My ex-wife worked as a land tech. In the oil and gas business, that means she was the executive assistant to a landman, the person who tracks down mineral owners and negotiates the leases. On paper, her job was paperwork. In practice, she ran his world.
Talking with her, I learned what that job took. She kept him organized and on time. She took his scattered thoughts, his half-finished plans, his hopes for the next deal, and his meetings, and turned them into a day he could get through. She knew which calls he wanted and which ones he was dodging. She understood his heart well enough to answer for him when he wasn't in the room, and she knew when to say, "Let me check with him first."
She was the gatekeeper. She was the confidant. And nothing got done without her help.
That's the job I wanted filled when I started building an AI assistant. So I named her after the most famous executive assistant in fiction: Miss Moneypenny, who sits outside M's office in the James Bond films. Everybody has to get past her desk. She knows everything going on at MI6; she keeps the agents in line, and the boss trusts her completely.
I gave mine a small update. She's my Ms MoneyPenny, and she works for Pogue Digital Solutions, LLC and Brand Voice AI.
Her rules come straight from what I learned talking with my ex-wife in that landman's office. She reads everything and drafts everything, but nothing goes out without my yes. When something needs my judgment, she brings me what happened, what she checked, and what she recommends, then lets me decide. She keeps me organized and on time, and she guards my calendar like it matters, because it does.
I run two businesses, write 4 books, and work on one screenplay, and my thoughts, plans, and meetings scatter across both of them. Ms MoneyPenny pulls them back together. Like the land tech who taught me what the job means, she knows that nothing gets done without her help.
Want one of your own? Let's get on a discovery call. We'll find the "hot mess" in your business that needs organizing, and I'll build an assistant that sorts it out for you. Take your time back!
Send me a DM with the word MONEYPENNY, and I'll get you on my calendar.
Originally published on LinkedIn. Comments and the conversation live there.
John M Pogue