5 Best Practices of World-Class Executive Assistants
(And How Carrie Is Built on Them)
The best executive assistants don’t just schedule meetings.
They manage momentum, social dynamics, and decision friction — quietly protecting their executive’s time.
Carrie wasn’t designed as a generic scheduling tool.
She’s built around the actual operating principles of top-tier EAs.
These are five best practices that consistently show up in high-performing executive support — and the principles Carrie is built on.
1. Staying in the flow of conversations
In high-velocity environments, timing matters.
When responses lag, conversations lose momentum. Their principal steps in. Self-scheduling creeps back. The EA becomes the bottleneck they were hired to remove.
Top EAs stay inside the conversation as it happens, not after it’s gone cold.
Carrie: replies instantly, 24/7, the moment she’s CC’d — so threads never stall and the executive never has to intervene just to keep things moving.
2. Fewer choices lead to faster decisions
Great EAs don’t expose a calendar. Sending a long list of available slots (or a booking link) shifts work outward, creates decision fatigue and lowers response rates.
It’s also about how their principal’s time is signalled. Doing so makes their principal look overly available and weakens perceived priority.
By offering a small number of well-chosen options, good EAs preserve scarcity, professionalism, and control over their principal’s time — while still moving the meeting forward efficiently.
Carrie: proposes three carefully selected slots that already respect participating parties’ preferences and constraints — nothing more, nothing less.
3. Patient persistence to make the meeting happen
Most meetings that fall through were never declined.
They did not happen because no one followed up.
Elite EAs treat follow-ups as a system, not a mood. They check back calmly, consistently, and then escalate with context when needed. No dropped threads.
Carrie: follows up every 48 hours, twice, automatically — and if there’s still no response, she informs the executive so nothing disappears into silence.
4. Actively protect the calendar
A world-class EA doesn’t just fill the calendar — they defend it.
That means pushing back on meetings outside working hours, reshaping low-value requests, and only escalating exceptions when there’s a real reason to.
The executive stays in control without being dragged into logistics or social friction.
Carrie: enforces preferred hours by default, suggests alternatives politely, and flags edge cases privately when an accommodation might matter.
5. Be considerate to other parties
Good EAs remember that their actions determine how their bosses are perceived even before the meeting happens.
Thoughtful assistants avoid early mornings and late nights on either side, balance inconvenience fairly, and signal mutual respect through thoughtful timing choices.
It’s subtle — and it matters.
Carrie: proposes times that fall within waking hours for both parties, not just what’s mathematically possible or locally convenient.
Carrie vs “Average” Scheduling
(This works well as a visual or pull-quote block)
| Carrie (EA-grade) | Average EA / Tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Response speed | Instant, always on | Business hours |
| Time options | 3 curated slots | Full availability |
| Follow-ups | Automatic, systematic | Inconsistent |
| Calendar defense | Pushes back intelligently | Accepts by default |
| Global etiquette | Waking hours for both | Convenience-first |
Why This Matters
Carrie is built on how the best ones actually operate in practice.
The result is scheduling that feels considered and professional — not automated.
If you’ve worked with a great EA before, Carrie should feel familiar.
And if you don’t have one today, Carrie is designed to step in and handle scheduling the same way they would.
Try Carrie today and see how EA-grade scheduling feels. Setup takes under a minute.
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without the back-and-forth?
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