I also doubt the EA is making 60% of what the CEO makes.
Something about how our work is structured is really screwed up
I did not read this as "I only work 40% of the week thanks to my EA", I read this as "A CEO can get inundated with the machinations of running a company, so much so that the vision and direction-making is lost". So, they outsourced the machinations to focus on vision and direction. That's _fine_. C-suite folks always have legions of assistants, just they are sometimes called Vice-somethings.
And separating "work that can be done by anyone with a little training" from "Work that can only be done by me or an expert" is a great thing to focus on for management. It allows a business to get the right people for the right things. This even has a name: Business Abstraction Layer (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/04/11/the-development-ab... ).
Such value!
Also talk about inequity...
This reads like a tweet about how much time you can save by outsourcing your homework.
They do the basic EAs things: Check emails, schedule meetings, review finance reports, etc. I doubt it's anywhere close to what Christine's EA does, but the idea that you're juggling the tasks of multiple people sounds like insanity to me. I hope they're well-paid.
When a company gets to a certain size (and it's probably smaller than you might think), I think you eventually want a smart person to keep the "knucklehead stuff" off of everyone else's desk. It has to be the kind of person that has an intuitive understanding of the technical side of how the company runs internally, how the external sales process works, and a willingness to do things that other people don't want to do.
Shameless plug: If you are looking for someone to do this in the New England area, drop me a note. I'm not available immediately though.
