Nobody Asked Me To

Nobody asked me to build the procurement system.

Nobody asked me to draw the bracket. Nobody asked me to go sit with each department head before the ERP went live and show them the one thing the new system would fix for them specifically.

I just did those things.

At some point early in my career I noticed something: the people who waited to be told what to do were always busy. The people who looked around and handled things were always the ones being trusted with more.

It is not about being a hero. It is not about working harder than everyone else. It is about seeing a gap and deciding it is yours to close — before anyone makes it official, before anyone writes a ticket, before anyone schedules a meeting to discuss what to do about it.

The best manager I ever had stopped assigning me things after about three months. Not because he stopped caring. Because he knew I had already seen it.

That is the thing I look for now when I am building a team. Not the person with the best resume. The person who, when they walk past a problem, cannot help but do something about it.

You can teach skills.

You cannot teach that.