These are perhaps the four deadliest words to your career. If you tend to see things through the prism of who else is responsible for a particular project or task or problem, I recommend you rethink that approach.

The world is changing at such a rapid pace that companies, clients, business partners and employers have little time for people looking to pass responsibility on to someone else.

What those four words effectively communicate is that you are either incapable or unwilling to be valuable to an organization. You also just conceded that another person is more capable than you.

So which is it? Are you incapable or unwilling? And which of those two do you think people are looking at when considering who to keep on a team?

Try these four words instead: “How can I help?” Or, more directly, “Let me do that.”

You can only have something (or someone) of value when the amount of money you invest or pay is exceeded by what you get in return. Be valuable. Return more than expected.

Questions: Have you ever caught yourself saying, “That’s not my job”? How do you respond when other’s say that to you?