Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Recent events bring an old saying to mind: you don’t need permission to do your job.

You don’t need permission to do your job¹

This thought hit me last week. I was working in a different office and was struggling to get anything done. One of the things that bothered me was the amount of dust and dirt on the desk and floor. I wanted to ask someone for permission to tidy the room a bit. Duh. I didn’t need to ask anyone for permission. Getting something done was my job, and if dirt was preventing me from doing my job, well, duh.

A little thought about this old saying ties it into much of what I read today on the net. There is lots of entrepreneur, work flow, and web 22.0 flying about today. Click, turn on, link in, pin the linch, connect, blink, and all that stuff. They all seem to be spins on the old Nike saying of “just do it.”

The same goes for the above saying. If it is my job, just do it. If I find myself in all sorts of trouble for doing my job, well, that’s life. I was trying to do something positive.

I like to add a word to the end of the above phrase:

You don’t need permission to do your job well

Of course, sometimes doing your job and doing it well are subjective. People will disagree about what they mean. Again, at least I was trying to do something positive.

1. I heard that a long time ago. I can’t remember where, when, or who said that. If you know, please tell me.