Speaking
Real life, Real Advice and Really Inspiring
I’ve always been passionate about people. I love discovering who they are, knowing what makes them tick, and seeing their unique skills and gifts. Offering care and understanding is in my nature, and so is educating, process thinking, and cheering others on.
Harnessing and channelling these superpowers to create my own ‘career by design’, I now work with people in Professional Support roles to deliver the confidence, consistency and career development that transforms them into thriving Linchpin Assistants.
As one of Australia’s most trusted Professional Support Strategists, I’ve worked with hundreds of Executive Assistants, Business Support and Admin Professionals over the last six years. With my E.F.F.E.C.T.I.V.E. Methodology®, they have shifted from underconfidence and overwhelm to empowered, strategic and effective Linchpin Assistants powering their organisations and thriving in their careers and life.
As Founder and Director of Linchpin Assistant, certified executive coach and trainer, I partner with organisations, L&D Professionals and Executives to drive business efficiency, effectiveness, and engagement through my Linchpin Assist Model®, Assistant Competency Model® and the Ten Power Skills for Linchpin Assistants® training modules.
As a Global Keynote Speaker and EmCee, I ignite, inform and inspire audiences by guiding events, sharing insights, and creating opportunities to activate thinking and elevate innovation in work, life and community.
My Path to Here
An early-career administration role gave me first-hand experience in the complexity and growing demands of Professional Support roles. The effective models, frameworks and methodologies I developed to survive and thrive as a valued contributor went on to support my 25-year award-winning career in Corporate Sales in the technology sector.
Then in 2013, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and my life and career as I knew it came to a grinding halt. With the courage and support from my husband, our three beautiful daughters, family, and friends, I faced the fight of my life.
Recovering from invasive treatment, I came full circle, taking up an Executive Assistant/Personal Assistant role for a dynamic global business leader. He saw that although I didn't have the traditional Executive Assistant background, I had the frameworks, model, commercial, and business acumen to become a trusted partner and safe pair of hands.
As a self-motivated learner, I turned to podcasts as a resource and found nothing that looked at leadership and strategic thinking through the lens of an Executive Assistant, so I decided to start my own. My podcast Assist with Impact (previously Being Indispensable) was born. Now with over 250k downloads, it's supporting Executive Assistants, Business Support and Admin Professionals around the globe.
Empowered By Being Purpose-Led
The Linchpin Assistant emerged as a purpose-led platform, program, professional development system, podcast and place dedicated to boosting the confidence and career development of those in Professional Support roles to strategically contribute to an organisation’s success while realising their own potential.
Many EA Support Programs have preceded mine, and many continue to be established. Still, it’s my unwavering mission to partner with organisations to educate, empower and elevate those in Professional Support roles through a simple and actionable methodology to raise their visibility, value and voice in their organisation that sets Linchpin Assistants apart.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead by example and for the glowing endorsements from leaders and Executive Assistants in blue chip companies as a testament to the impact of Linchpin Assistant. And what’s most exciting is the growth of our community, the industry embracing the Linchpin Assistant E.F.F.E.C.T.IV.E. Methodology® as a benchmark, and our emerging products to continue supporting organisations, Executives and exceptional people in Professional Support roles.
“Together we can build valuable career currency for Executive Assistants, Business Support and Admin Professionals in the corporate economy.” - Liz Van Vliet
Client Love
The feedback on your presentation received across the group was great. Given that it was a cross-section of very senior to junior assistants, the content worked very well.
Debra Grogan
Mirvac Group
Speaking Topics
An uplifting, interactive and motivational speaker to entertain your audience
As a keynote speaker, my style is warm, engaging and full of easy-to-grasp messages. Your audience will walk away with practical takeaways that can be implemented straight away. My presentations take my personal experiences-both life and career-and relate them to members of the audience.
How you can combine strategic and tactical thinking to be more effective in your role
POWER Skills that are anything but soft
Linchpin Assistants demonstrate specific skills that I describe as their POWER skills. These supercharged soft skills are the capabilities that enable them to better support their boss. They can then become a safe and trusted pair of hands in an increasingly demanding business landscape. I'll walk the audience through my Assistant Competency Framework and Linchpin Model to explain what those skills and capabilities are and to help empower EAs to develop them.
How to manage the matrix
In today's complex business environment, executive assistants and other administrative professionals need to 'manage' in all directions, not just 'up'. It takes skills like self-awareness, assertiveness, emotional intelligence, leadership skills and the ability to communicate with confidence.
I'll share my top 10 tips for how to successfully manage internal and external stakeholders (as well as your boss).
The ONE thing
Drawing on my own story of breast cancer survival, I share my experience of post traumatic growth and the ONE thing that was vital to being able to move forward and truly identify as a survivor.
Speaker Bio
Liz Van Vliet
Liz Van Vliet is the host of the popular Assist With Impact Podcast, now with over 250,000 downloads; author of Coming Home From Breast Cancerville; and the founder of The Linchpin Assistant, which provides group training, one-to-one coaching and speaking to executive assistants and other administrative assistants that want to become linchpin employees for their boss and organisation.
After Liz was forced to give up her career in sales and marketing due to a breast cancer diagnosis, she found herself looking to ease back into paid employment. She successfully applied for an executive assistant role, believing it was the 'all care and no responsibility' job that she'd been searching for.
She couldn't have been more wrong. She had to use the high-level interpersonal skills that she'd spent her working life developing.
Now Liz helps other executive assistants and administrative professionals navigate the demanding role of an executive assistant. Leveraging her Assistant Competency Model®, Linchpin Model® and Ten Power Skills for Linchpin Assistants®, Liz empowers, educates and enlightens administrative support professionals.
Client Love
Liz was a fantastic speaker at our EA event. She was easy to work with pre and post-event and delivered very relevant content to our audience. I would highly recommend Liz as a speaker at another EA event.
Emma Siegal
Gartner
'My philosophy is that we are human beings, not human doings so when I have the privilege of speaking to an audience I always balance the knowledge I am conveying with real empathy and awareness that learning new skills involves progress over perfection.'
Liz Van Vliet, My EA Career
Liz Van Vliet
Liz works with executive and administrative assistants to equip them with the skills and confidence they need to influence more effectively and to demonstrate the leadership and interpersonal skills to make them a linchpin to their manager and organisation.