A few weeks ago Barack Obama was asked to give career advice.

“The most important advice I give to young people is … just learn how to get stuff done,” Obama explained. “I’ve seen at every level people who are very good at describing problems, people who are very sophisticated in explaining why something went wrong or why something can’t get fixed, but what I’m always looking for is no matter how small the problem or how big it is, somebody who says, ‘Let me take care of that.’"

The more senior you become, the more your job involves filling gaps and handling situations that are complex and unclear.

You are here to make your organization successful (whatever that means at that moment). Finger-pointing and questioning "who does what" stalls progress by putting the actual work aside and placing focus inward.

High-performance teams dial in on the tasks ahead, divvying up responsibilities and making incremental progress on the goal. Delegating is an important tool, but can also devolve into abdication. Sometimes things just need to get done.

One time on a job site I saw my General Contractor driving around the site collecting garbage. I asked him why he was doing it. "It needs to be done to keep things moving"

Peter Drucker notes that “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work”

Find the gaps, fill them, and move on.

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