She’s the Secretary General : Profile: Leslie Noel uses diplomatic skill and a sixth sense in the service of her boss, Newport Beach developer Donald M. Koll.

The caller could be Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, golfing legend Jack Nicklaus--or an office-supply salesperson.

Leslie Noel, executive secretary for Newport Beach developer Donald M. Koll, never knows who will be on the line when she answers the phone. And part of her job is to put them at ease, whoever they are.

“I want to treat the copier sales guy the same way I treat the president of Mexico, with respect,” said Noel, 31. “They will soon forgot who I am, but they won’t forget how they were treated by the Koll Co.”

Her boss is chairman of a company that builds, leases and manages some of Orange County’s top business centers and is now developing luxury golfing resorts and commercial sites in Mexico. That puts Noel in the very midst of the international real estate industry.

Because Don Koll is so well-known, Noel said, people around the world try to phone him directly. A big part of her job, she said, is to refer callers with routine requests to staff members at lower levels--and to do it diplomatically so that they do not feel that they are getting the brushoff.

She often advises people to write letters to Koll, she said. “He is so hands-on with his business, he reads all his mail.”

She also uses tact to interrupt Koll during conferences if, for example, he is late for another appointment. “I will walk in and slip him a note or try to do it very discreetly,” she said.

Though she has been with Koll for only a year, she confesses to having developed a sixth sense for her boss’s work pace and style. And she has learned how to use her diplomatic skills with him too.

“I will even tell him, ‘Don, I made an appointment with your barber,’ and he will say, ‘Oh, do I need a haircut?’ ”

The key to success in her job, Noel said, is to stay focused on the job every minute and to practice self-discipline.

Linda Lane, the Koll Co. senior vice president who hired Noel after interviewing 15 candidates, says self-confidence and charm landed her the job even though some applicants had more secretarial experience.

“It was so refreshing when I interviewed Leslie,” Lane said. “There was a freshness and excitement. . . . It truly was a spark.”