THE BRIEF IS DIFFERENT.
A UHNW principal does not need an EA who is good at their job. They need an EA who is exceptional at a job that most people have never done. The complexity of managing a UHNW principal's world, multiple residences, multiple entities, multiple time zones, multiple relationships, is categorically different from a corporate EA brief.
DISCRETION IS NOT A SKILL. IT IS A PREREQUISITE.
At the UHNW level, discretion is not something you demonstrate in an interview. It is something you have built over years. The principal's world is private. The EA is the gatekeeper. A single breach of confidence ends the relationship. The best UHNW EAs understand this instinctively.
THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL OVERLAP.
A corporate EA manages a professional world. A UHNW EA manages a life. The lines between personal and professional are blurred or non-existent. The EA may be involved in family matters, property decisions, travel planning for multiple households, and relationships that span decades. This requires a different kind of judgment.
TENURE IS THE METRIC.
UHNW principals do not hire EAs. They build relationships. The average tenure of a TalentSmiths UHNW placement is over four years. The principals who come back to us are the ones who understand that finding the right person is worth the time. The ones who rush the process pay for it.
WHY MOST EAs ARE NOT READY.
Most EAs have built their careers in corporate environments. The skills that make a great corporate EA, efficiency, organisation, stakeholder management, are necessary but not sufficient at the UHNW level. What is missing is the judgment to operate in an environment where the rules are not written down, the priorities shift without notice, and the consequences of a wrong decision are personal, not professional.