Working as an Executive Assistant to the CEO of a unicorn startup, my day is measured in minutes.
Calendars are everything. Every slot is optimized, every meeting has a purpose, every conversation is accounted for. My job is to protect time — especially the CEO’s.
But the most important meeting I witnessed last month… was never scheduled.
It started as a disruption.
A junior employee — someone not even two levels below leadership — showed up outside the CEO’s office. No prior request. No formal agenda. Just a simple ask: “Can I have five minutes?”
Normally, this doesn’t happen.
There are processes. Channels. Layers. You don’t just walk in. My instinct was to redirect, to ask them to book time properly.
But something about the urgency in their voice made me pause.
I checked inside.
The CEO looked at me, then at the person waiting, and said, “Send them in.”
Five minutes turned into thirty.
From where I sat, I couldn’t hear everything, but I could read the room when the door finally opened. It wasn’t a routine conversation. Something had shifted.
Later that day, I found out what it was about.
A small issue. Something overlooked. A friction point in the product that hadn’t surfaced in leadership meetings. The kind of detail that usually gets buried under bigger priorities.
But it mattered.
Within a week, that issue was fixed. Within a month, it became part of a larger improvement that impacted thousands of users.
All because someone decided not to wait for the “right” process.
And because the CEO chose to listen.
That moment changed how I see my role.
Yes, I manage schedules. Yes, I filter requests. But I also shape access. And sometimes, protecting time isn’t about blocking interruptions — it’s about recognizing which interruptions deserve space.
In fast-growing companies, it’s easy to build walls without realizing it.
Layers, systems, approvals — all designed for efficiency.
But innovation doesn’t always follow structure.
Sometimes, it walks in unannounced.
Now, when I see an unscheduled request, I don’t just think about disruption.
I think about possibility.
Because not every important conversation fits neatly into a calendar slot.
And sometimes, the meetings that change everything…
are the ones that almost didn’t happen.