Andrew Graff has run Allen & Gerritsen, an independent creative, media & PR agency in Boston and Philadelphia, with over 100 people, for 31 of its 41 years.

After his trusted and beloved EA left for another career path, he went through half a dozen in-house Senior EAs that couldn’t keep up. When he was on the brink of giving up, he was introduced to an unconventional solution from a country he had never heard of before.

"I was skeptical. I'll be candid: could this work? But I was frustrated enough to be open-minded enough to say I could do it a different way."

So he treated it as a three-month experiment. Low risk, in his words, and buying himself time, because it was clear he couldn't keep doing it himself.

Then he met Dulara.

"Honestly, meet Dulara, I was like, within three hours, all right, this is life-changing."

His own onboarding team told him she was the quickest person ever to onboard into the company.

What it looks like now: a half-hour call every morning, then an end-of-day summary of what she closed, what's still open, and what he owes people.

"We look like the most responsive team ever, because within an hour or so she's like, here's his availability, pick a time, I'll send an invite."

And the line that best illustrates what it’s like to have a great EA:

"For somebody who's never been to New York, she can navigate me in meetings in New York better than anybody before."

Introducing episode one of What Breaks First, hosted by Ian Myers, Founder & CEO of Oceans Talent.