I think this short post from Seth Godin is important, especially from the perspective of a startup company. In a startup, the “self-starter” attitude and ability to be self-sufficient is all the more important. There is no formal management structure, few processes, and when the company is being created it takes mindshare and individual action to get things off the ground.

The relentless search for “tell me what to do” 

If you’ve ever hired or managed or taught, you know the feeling.

People are just begging to be told what to do. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is: “If you tell me what to do, the responsibility for the outcome is yours, not mine. I’m safe.”

When asked, resist.