Early in a career, people often over-index on credentials because credentials are legible.

But the more interesting differentiator is agency. Agency is the instinct to move without waiting to be assigned the entire map. Taste is the companion skill. It is what lets someone tell the difference between motion and progress.

When the two come together, you start to see unusual behavior:

• Someone writes the memo before the meeting exists.
• Someone notices the weak sentence in a pitch deck before anyone asks.
• Someone follows curiosity far enough that it turns into original insight.

Most people want a script. The better operators build one while they are already moving.

That is one reason I like personal websites. They make it obvious whether someone has a point of view, whether they can organize ideas, and whether they care enough to ship their own corner of the internet.