I find myself lately really interested in "clarifying and defining" all the career cliches that are being kicked around. I am in a " what does that mean for me practically" kinda mood.

So I thought I would tackle the term "initiative"--or "career initiative."

Here's a concrete example of what that looks like:

Midlevel attorney has been unemployed for almost six months and has not had much success finding a job. His days were getting less and less structured and he was getting more and more depressed. And then he had an idea!

"What if I call all the adjunct professors in the lawschools in my area, who specialize in my practice area...ask them to meet me for 15 minutes and either offer to help write an article on a relevant topic with him/her or...just get some ideas of what some relevant academic topics might be so I can just start writing one myself?"

Brilliant. Creative. Courageous. Egoless. Fearless.
Wish I had come up with it for him!!
A perfect example of "career initiative"!
Just love it!!!!