As someone who believes in creating opportunities, the concept wait and see simply does not compute for Matt Weidler, information systems asset analyst at Evangelical Christian Credit Union.

"You can find plenty of opportunities to have an impact beyond your job description, but you have to work hard to recognize and take advantage of those opportunities. That may mean getting outside your comfort zone," said Weidler. "We all have opportunities to be creative where we are at, but proactive people find ways to influence people outside their immediate circles."

He has taken his belief that individuals own their creativity to collaborate with three other regular line staffers interested in more traditional leadership roles to form their own career development network. Aimed at providing support for their peers at the Brea, Calif.-based  ECCU, the network has three goals: providing valuable career development opportunities, encouraging peer networking and promoting ground-up enterprise communication.