Let’s start with a question most people are too polite to ask out loud: Can just anyone become an executive assistant?
Not the calendar-shuffling kind from 2010. I’m talking about the real deal. The ones who thrive when executives are melting down, who anticipate needs before they’re voiced, who remain unflinching when urgent emails pile up and meetings run back-to-back and everything changes at 4:55 PM on Friday.
The politically correct answer? “With proper training, absolutely.”
The research-backed answer? Not without going to war with their personality.
Over 304,000 executive assistants are working in America right now, with demand exploding by 35% in 2024. But nobody talks about this: some people are naturally built for this chaos. Others can learn to excel, but only if they’re brutally honest about their defaults.
The Definition Nobody Uses
An executive assistant today isn’t someone who “assists.” They’re force multipliers. Information strategists. Often the emotional thermostat for entire leadership teams.
By 2025, we’re long past the “take messages and book flights” era. Today’s EA walks a tightrope between precision and discretion, urgency and calm, conscientiousness and courage. It takes very specific internal wiring to do this job well.
And Jordan Peterson’s research on workplace personality tells us exactly what that wiring looks like.
The Big Five Reality Check
Peterson’s Big Five personality framework reveals an uncomfortable truth: some personality combinations are naturally better suited for specific roles. This isn’t discrimination. It’s operational reality backed by decades of research.
I’m breaking this down with zero corporate jargon.
Conscientiousness: Your Lifeline or Your Liability
This trait predicts job performance better than almost anything else. A century of research found conscientiousness showed positive effects for 98% of workplace variables studied.
High conscientiousness: Reliable, organized, disciplined. You follow through. You pay attention to details. You don’t just make executives look good—you make them be good.
Low conscientiousness: You struggle with details, follow-through, time management. You don’t just make mistakes. You compound executive risk.
If you score low on conscientiousness, you’re fighting an uphill battle every single day. Can you win? Yes. But you’ll need external systems to create artificial discipline. Task management apps become life support. Calendars become gospel. There’s no winging it.
Neuroticism: The Stress Test
High neuroticism correlates with increased absenteeism, lower work engagement, and poor decision-making under stress. In a role where crisis management is Tuesday, this matters.
Low neuroticism: You’re calm under pressure. The eye of the storm. When everyone else is losing their minds, you’re solving problems.
High neuroticism: You’re reactive to stress, prone to anxiety. Your emotional volatility can ripple across the entire organization.
If you’re naturally neurotic, don’t pretend you’re not. Master stress rituals like your career depends on it. Because it does.
Agreeableness: The Trap Nobody Sees Coming
Agreeableness ranks as the second most valued trait by employers, but nobody discusses the shadow side: highly agreeable people struggle with necessary conflict.
High agreeableness: Empathetic, cooperative, great at diffusing tension. But chronic people-pleasers who say yes when they need to set boundaries.
Low agreeableness: Blunt, skeptical, principled. Incredible at protecting executive time and priorities. But may alienate colleagues in the process.
The sweet spot? Learn to say no kindly but firmly. Your job isn’t to make everyone happy. It’s to make your executive effective.
Extraversion: It’s Complicated
High extraversion: Socially confident, energized by people. Great for stakeholder-heavy roles.
Low extraversion: Peterson notes that introverts “work well in isolation” and often provide more thoughtful, detailed support.
Truth? Many executives prefer introverted assistants. You don’t need to be the loudest voice in the room. Just the most precise.
Openness: The Innovation Paradox
High openness: Creative, adaptable, great with ambiguous problems. Perfect for the 70% of EAs now working in hybrid environments.
Low openness: Prefer routine, predictability, clear rules. Incredible with standard operating procedures but may freeze when the unexpected happens.
And trust me, the unexpected always happens.
The 2025 Reality Check
What’s actually happening: 26% of EAs already use AI tools to enhance productivity. But 77% don’t.
The future belongs to assistants who understand that AI is a force multiplier, not a replacement. As one industry report put it: “The best executive assistants will be even more valuable in an AI-first world.”
The strategic EA of 2025 uses AI for routine tasks while focusing on relationship management, operates as a strategic filter for executive attention, and thinks beyond task execution to organizational impact.
So Can Anyone Be an Executive Assistant?
The answer without the HR gloss: Technically, yes. Psychologically, not without sustained, deliberate effort.
Some personalities are built for this role. Others must build themselves for it. The Big Five framework doesn’t close doors. It shows you where you’ll need to reinforce the hinges.
Some of the best EAs I’ve encountered started in the wrong personality strata. But they became aware, adaptive, and unapologetically excellent. They didn’t try to fake their way through their weaknesses. They developed systems to compensate.
If you’re low in conscientiousness, you externalize discipline through rigorous systems.
If you’re high in neuroticism, you develop stress management protocols like your life depends on it.
If you’re too agreeable, you practice strategic assertiveness.
If you’re neurotic, you don’t pretend you’re zen. You master stress rituals.
The Choice
The industry is growing at 20.3% annually and heading toward a $44.25 billion market by 2027. There’s room for excellence.
But excellence requires self-confrontation. Understanding your personality profile isn’t personal development nonsense. It’s operational risk management.
You don’t become world-class by accident. You become world-class by brutal self-awareness and adaptive strategy.
The question isn’t “Can anyone be an executive assistant?”
The question is “Can you become the kind of person who excels at this?”
2025 is the year of self-aware leadership support, not just reactive assistance.
So take stock. If the role stretches you, good. Growth requires tension.
But know what you’re signing up for.
