5 Work Rules You Should Break

Do What You Were Hired to Do

Your boss has to look at the bigger picture all the time—she’ll admire you for doing the same. If you pay attention to your organization as a whole, you’ll better appreciate what other people do—and you might come up with macro ways to help the company. It’s a fine line between offering assistance and stepping on someone’s toes. But if you have the best intentions at heart, you can say, “I see an opportunity here that we’re not taking advantage of.”

Adam Bryant is the deputy national editor of the New York Times and the author of The Corner Office ($25, amazon.com).