Becoming a Builder

The how and why of not waiting to be asked

When we’ve been talking around Permanent Equity about “finding success,” we’ve consistently been coming back to the phrase “characteristics over credentials.” Yes, there are the hard skills you need to actually do a particular job. But more important, as we’ve been increasingly finding, are those unresume-able qualities that make someone a valuable employee and colleague.

Think being:

  • Entertaining and likable

  • Genuinely curious

  • Relentlessly reliable

  • Hardworking and competent

Hard to show on a LinkedIn profile, but key for becoming a valued member of a team – and nourishing the trust, relationships, and cache that let you learn skills and craft a role that fit your best and highest use. 

Another of these qualities? Being a builder.

Don’t wait to be told.

Builders don’t sit back and wait for instructions. They look around, see what’s broken or slow or confusing, and start asking, “What would it take to make this better?”

That doesn’t mean charging ahead blindly or stepping on toes. It means paying attention, noticing when a process is clunky (and fixing it), documenting what you learn so others don’t have to start from scratch, and looking for patterns that can be turned into systems. It means bringing problems with possible solutions. It means building trust by showing initiative and humility.

Ask good questions. Share your thinking. Offer to test something, fix something, organize something. Take responsibility for making your corner of the business run better.

Go deep on what matters.

Plenty of people learn enough to talk a good game. Builders go further. They get their hands dirty.

If you're new to a company or team, study the product or service like you're planning to run it. If you're already embedded, ask yourself: What don’t I understand well yet? What numbers drive our success? What frustrates our customers? What frustrates my teammates?

You can’t improve what you don’t understand (and remember that there was always a reason something is done the way it is). Builders invest in learning first so when they act, they act with context.

Communicate clearly (and generously).

You can’t build anything meaningful alone. So your ability to communicate honestly, succinctly, and without ego is one of your most powerful tools.

Communicating like a builder means that you don’t posture, hoard information, or whine about what’s broken without offering to help. Instead:

  • Share updates before you’re asked

  • Explain your thinking

  • Ask for feedback and act on it

  • Say “here’s what I’m seeing, here’s what I’m thinking, and here’s how I’d like to help”

Own Your Work Like You Own the Company.

You don’t have to be the CEO to care about where the company is going. Builders look for ways to contribute to the bigger picture.

In fast-moving companies, people sometimes confuse motion with progress. Builders know better. They aren’t chasing quick wins or shiny projects to pad their resumes. They’re chasing compounding. Learning that stacks, skills that stick and relationships built on trust, not theatrics.

That means caring about outcomes, not just output. If a handoff breaks, they fix the system, not just the symptom. If a teammate is stuck, they jump in, even if it’s not “their job.”

If you consistently take responsibility for not only your work but how that work impacts others, you’ll gain trust. You’ll get access. You’ll be asked to take on more. And you’ll be someone who people know as the one who will get in the trenches with them, do the work, build the team, dive into operational and process improvements, and put systems in place.

If you’re that kind of person? Don’t be shy about it. Signal that you’re invested. Ask how success is measured. Ask how you can help. And when it makes sense, ask to be rewarded based on results, not just time served.

Builders want skin in the game, a quality that makes them stand out.

Build first.

You don’t have to wait for permission, promotion, or a perfect role to start building.

Start where you are. Build trust. Build context. Build momentum. Titles will come. Influence comes faster. And the skills you build along the way? They compound for life.

– Inspired by the Permanent Podcast episode, “You Can’t Build with Managers” with Anu Hariharan. Listen here.