I was a kitchen operator on a Boeing 777, responsible for preparing meals for around 240 passengers. One hour before service, I was standing in the galley.
Doing nothing.
I was capable. I knew the job. But I was waiting — for my manager to tell me what to prepare, what to prioritise, where to start.
Where I grew up, waiting for instruction was what respect looked like. You wait for your manager. You ask before you act.
My manager called me in.
She was not happy with my performance.
I didn't understand.
I believed I had shown her respect. I hadn't acted before she told me to. I was ready to do exactly what she asked, quickly and well.
But she wasn't asking whether I respected her.
She was asking why the galley wasn't ready.
Why I hadn't simply started.
I didn't yet know the one distinction that would have changed everything.
Waiting for permission is only correct outside your scope of responsibility.
It Looked Like I Wasn't Taking Responsibility
From my manager's perspective, I wasn't taking responsibility.
I was capable.
I knew the work.
Yet I was standing there waiting.
In her work culture, waiting wasn't interpreted as respect.
It was interpreted as hesitation.
The Problem Was My Definition of Responsibility
I wasn't applying the wrong skill.
I was applying the right skill from the wrong definition.
Where I grew up, waiting for instruction was respect.
In this workplace, waiting was the mistake.
Neither definition was wrong.
They were simply built for different environments.
My scope of responsibility as kitchen operator already included planning the work, setting priorities and delegating tasks to my team. I simply hadn't realised that my responsibility extended beyond "what I'm told."
This wasn't inexperience.
I knew the job.
What I didn't understand was where my responsibility began.
Knowing how to do the work and knowing when the work was already yours are two different kinds of knowledge.
Why High-Performance Organisations Care About This
This wasn't only an airline lesson.
I later realised that many high-performance organisations are trying to answer the same question: when something needs to be done, will this person wait — or will they act?
Technical competence matters. But once everyone in the room meets the technical standard, organisations begin looking for something harder to measure. Judgement. Ownership. Initiative. The ability to act appropriately without waiting for unnecessary permission.
In aviation, this isn't simply encouraged. It is operationally necessary.
Crew Resource Management (CRM) was developed after accident investigations showed that rigid authority gradients could prevent people from speaking up or acting when safety depended on it.
One purpose of CRM is to help people understand what they can decide for themselves, when they should involve others, and when they should escalate.
Core Insight
The goal isn't to remove hierarchy. It's to remove unnecessary hesitation.
Cross-cultural psychology helps explain why this doesn't come naturally to everyone. Research on power distance suggests that people raised in more hierarchical cultures are more likely to wait for instruction before acting — not because they lack ability, but because acting independently may be interpreted as overstepping authority.
Looking back, I realised that the lesson was never really about creativity.
It was learning to recognise where my responsibility already began — and stepping into it before someone had to give me permission.
The Boundary Nobody Explains
Knowing where responsibility begins is only half the skill. Knowing where it ends matters just as much.
Many capable people already know what needs to be done. They hesitate because they don't know whether it is their responsibility to do it.
Many organisations create the same uncertainty. They ask people to take initiative and show ownership, but never clearly explain where responsibility begins — or where it should be handed on. When that boundary is unclear, people either wait too long or act too soon.
High-performing organisations reduce that uncertainty. They make the boundary visible.
In aviation, for example, many airlines use operating procedures, scenario-based training and Crew Resource Management (CRM) to help crew understand what decisions they can make themselves, when they should involve others, and when they should escalate. The goal isn't to control every decision. It's to make responsibility clear before the moment arrives.
The goal isn't to remove hierarchy. It's to remove unnecessary hesitation.
When people know where their responsibility begins — and where it ends — they stop guessing. They start making better decisions.
The real skill isn't simply taking initiative. It's knowing where your responsibility begins — and where it ends.
Before You Hesitate — Or Before You Lead Others
If you're the one hesitating, stop and ask yourself one question:
Is this inside my scope of responsibility?
Waiting for permission is only correct outside your scope of responsibility.
Most people never separate the two. They keep waiting, even after responsibility has already become theirs. That's why the hesitation repeats every time the environment changes.
If you're the one leading, ask yourself a different question:
Have I made the scope of responsibility clear?
Do people know what they can decide themselves, when they should involve others, and when they should escalate?
Initiative rarely fails because people lack talent. More often, it fails because the boundary was never made clear, and people are left to guess it alone.
That lesson changed how I worked for the rest of my career.
It wasn't really about cabin crew, or even aviation. It was about recognising that the definition of responsibility changes from one culture to another — and learning to recognise the workplace standard quickly, instead of assuming everyone defines responsibility the way you do.
That became one of the capabilities I now help professionals develop before they step into global workplaces. Not because every organisation is the same, but because every organisation has its own expectations about where responsibility begins — and successful professionals learn to recognise that difference early.
Waiting for permission is only correct outside your scope of responsibility. Everything else in this piece — the hesitation, the boundary, the misread — comes from forgetting that one line.
This is the gap I built Global Citizens Skills™ to address. Not the surface symptom of "needs more confidence." The interpretation underneath it: where responsibility begins — and how to recognise it without waiting for someone else to tell you.
The more I studied this pattern, the more I realised it wasn't only about behaviour under pressure. It was about identity. The quiet belief, carried across borders, about what a person is allowed to become.
That's a different kind of story.
And it's the one I haven't told yet.
