A little while ago a lawyer friend asked me “What exactly is your job…?” 
I admit that I laughed and he remained rather perplexed and couldn’t get beyond the notion that female admin. staff are simply secretaries who follow instructions and type documents.
Well, let me use a tongue-in-check image of the circus. I am the ringmaster: I encourage and I cajole; I make sure that everything is running on time; I keep an eye to what is happening out in front but I am also aware of what is going on behind the scenes. I am the magician who can pull a card out of his sleeve – I make it look easy when it fact there has been a lot of sweat and hard work behind the illusion. I am the lion tamer who sometimes has to crack the whip to get people lined up. I am the tightrope walker who tries to keep her balance (and sometimes I fall…). I am the clown who can make people laugh because life is simply too short to always be taken seriously and having a good, uproarious bawdy laugh can be the best remedy against stress and frustration, and a brilliant way of bonding.
But the one thing that I am not is the top attraction. I am not the lady on the trapeze, flying through the air, wearing a sparkly costume and doing treble somersaults, all eyes on me. My job is the unglamorous one: I am the one on the other trapeze, hanging upside down and making sure that I catch my partner at the critical moment. I am the one who can always be relied on to be there, to sort things out, to find the solution. If you, as an EA, confuse your role with that of your Boss you will bite the sawdust faster than a falling star.
