Lets Get Personal

Whats the difference between you and Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google? I mean, besides his private plane, his billion-dollar bankbook, and his high-level position on the honor roll of the worlds richest guys.

The answer, my friend, is that Brin has a personal assistant -- a comely amanuensis named Ginger Franke. She not only runs personal errands for top execs in Silicon Valley, but also handles mission-critical tasks for these high-income performers, like redecorating their pied-a-tiers, buying intimate apparel for their pets and, perhaps most critical of all, making sure the candy dishes in their office suites are always filled to the brim with M & Ms.

Franke, whose concierge service bears the eponymous acronym FLM for Franke Lifestyle Management, was the subject of a recent profile in The New York Times. And while I can understand why an important mogul like Brin does not have time to fill his own M&Ms bowl, I have to report that I found myself profoundly depressed by the idea that if rich enough, you dont have to do all those tiresome jobs that fill our exhausting days -- raising your children or listening to your spouse.

With the proper assistant, we probably wouldnt even need to get out of bed and go to work. Our personal assistant would punch in and attend the morning staff meetings, the lunchtime conferences and the afternoon coffee klatches. You and me, we dont get much done, but, man, are we good at delegating.

If it seems unlikely that youll ever have a personal, or even an impersonal assistant, I can understand your disappointment. After all, how can a working stiff like thee or me hire a lifestyle consultant? That would imply we had a lifestyle.

On the other hand, perhaps its the impossibility of people like us being able to find or afford a loyal Sancho Panza to our whacked-out Don Quixote that makes it worthwhile to cash in the kiddies 529 plans and give it a whirl. Hiring a personal assistant can certainly be part time for a project or even on an hourly basis. I have no idea what Franke charges her billionaire clients, but Im sure any one of us -- or all of us, if we chip in -- can collect a few thousand Washingtons for a few minutes of her time, which is more than enough to change the perceptions of everyone in the company, including the boss.

Just having a sleek, personal assistant arrive at the reception desk and ask for you would start the rumor mill grinding away. Frobisher has a personal assistant? What are her duties? Waking him up from his mid-morning nap in time to go outside and wait for the taco truck? Continued...