PRINCIPLE #9
Eliminate the “it’s not my job” attitude.
Winnie Chow, Director of Legal Affairs
This is a principle that I learned and have practiced since my childhood. As a young child living in Hong Kong, I vividly remember my mom always telling me that I not only have to do what is asked of me, but that I also need to do more than is asked to show that I truly understand what I’m doing and why. It’s quite possible that my mom told me this while I was doing my homework in a less-than-attentive manner!
Fast forward to today. Having worked in OPEX’s Legal Department for almost 20 years, I can tell you this principle is very much a part of my daily work life. While my core responsibility is to work on various types of legal transactions such as sales proposals, purchase agreements, or maintenance contracts, I also receive non-legal requests from our customers during the course of working with them.
For instance, I recently was stumped when a customer asked me how we package our scanners, what types of material we use, and whether the materials are recyclable. I had no idea, but I knew who would know the answer. I called one of my colleagues in Shipping and he explained the process and provided the packaging information, which I then forwarded to our customer.
Instead of just pushing these things off to someone else, I know that I am better able to complete a customer transaction because we lend a helping hand to each other. This in turn contributes to OPEX’s success, and helps me (and others) grow and learn in the process.