Nehemiah was a king’s cupbearer before he rebuilt a city’s walls. Don’t look down on the job that gets you in the room.

The unimpressive job is often the one that puts you in the room. He was handing somebody a drink long before he was organising the rebuilding of a city, and the access came with the first role, not the second. Jobs are not only wages; they are proximity, reputation and the chance to be seen as reliable by somebody who matters later. Describing your current work as beneath you tends to close those doors quietly.

Do this week’s unglamorous job well and learn one person in it properly. Access almost always arrives through somebody who remembers you.