No Precedent for New Precedent

The fast-food manager who steps over garbage and doesn't pick it up sets a new cleanliness precedent.

The manager who punches in 5-10 minutes late each day sets a new punctuality precedent.

The Safety Supervisor who exceeds the speed limit in the company truck sets a new safety compliance precedent.

The parent who allows jumping on the furniture one time sets a new rules precedent.

The person who gets behind the wheel with a few beers under their belt or takes a toke now and then sets a new responsibility precedent with their children.

The employee who gossips about other employees sets a new office-gossip precedent.

The supervisor who stands around talking just to be social and impeding an employee's work sets a new productivity precedent.

The employee who barges in on another employee without permission sets a new respecting co-workers precedent.

There is a simple common-sense rule to live by when it comes to setting precedents: lead by example. Your position in life affords you no exemptions: whether your a boss, a parent or an employee. The same rules apply to everyone in an organization or in a household. There's no special treatment because you're the boss. Get over yourself. If you want everyone in your workplace to play by the same rules then there can be no exemptions or special status.

Memos and policies are lip-service. It's the attitude of your actions that matter most.

What Happened to Your Change-The-World Attitude

High-School is finished for another year. The Yearbooks have been handed out. Remember your yearbook? Did any of your classmates write in your book anything like the following?

• “I will get pregnant right after of high school and marry him. He won’t have any university so he’ll have a lifetime of tenuous jobs while I have four kids, stay at home for them and be lost for something to live for once they leave home.”
• “I will get my degree and not find the job I think I’m entitled to. So I will settle for a job that is far beneath my talents and will whine at work for the rest of my life and blame the job for holding me back and holding me down.”
• “I will listen to what people say and find a good job with a decent company and won’t do anything to jeopardize it. I won’t stand out. I won’t shine. I won’t offer ideas. I won’t do anything to risk showing I’m incompetent. I will simply put in my time, bite my tongue and try to survive it until the day I can retire.”
• “With my high-school diploma in hand, I will think I know everything. I will find a partner who is also too young, settle down in a loveless relationship and, out of obligation, tell myself that this is what all couples have. Real love is only true in fairy tales anyway.”
• “When I get done university, I will take the first job offered to me and work for them for the next thirty years counting down the days until I can retire. I won’t travel, meet new people, experience the world or make a difference. The company owns me. I can do all that other stuff when I retire but I probably won’t.”

Your yearbook and the others you signed were probably full of dreams, ideals, wishes and missions for a well-lived life. What the hell happened?

It’s never too late to get back on track. And don’t ever let your children develop this attitude of defeatism. Give them an Attitude Adjustment early and often. Feed and keep their dreams alive. Their dreams will feed yours. Lead by example.