I’ve always had big dreams and wanted to do things that would create a meaningful impact on people’s lives. I’ve always wanted to be part of creating positive change. That’s one of the main reasons my wife and I packed up everything we owned and moved with our 5 young children to Africa for 3 years to start a social business. (I’m sure I’ll reference that experience throughout this blog.) Whenever I’ve looked at spending a significant amount of time on something, I have been compelled to ask the question, “Will it make a difference?” I‘ve been blessed with a short amount of time in this world, and I want to make the most out of what I’ve been given.
So when my frustration with the lack of good tools to use with my executive assistant drove me to begin thinking about developing a productivity tool to help executives and EAs do more, I had to ask myself, “Would this create a positive change?” Honestly, at first I didn’t understand the meaningful impact that executive and executive assistants have on their companies, employees, and the world at large.
Because of my executive assistant, I realized not only how much better a leader I was, how much better a father I was, and how much better a husband I was, but I also realized how much better our company was. In 2016, I felt like I had no time. My schedule was full, yet things weren’t getting done. I began missing family activities, my leadership team wasn’t getting what they needed from me, and a hopelessness began to set in. In the next post, I’ll share in more detail the journey that led me to hire my first EA, but for now, I’ll just say that after doing so, my personal and professional life truly changed for the better. I experienced being a better leader, friend, father, and husband because of the partnership I had with my executive assistant.
As I started this new journey with my new executive assistant, I was excited to grow in our learning and develop processes that made both of our lives easier and more effective. For months, we experimented with different tools to strengthen our communication and productivity only to be met with continuous disappointment. As my frustration grew at the poor performance we were experiencing using these tools, I was struck by the fact that the opportunity to improve all these areas of my life had hit a ceiling. I tried to raise this ceiling by continuing to try new tools and processes just to be disappointed with the lack of progress.
I realized after several conversations with other executives, EAs, and administrative professionals that they too had these disappointments and frustrations with the tools that were out there.
The opportunity to raise this ceiling for myself, my executive assistant, and anyone else in a similar situation, became real.
It became tangible.
It became meaningful and full of purpose.
The drive to help people be better versions of themselves stirred a passion in me.
From that point forward, the idea of investing in this powerful partnership as a way to create a meaningful impact on peoples’ lives was one that I was excited to give my time to.
We exist to empower people to rise to their best. We do this by focusing our product and communication on maximizing the effectiveness of the executive and executive assistant partnership.
I believe the partnership between an Executive and an Executive Assistant is one of the most powerful partnerships in business. I believe when this partnership is maximized, it has the opportunity to help change the world.
- Don Harms, Founder & CEO of Emmre
Since early in my career, it was ingrained in me to help others be better, to help others find success. I am energized by the opportunity to do this at a greater scale. We want to provide executives and assistants with tools that allow them to be more effective in their roles - to reclaim precious hours in their day for the things in life that fulfill them not only in their careers but in all areas of their lives.
Time is our most valuable asset and time is what we want to help you get back. For this reason, we named our company Emmre. Emmre means “time” in the language spoken by one of the Ghanaian tribes we worked with while living in Africa.
I believe if we can maximize the executive & assistant partnership for thousands of you, we will be a part of changing the world. As you all build products, develop innovations, create cures, and solve world problems that will impact millions of lives for years to come, we hope to come alongside you and support you along the way.
I truly desire to produce a product that fulfills this - a product that people can honestly tell others has helped them be more effective and be a better leader, assistant, parent, spouse, or friend. I pray that everyone that encounters Emmre will feel the sincerity of this mission and have an experience that reinforces this reality.
Thanks for joining us on this journey! If you have any questions or feedback, I’d love to hear from you at don@emmre.com. We are always improving things and nothing will help us serve you better than your feedback.
Introducing Kristie Webber
In our last blog, I mentioned you’d not only be hearing from me but also from assistants that I’ve learned from along the way. So today, I’m excited to introduce Kristie Webber to you. I had the privilege of partnering with Kristie as my executive assistant for almost four years.
I would not be exaggerating to say that Kristie had a significant impact on my life as a leader, a father, and a husband. Kristie has not only been my assistant, but she has also been my sounding board, a trusted advisor, and a confidant. I owe so much to her and her partnership over the years. Kristie started with me when I was a GM, supported me as I moved to the role of company President, and played a significant part in me eventually taking on the CEO role.
Kristie’s abilities, resourcefulness, and trustworthiness allowed me to give her many significant projects over the years. Kristie is one of the most detailed, dedicated, and driven people that I know. This was why Kristie was one of the first four people to know we were in discussions to be acquired and why the project management for the entire due diligence process was entrusted to her.
I was blessed to partner with Kristie in her role as executive assistant and now feel very fortunate that she is on Emmre’s advisory board. Emmre wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without her and wouldn’t be as well positioned without her input and efforts.
Kristie’s insights in this blog will be filled with wisdom from years of work as an Executive Assistant and her many other life experiences. Kristie won the Joan Burge Innovation of the Year award for her work on Emmre, and she leads, organizes, and attends many executive assistants’ groups and meetups. She is also a member of the Colorado Air National Guard and is about to complete her MBA.
Whether you’re an assistant looking for advice and ideas on how to improve in your role or an executive wanting to understand best practices and what is possible with a great leader-assistant partnership, I’m confident that Kristie’s contributions on this blog will be extremely valuable for you both.
Before working with Don, I used whatever tools and processes worked best for me. But when I became an executive assistant and started working with an executive, I realized I needed to focus on using tools and processes that worked well for both of us (often with the preference leaning toward tools that worked best for Don). We tried many different things that led to frustration for both of us. We struggled to find a single tool that met our needs for task management, communication, and organization while truly working for each of us in our individual roles.
During this time, Don experimented with creating software specifically designed to meet our needs and the needs of Executive-EA teams just like us. He recognized that our strategic business partnership was unique, powerful, and full of potential, but a tool needed to be created and specifically designed to maximize that potential. As Don began bringing some of these ideas to life, we collaborated on what it could look like. Don was shaping Emmre from an executive's perspective; I was excited to be the executive assistant helping shape Emmre from an EA's perspective.
Shortly after we started using Emmre every day in our day-job, our company went through an acquisition. Don and I were communicating about very sensitive information. Emmre allowed for a private space for our 1-1 communication and enabled us to keep track of the many confidential tasks required through the acquisition process. Everything we did during this time was in Emmre. It was our source of truth for communication, collaboration, and task management. Emmre helped keep us sane. It helped us know how to prioritize our work and enabled us to effectively communicate during an incredibly crazy season.
I’m excited about Don’s vision for Emmre. Don is one of the most purposeful people that I know. Emmre is a product that reflects the purposefulness and intentionality that makes Don an incredible leader. Don desires to be the best leader he can be in the workplace and to be an incredible leader in his home and community – and he has a heart to help others do the same. Emmre is a tool built from this passion. I believe it can help bring about positive change in your work, communication, and personal life. I’m thrilled that Don is working to bring Emmre to more people and am very excited to be joining Emmre’s Advisory Board, helping to deliver a product that truly benefits the Executive-Executive Assistant partnership.
Emmre is executive assistant software created by an executive and assistant for executives and assistants. Emmre's mission is to help supercharge productivity and maximize the strategic partnership between executives and executive assistants.