Proximity is a skill that decays when unused, and it cannot be acquired later at a higher title.

principle — attributed to Ben Erwin

At twenty-two, Erwin turned down investment banking and management consulting, calling both work performed from outside the business rather than inside it. His reasoning: he wanted to be in the middle of the fight, and that seat is not available from outside it. Twenty-five years later, running a thirteen-thousand-person company, he still works the trade show aisle himself rather than the head office, arguing an afternoon on the floor delivers more intelligence than any report reaching his desk. The lesson generalizes past his own career: proximity to the actual work is a discipline that must be practiced continuously, since rank alone does not restore it once lost.

For executives who assume seniority automatically preserves access to what is actually happening on the ground.

proximity, access, career-choice, seniority