There are many excellent people at work, but personally, I love those with a high "ability to make it work" the most. I believe they are the most talented professionals in business.
People with this ability treat finishing tasks as a responsibility they build up over time. Because of this, you can entrust them with all sorts of things. Even if assigned vaguely, they have the power to research and execute on their own, possessing both responsibility and initiative.
They can handle low-reproducibility work
This is huge. Anyone can do work that follows a manual, but people who can "make it work" when there is "no correct answer," "no precedent," or "it's never been done before" are essentially close to executives. Executives generally have an abnormally high ability to make things work.
When I broke down what makes this ability so strong, I noticed six elements cycling through each other. Today, I want to articulate this.
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The Cycle of Making It Work
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The big picture looks like this.
At the center is "acting relaxed while going after work." This is the only option, and as this cycle continues, your ability to make things work naturally improves.
① Initiative — Going after work
People who make things work don't wait for work to fall into their laps. I grew up this way myself, so I'm confident about this. Just put on a relaxed face and raise your hand saying, "I'll do that."
It's not just about having initiative; it's about actively building a track record of being entrusted. Start with small tasks. If you make it work, more comes next. If you make that work too, even bigger tasks follow. Through this repetition, you enter the position of "let's ask that person."
One thing to remember:
People who say "I'm busy" are just cherry-picking work.
Before you know it, others stop assigning you tasks, leading to complaints about having no work—or relief. The causality is reversed.
② Speedism — Immediate "Yes," starting in seconds
Even with initiative, slow responses break the cycle. By the time you've sat on "I'll consider it" for three days, the other party has already asked someone else.
Speed of response is speed of trust
People who can instantly say "I'll do it" aren't necessarily more accurate; they start faster, so they can fix errors faster. Because fixes are fast, accuracy ultimately improves. It seems contradictory, but speed truly creates precision.
By the way, people whose habit is "I'll consider it" are often just procrastinating, not actually considering. Everyone sees through it.
③ Flexibility — Checking in at 60%
I think this is where the biggest difference lies. After starting quickly, people who make things work check in at the 60% mark: "Is this direction correct?"
People who aim for 100% and stay silent for three weeks usually end up redoing everything because the direction was wrong. Here's a maxim:
Those who show their work only when perfect deliver perfectly wrong results (lol).
People who can check in at 60% aren't afraid of making mistakes. Because they aren't afraid, they ultimately don't make mistakes. Flexibility is the strength to temporarily set aside pride.
④ Proposal Power — Delivering 100% + Alpha
After confirming direction at 60%, finish it to 100%. This is the dividing line. People who make things work add "+Alpha" suggestions they weren't asked for: "How about this too?"
"I think there might be another pattern," or "I noticed this, so I looked into it." Whether you say this one sentence changes impressions dramatically.
The difference between a worker and a consultant is whether there is one proposal.
People who only do what they're told remain workers forever. Next jobs come to those who can say, "I think this would be better." More importantly, they enter the position of "let's consult that person."
⑤ Efficiencyism — Creating manuals along the way
People with proposal power are usually good at efficiency too. They automatically create systems so they don't repeat the same work twice, which gives them slack. With slack, they have time to think of +Alpha. Steps ④ and ⑤ run together.
People asked the same question three times simply haven't created a system. "I'm too busy to create systems" is a lie; you're busy because you don't create systems.
90% of busy people are just repeating the same things.
People who naturally say, "I made a manual while I was at it," are truly strongest. If I had such an employee, I'd promote them immediately.
⑥ Best-ism — Using efficiency gains to improve quality
Use the time gained from efficiency to make things "better." Not perfectionism, but best-ism: today's best becomes tomorrow's baseline.
This is the key to the cycle. Continuously updating the best creates slack. Slack leads back to step ①, "I'll do it." The gear turns once and accelerates.
Conversely, if any single gear stops, everything stops. "Has initiative but is slow," "Fast but doesn't check," "Checks but doesn't propose"—all these break the cycle.
I believe the ability to make things work isn't talent, but whether six gears are turning in the right order.
That said, I'm still catastrophically bad at step ⑤, "creating manuals along the way." ...But I'm still trying to keep the cycle turning.
...FIN
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With the mission "More valuable voices, further and deeper," I operate X consulting for executives and communities.
Hardworking, sincere people are often unfairly unrecognized. To eliminate this injustice, I've built Japan's most viral community. (Currently 220 companies → Goal: 1,000 within 2 years)
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Name: Hiroshi Kawagishi
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