The objective of Zen and the art of admin tasks is to provide executives with a strategy how to better handle their administrative work, using a range of automation tools to manage their emails, calendar, and client database, because the majority of their tasks and time commitments come from these sources. This will help eliminate the need to have an expensive full-time administrative assistant, making do with part-time help instead without compromising the running of the business. These tools will help optimize day-to-day activities to achieve maximum effectiveness and creativity with minimum administrative fuss.
The authors, Nic de Castro and Nathan Pettijohn, contend that it is important to choose the right administrative assistant to help with emails, calendar, and client management, and familiarize the assistant with how the executive wants things done. The next step is to select appropriate admin automation tools. Emails can take up a lot of an executive’s time, and they should be categorized for importance and appropriate handling by the admin assistant. The authors provide some rules how this can be achieved. The authors also recommend using the Google Calendar to plan and manage their activities. It is also important to follow up after meetings and client contacts, and the authors have a list of suggestions for this. The objective of these tools is to minimize the amount of admin work done by the executive, leaving time for managing clients and the business.
With Zen and the art of admin tasks, Nic de Castro and Nathan Pettijohn have presented a nice booklet of ideas and practical suggestions, easily absorbed and understood by any busy executive. Having been exposed to administrative problems during my career and how much of my time emails absorbed my day, I was able to appreciate the suggestions to ameliorate the administrative burden. My only regret is that the authors had not delved deeper into the fascinating area of task management. However, what they have come up with should give executives material to reflect on their daily activates and hopefully, adopt the suggested solutions.
Zen and the art of admin tasks can be found on Amazon.
About the Authors
Nic de Castro is a sales leader in the marketing technology industry with a breadth of experience both building businesses and selling products to the largest advertisers on the planet. He’s lived in Boston, LA, Chicago, NYC, SF, Boulder, & Bozeman and has nearly broken 1M miles for work travel, but has been fortunate to sneak quite a bit of fun into those miles over the years. Nic is VP of Strategic Partnerships at Strike Social.
Nathan Pettijohn is a talent manager, producer, and growth hacker. In 2011, Nathan founded Cordurouy, where he now serves as CEO. Cordurouy leads digital strategy for numerous brands and influencers. As a talent manager, Nathan represents business innovators such as Janice Bryant Howroyd (Founder and CEO, The ActOne Group). He is also a contributing writer for Forbes on topics relating to what business leaders need to know about innovations in media and digital strategy.
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