Taking initiative used to be seen as a good thing, at least when I was a kid. Nowadays, if you do take initiative in the workplace, you can be seen as going rogue.

This is largely based on the culture of the organization you’re taking initiative in, and what your role and interest is, respective to the org’s charter that year. Are you for the team, or are you a high paid consultant who might have a different motive than us, as employees?

Over the course of my 30+ working years, both in blue collar and white collar jobs, I’ve learned maybe it is best not to take initiative, and in fact, unless this “thing” we’re talking about is directly tied to my paycheck? My standard answer might be “uh, what? I dunno, I just work here.”

It is not my job to know how to do your job. Back when I used to row on a recreational adult team, at five in the morning, in a sweep eight, with seven other women older than me and a cox’n, this is kind of what my rowing coach used to say: best thing you could do was to focus on your own rowing and try not to worry about the girl in front of you who keeps coming late to the catch.

This definitely applies in the workplace, and is sage advice.