What to do when capable people stop taking initiative

When capable people stop stepping forward, it rarely looks like disengagement. It looks like caution: decisions escalated that used to be owned, approval sought where trust used to be, silence where a strong view used to land.

The instinct is to look at motivation. Usually the answer is in the conditions, and often in what leadership did under pressure without meaning to. This guide covers the three things initiative depends on, why sustained pressure erodes them quietly, and the single visible move that resets expectations faster than any amount of encouragement.

Initiative is not a personality trait. The full guide is about the conditions that produce it.