Rules of Work, 5th Edition

RULE 73

Make your company better for having you there

One of the most satisfying ways to make your name in an organisation is to propose a change that will benefit everyone, not just your own job or even your department.

I’ll give you an example. I worked in a company that had one of those suggestion boxes that most people thought was a bit of a pointless exercise, and we didn’t believe anyone would take any notice of the suggestions anyway. Until this woman we hardly knew made a blindingly simple suggestion via the box. She recommended that all letters should be sent by second class post as standard, unless there was a good reason to upgrade it to first class. Up until then all post had gone first class.

This was exactly the sort of thing I’m ...