office grounded while the boss takes the helicopter view
• the rescuer - anticipating mishap and protecting the boss from his/her mistakes
• the partner - a manager in her own right, taking day-to-day decisions for the boss