> while you wait to get the green light to "do your actual job"

In my experience as a pre-staff – it is your job to create the green light. You’re director level, there is no-one to say “make it so”. You’re the one who’s supposed to do that.

Org-wide stuff not happening? Guess what, you have to go figure out how to make it happen. Even if that means getting buddy buddy with some of the other directors and building informal networks within the company. That’s the job. Making things happen. Poking the right person at the right time, cashing in favors, building a rapport, etc.

And yes, sometimes pulling a VP into a meeting and asking “hey can you pull a string”