VIEWPOINTS : HOW DO YOU HELP YOUR BOSS? : Secretaries, Aides to High-Profile Executives Talk About Jobs

P rofessional Secretaries Week begins today . The traditional memo-typing, coffee-serving image notwithstanding, the job of secretary or administrative assistant can involve much more--roles as varied as confidante and chief of staff. Free-lance writer Michele Lingre talked to secretaries and administrative assistants to well-known decision-makers to find out what their working days, and their relationships with their bosses, are like. Excerpts follow.

Mary Miller, executive secretary to Daryl F. Gates, Los Angeles police chief.

“I review all the correspondence addressed to the chief. If it’s an invitation, I sometimes call and ask the people what type of affair it is. I find out how long the dinner or luncheon is going to last, what he should speak about, how long he should speak for, how many people are going to be there. Sometimes it is not worth the driving time to go for a very small group.

“Everyday, I remind him of his meetings. I keep track of them more than he does.

“When someone calls the office, (I am) representing him. My demeanor is very important. You have to be understanding. We have emotional people calling in. Sometimes they yell at you or yell at a system they find troublesome or can’t quite understand.

“The other thing is to screen as many things away from him as you possibly can. We get calls everyday from people demanding to speak to the chief about traffic tickets, stolen vehicles.

“He is not very verbal with praise, at least with people who are close to him. I tease him that, in 18 years we have worked together, he has taken me to lunch for Secretary’s Day three times, maybe.”

Jean E. Hines, administrative assistant to Michael S. Dukakis, Democratic presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts.

“When you work with somebody for a period of time, you get to sense their moods, that’s part of what you learn along the way. If it is clear the governor has something extraordinarily important on his mind, I’ll say to his senior staff or his cabinet person, ‘Look, I know this issue you are dealing with is important; however, it might be better if you discuss it with him later on today or tomorrow.’ The governor wants quality decision making, and you get this when people are in the best frame of mind.

“The governor, as a presidential candidate, does spend more time on the road. He is an avid reader, and we prepare memos to bring things to his attention. He frequently goes off carrying two full briefcases. When he returns, he will have reviewed every single one, so the paper flow is very rapid.”

Gregg Boekeloo, assistant to Jerry Della Femina, chairman of Travisano & Partners, an advertising agency in New York.

“I’m a real message center. Any phone call that comes in to Jerry, I usually get. People call with an idea or a project they want Jerry to participate in.

“I will get them to talk in a generic way to get a sense of whether they are legitimate or not. While they are talking, my antennas are out: People who are new to a business are scared. You can tell by their voice there is a lot riding on that telephone call, or they try to be very slick, they won’t want to discuss things with me.

“People who are legitimate will give me enough information so I can discuss it with Jerry. There is a certain casualness, they are confident. But sometimes I’m wrong, and I always tell Jerry of the calls that came in. When he doesn’t know the individual who called, he’ll ask me what my impression is, so he doesn’t have to do that screening when he calls them back.

” . . . When Jerry goes to a new town, I give him a list of good restaurants. If he goes to London on business, I make sure he has tickets to a play to entertain the people he is with.

“I do personal things for him, too. He and his wife, Judy Licht, are buying a farm in Upstate New York. I was involved in coordinating things with the attorney. They have really taken me in as one of their own.”

Jane Erkenbeck, special assistant to First Lady Nancy Reagan.

“I deal with the First Lady in matters that are personal and confidential. For example, my office handles most of her correspondence. I will have the letters composed the way she would write them--she writes in a very friendly manner, more or less as she would speak. I edit the letters first, then she approves them for her signature.

“For many of the ‘drug’ events, the requests are handled through the project office. People will write and want an autographed picture of the First Lady, children write to her, people write in and ask her questions such as, ‘I’m on drugs, I want to get off drugs--what do I do? Where do I go?’ She gets many letters commending her on her anti-drug campaign. ‘Just say no’ came from her.

“When she had her surgery last October, we received over 30,000 letters, cards, flower arrangements. Over 6,000 letters came in when her mother died. Every letter, card, phone call was answered by us. That was a big one.

“She has to have a lot of faith and trust in me, because no one really sees her the way I do, and sometimes she will ask my advice on little things--nothing world-shaking, I don’t get into things like that, nor does she.

“When we are going on a trip--I travel with her wherever she goes--I will, for example, remind her the weather is going to be cold, ‘so be sure you bring warm clothes,’ or ‘you are going to do a lot of walking, be sure you wear comfortable shoes.’

“I have been working for her since June of 1985. I worked for her chief of staff before that. I don’t know yet what I will be doing (when the Reagans leave the White House). That is down the road a piece, but I will here until the very end of this Administration. The First Lady is who makes the job so wonderful for me.”

Mary Brunholz, executive secretary to Bill Davila, president of Vons Cos.

“(I have) your typical secretarial job, answer the phone, do correspondence and be his right arm. I really don’t think I make him look good, he looks good on his own.

“I think he should get out to see his people once every two months, but I know with his schedule, he is not able to do it. So I’ll go in and say, ‘You know you really have to get out and talk to the truck drivers or walk the warehouse.’ We have the senior vice presidents, but still it’s not the same as seeing the president walk up, and know you can say hi.

“After I have had an upsetting shopping experience at one of our stores, maybe I’ve looked for an item and the shelves were empty, I’ll go into his office and say, ‘I wish you guys would look at this.’

“If he has a meeting going on in his office, he will say, ‘Would you mind?’ and he’ll have the coffee pot in hand. I’m in the middle-age group, not the younger generation; it doesn’t bother me to go get coffee, or sharpen pencils.

“And he remembers Secretaries Day. I get a beautiful flower arrangement or plant and he takes me to a very lovely restaurant for lunch. One year he took me to the races in Arcadia. We only got to stay for lunch and one race, but at least it was different.”

Mary Lou Liebich, administrative assistant for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

“The bulk of the work is phones. (Coach) Pat Riley isn’t in the office very much, and he doesn’t have very much time to talk to the general public. We are taking calls for 20 people and get more calls when losing games than when winning. You have so-called armchair coaches who call and say, ‘If the coach had played this player instead of that player,’ or, ‘If you hadn’t traded away that player.’

“The most important thing is that you are almost in the position of a (public relations) person. You don’t want to discount what the caller is saying. The only thing you can do is say the coach has done what he felt was best for the team. You try to answer so when the person leaves the phone he or she is happy with our response.”

DR, DAN SWEETMAN / for The Times