The Initiative Gap: School na scam.

It is one of those Nigerian jokes that becomes more convincing when you meet a brilliant graduate who seems completely helpless at work.

As a CEO, I sometimes wonder whether the problem is really school. Or whether some people simply became very good at succeeding in an environment where someone was always telling them what to do.

Take Teddy and Sammy. They are both students. Teddy is the type who gets his assignment, completes exactly what was requested and submits it on time. If the lecturer has not explained the next stage, he waits. If his group members are disorganised, he waits for somebody to organise them. If there is a problem, he expects the person in charge to address it.

Sammy is not necessarily more intelligent. He simply behaves differently. If his group has an assignment due in two weeks, he is already asking what they need to complete this week. If nobody has gathered the materials, he starts looking for them. If he notices that the presentation will require something they do not have, he raises it early.

Neither student may think they are developing a workplace skill. But they are. When I eventually meet Teddy and Sammy as employees, I may see the same difference in a completely different setting.

Give Teddy a responsibility and he may ask, “What exactly do you want me to do?” Give Sammy the same responsibility and he may ask, “What are we trying to achieve, and what else will be required to get there?”

That second question is important to me as a CEO because organisations are built around problems. Customers have problems. Businesses exist to solve them. Departments exist because something needs to be managed, improved, delivered or protected. So when I am assessing an employee, I am interested not only in whether the person can follow an instruction, but whether the person can recognise what needs attention without waiting for an instruction.

Research on students making the transition from school to work supports this connection. Studies have found relationships between proactive orientations in students and career adaptability, career development and proactive career behaviours. One intervention study involving 250 Chinese undergraduate and postgraduate students also found that coaching could improve the orientation associated with proactive career behaviour. In other words, initiative is not simply something we either have or do not have; it can be developed.

This is where I would challenge both sides of the conversation.

If Sammy naturally behaves this way in school, he may enter the workplace with an advantage because he has already practised thinking ahead. But Teddy is not doomed. He may simply have had fewer opportunities to exercise that muscle.

And that is the part people often miss.

You can practise initiative before you have a job.

It begins with ordinary life. If you know you will need something tomorrow, prepare it today. If you are going somewhere, think through what could go wrong before you leave. If someone gives you a responsibility, do not stop at the instruction; think about what the next person will need from you. If you repeatedly encounter the same problem, think about what could prevent it rather than becoming an expert at complaining about it.

These seem like small things. They are not entirely small.

You are training your mind to look beyond the immediate moment.

Eventually, that becomes a habit: seeing what is coming, preparing for it and acting before the problem becomes urgent.

Of course, there is a limit. I would not want an employee who interprets initiative as permission to interfere with everything. Initiative without judgment can create another problem. Nor should organisations disguise excessive workloads as “going the extra mile.”

From my side of the table, the distinction is simpler.

I am not necessarily looking for the person who does the most.

I am looking for the person who notices the most.

The employee who says, “I finished the assignment,” has completed a task.

The employee who says, “I finished it, and I noticed this issue could affect the next stage, so I have flagged it,” has demonstrated awareness.

That is the kind of difference that becomes visible over time.

So perhaps “school na scam” is not quite the right diagnosis. School may actually be one of the first places where initiative can be deliberately practised. The mistake is waiting until we enter an organisation before learning how to anticipate.

If you have never developed that habit, start where you are.

Look around your everyday life and ask one question: “What will be needed next?” Then do something about it before somebody tells you. That is how the muscle develops.