There comes a time when responsibilities in a company are no longer negotiated. They simply pile up, one on top of the other, almost imperceptibly, as if they’ve always been there and as if it’s understood that you’ll take them on.
Not because they’re really yours, nor because someone has assessed how much more you can handle, but because you’ve always found a way so far. You’ve solved problems others couldn’t, taken responsibility when no one else would, and stayed longer than necessary to finish the work.
People quickly get used to someone else’s abilities.
What you once did to help soon becomes an expectation. What you took on temporarily eventually becomes permanent. And what you were once thanked for, after a while, no one even notices anymore.
The boundaries shift, little by little, until even you no longer know where they once were.
The company takes on new projects, clients become more demanding, responsibilities grow, but the system stays the same. The same number of people, the same resources, and the same person on whom everything relies.
From the outside, this may look like growth. But not all growth is progress. Sometimes the company doesn’t become stronger. It just becomes more dependent on the person who still remains silent and carries more than they should.
The most dangerous moment doesn’t come when the load grows too heavy. It comes when an excessive load becomes the new normal. Then no one notices the weight anymore. They only see the person who, as always, will somehow get the job done.
The fact that someone can endure more doesn’t mean they have to carry everything. Nor does the claim that there’s no other solution prove that the current one is good.
Perhaps it just means no one has looked for a solution for far too long.
The entire structure has rested, not on a system, but on someone’s sense of responsibility, their silence, and the fear that everything will fall apart the moment they admit they can’t carry on.
From the manuscript of the book “You Do Not Run a Company. You Run Consequences.”
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