[Music] [Music] in this module you'll have the opportunity to learn what initiative means hear examples of how others have taken initiative and recognize when to take initiative first let's define initiative initiative is defined as work behavior characterized by its self-starting nature its proactive approach and by being persistent in overcoming difficulties that arise in pursuit of a goal in other words initiative is when someone takes independent action or plays an active role in solving a problem this can be done in the classroom at your internship site or at work taking initiative shows you're motivated to learn and are willing to take on additional responsibilities outside of your expected tasks how do you find the right opportunities to take initiative let's hear from some alumni to learn about a time when taking initiative further their career probably the best example of taking initiative is how i started my business i actually i hadn't even graduated from from long beach state i actually printed my own business cards in my own printer at home cut them up and walked down broadway down the street just passing out my business card saying who needed some design work uh and that was encouraged by not just my professor but uh you know friends and family that it's okay to be rejected it's okay to need uh people to say no but that doesn't that didn't stop me from going to every single store from redunda all the way down to uh you know downtown on broadway passing on my business card yes i got a lot of doors to said no i got actually never got a phone call from it but somebody found my business card somewhere else and uh ended up calling me and i will always remember that one that first person that believed in me and uh because of it i continued doing it and yes i got a lot of doors but it was it was taking that chance it was that opportunity of saying hey you know you want to do this you got to do it doesn't matter what it takes so at the end you know now i have a business have employees and it was because of that chance that i took of you know hey you got to do it and go out there and see you know how many doors can you knock on today initiative is definitely an important skill in any workplace one way to find opportunities to take initiative is to anticipate the needs of your work environment and your boss by being aware of the needs of your workplace you can help create positive changes that will benefit your company and your staff for example i work with students from marginalized communities students who are primarily from low-income backgrounds and are first-generation college students coming from the similar background i know that for some students leadership development may not have been instilled and encouraged as such i spoke to my boss one day and talked about the importance of helping our students see themselves as leaders in their communities as a result we created a one day leadership conference that focused on leadership development and social justice the conference was very well received by our students and it ended up becoming a campus-wide event my biggest advice about initiative is to dig deeper and look at what are the missing pieces within your work environment and don't be afraid to offer possible solutions in owning my own business taking initiative feels like a daily task but in my previous career as a personal assistant taking initiative played a major role in my career anticipating problems finding solutions and staying a step ahead were all skills that made me successful in my role developing those skills early on in my career gave me an incredible foundation to build upon you never know how your work experiences will impact your career when you are in the moment so it's always important to take any opportunity to offer input when it's appropriate to be present and available to offer assistance take chances on learning new skills and treat everyone you meet with respect and compassion as we heard from sal he took initiative in creating his own brand which led to him building his own company annabelle gave a great tip on initiative two she talked about anticipating the needs of your work environment proposing a new project that could benefit your place of employment will show your willingness to take on new responsibilities and your ability to be observant stasia reinforce the skills necessary and taking initiative these skills included anticipating problems finding solutions and staying a step ahead you can take initiative two in school at your internship or place of employment sal shares how an intern at his company took initiative during their internship again probably go back to uh taking a chance you know don't be afraid to fail don't be afraid to when people say no to be to say that you don't like your job find something that you like to do perfect example our one of our last interns actually uh jordan he was great he came from the journalism program olympic state uh and he was writing for us uh our publication and uh he was right on time he did everything went above and beyond and you know he had crazy ideas and ended up loving his ideas and he wasn't afraid to show that now uh you know he ended up getting a full-time job here after that uh and then after a couple years uh he actually just moved to new york uh probably about say two months ago pursuing his journalism career and you know i was sad to see him go but same time you know i'm glad that my company and myself were part of his journey and that he took a chance on us uh by interning here and now he's pursuing his dream and that's that's great and uh but that would be my advice you know take a chance uh apply yourself and you know don't be afraid to to fail because you can always just get up and do it again as sal says taking initiative sometimes requires taking a risk but it usually pays off sometimes taking a risk can be challenging and so in the wraparound activities you'll hear about ways to overcome the fear of rejection at this point you've heard from alumni the benefits of initiative and you can take initiative in your own life too taking initiative in class could look like starting a conversation with your groupmates about assigning tasks or creating a timeline at your internship site you can ask for additional work when you finish your assigned tasks in your place of employment look for areas of potential improvement and discuss your ideas with your supervisor as sal mentioned he loved the wild ideas his intern proposed and ended up hiring the intern for a job after he completed his internship by taking initiative you can show your enthusiasm to learn and willingness to work independently and accept responsibility