'I Figured You'd Know' — The Career-Killing Phrase Silently Sabotaging Your Reputation" Don’t Use Your Boss as Google Training a new hire. He hit a snag with underwriting and came to me. I asked, “Did you Google it?” “No,” he said. “I figured you’d know the answer.” Exactly. That’s the problem. You can’t build great people by spoon-feeding answers. You build them by teaching them to think. I told him: “Don’t just bring me problems. Bring me possible solutions. Even if they’re wrong. I want to see how you think.” Because in real life, no one’s coming to save you. No one’s standing over your shoulder giving you the answer key. We have ChatGPT. Google. Forums. There’s no excuse to not take a swing before asking for help. The gap between top performers and average ones? Top performers try to solve it before asking. They show up with a thought process. The average ones just show up with a question and a blank stare. If you want to be valuable — in any company, on any team — take ownership. Think independently. Ask better questions. Show your work. If you wouldn’t hire someone who needs their hand held all day… Why be that person?