This past year has taught me one lesson over and over: people need clarity to do great work. Yet too often, we hesitate to be the ones to provide it. When the path forward is unclear, we hold back, waiting for someone else to step up. But here’s the truth: clarity doesn’t always come from the top. Sometimes, it has to come from you.
Is a reorg leaving your team in chaos? Don’t wait—offer your boss a few ideas for the new structure. Is a new initiative too vague? Give your team five practical starting points. The people who get hired, promoted, and remembered are those who contribute, who show up with solutions rather than waiting for instructions.
Let me share a few examples of what this looks like in action.
Last spring, I met a project manager at a conference. She was frustrated because her leadership team wasn’t giving her direction on a major business transformation. I asked her, “What if they’re waiting for you to set the direction? What if the answers you’re looking for are the recommendations already in your head?” Two months later, she called me to say that perspective had changed everything. “I set a strategy, asked my leaders to back it publicly, and people rallied around it,” she said. Her initiative earned her a promotion to lead an entire transformation team.
Contrast that with another situation I encountered in the fall. I worked with a leadership team stuck in a toxic stalemate. Mid-managers were looking to their VP for guidance on restructuring, while the VP was convinced a “servant leader” should let her team find the answers themselves. But when no one stepped up, frustration brewed. The VP eventually left, and the mid-managers were left hoping her replacement would fill the void. The result? Wasted time, fractured trust, and lost opportunities.
More recently, I coached a Scrum Master struggling with a similar dilemma. Her team was floundering—juggling the ambiguity of a new project and the departure of their tech lead. She had ideas for how to move forward but felt constrained by the notion that good professionals “don’t step on toes” or “stay in their lane.” During our session, she realized what the VP I mentioned earlier could not: she was the leader the team needed. Sharing her ideas and collaborating with her manager wasn’t overstepping; it was exactly what the situation required.
Yes, the world has its share of good-idea fairies, Captain Obviouses, and chatty know-it-alls. But you know what? I’ll take them over people who bring nothing to the table. Bad ideas and bloated opinions can be refined; silence and inaction are far harder to fix.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a Product Owner, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Coach, or Consultant. Being proactive, offering ideas, and seeking solutions don’t make you rude or “command and control.” They make you helpful. And every one of us has the opportunity to be helpful.
My hope for 2025 is that more people choose to lean into the ambiguity that bothers them most. Be the one who offers clarity. Be the one who takes action. Because leadership isn’t a title—it’s what you do when it matters most.
