This lesson changed my life.

There are mistakes of commission, and there are mistakes of omission. Opting out, not getting in the room–the opportunities I left on the table are the mistakes that stay with me.

One of the greatest lessons I learned during my career easily could have been an opportunity that just passed me by.?

When I started at Amazon in 2002 Jeff Bezos had just started a new leadership role called The Shadow and the first person in that role was Andy Jassy. His job was to be at Jeff’s side, copied on every email, on every phone call, and in every meeting so that he could be an intellectual sparring partner and learn Jeff’s leadership instincts. He then went on to run AWS and is now Jeff’s successor as the CEO of Amazon.?

A few months into watching Andy interact with Jeff I had an epiphany. I had access to the exact same things. My desk was the closest to Jeff’s in the company. I had access to his emails, briefings, phone calls, and meetings.

Why not treat my job like my own Jeff Bezos apprenticeship as Andy did??

If I had continued to play it small and keep my contributions to the small job description I had been given I would have missed out on the life-changing opportunity I had right in front of me to learn from the very best.?

You do not have to have access to a celebrity CEO to seek out ways to uplevel and expand?your influence in your role. But you do need to be proactive and seek out ways to work outside the confines of your current comfort zone.

I started by writing executive summaries for Jeff when otherwise I could have defaulted to having my manager do it. This proactive step led me to being coached on how to do it effectively and to think like a leader.

It was a seemingly small task but the lessons I learned serve me still today, 20 years later.