I’m just so surprised that so many people have low agency, responsibility, and proactiveness.
I can’t believe that people can operate for so long without it.
Agency - the sense that you are the one responsible for making things happen.
Self-direction - ability to identify what needs to be done and do it without being told.
Intrinsic motivation - driven from the inside rather than needing external prompts or rewards.
Proactiveness - acting in anticipation of what’s needed rather than reacting to instructions.
In psychology it’s often talked about as internal locus of control - the belief that outcomes are determined by your own actions rather than by external forces or other people. People with an external locus of control tend to wait, blame circumstances, and need direction. People with an internal one take ownership and move.
In terms of rough population splits most research suggests something like:
Strongly internal — maybe 15-20%
Moderately internal — another 20-25%
Moderately external — around 30%
Strongly external — 25-30%
Hiring density of high agency people as the single most important early decision. Because a few low agency people in a small team drags everything disproportionately.
How to teach high agency:
The foundation gets set early.
By the time someone is in their mid-20s the pattern is deeply ingrained. You can nudge it at the margins but you can’t rewire someone’s fundamental relationship with responsibility in a work setting.
What develops high agency in children:
Letting them face consequences. Not shielding them from failure, frustration, or disappointment. A child who never experiences a problem they had to solve themselves never builds the belief that they can solve problems.
Asking instead of telling. Parents who constantly ask “what do you think we should do?” rather than just directing everything raise kids who develop the habit of forming their own views.
Unstructured time. Kids who are bored and have to figure out how to fill that time develop creativity and self-direction. Heavily scheduled children — activity to activity, always supervised - never build that muscle because they never need to.
Giving real responsibility early. Actual stakes, not fake ones. A chore with consequences if it doesn’t happen. A decision that actually affects the family. Something they own genuinely.
Praising effort and initiative over compliance. If a child is only rewarded for following rules and getting the right answer, they optimise for that. If they’re rewarded for trying things, proposing ideas, taking initiative - they optimise for that instead.
What kills it:
Helicopter parenting is probably the biggest one. Solving every problem for them, intervening before they struggle, over-explaining everything.
Rigid schooling that punishes deviation and rewards only compliance.
Overprotection from failure - the participation trophy culture.
The deeper point:
High agency adults almost always had some combination of early responsibility, exposure to consequences, and an environment that expected them to figure things out. Many also had some adversity - not trauma, but genuine difficulty they had to navigate themselves.
How to test for it in hiring:
Give them an open problem before the interview No instructions, no format, just “here’s a situation we’re facing, come back with your thinking.” You’re not evaluating the answer - you’re evaluating whether they define the problem themselves, make assumptions explicit, and come with a point of view. Low agency people either don’t do it or produce something generic and safe.
Ask about things they built or started unprompted Not “tell me about a challenge you overcame” - that’s too coached. Ask “what’s something you did that nobody asked you to do?” or “what have you built or started from scratch?” The answer reveals a lot fast.
Look for specificity in past examples High agency people tell stories where they are the subject — “I noticed, I decided, I built, I pushed.” Low agency people tell stories where circumstances or other people are the subject — “we were told to, the team decided, my manager asked me to.”
Give them something to do during the process A small real task. Not a test — actual work. See if they ask clarifying questions or just wait. See if they deliver early or on the last second. See how much initiative they show in how they approach it.
Notice how they handle not knowing Ask something they won’t know the answer to. High agency people say “I don’t know but here’s how I’d figure it out.” Low agency people just say “I don’t know” and stop.