You come in the office and the coffee pot has exactly one mug left in it.  Later your luck continues as you use the last of the toilet paper and the final hand towel in the dispenser. Without a blink, you just go about your day.

Now think about the person who followed you in the kitchen and washroom.  They had to clean the coffee pot, start a new pot of coffee, replace the toilet paper and reload the hand towels.   They are probably now having a bad day.  All of this extra work in an already crappy day.

Imagine if your boss was that person and he/she passed you in each entrance way.  Do you think they will have noticed that you used up everything and didn’t replace it?  Did your day get worse because of theirs going south?

There is an old Italian saying that “Clean doesn’t cost anything”.  They couldn’t understand why people wouldn’t have personal pride in their space.  It costs the same amount of money to have a clean or dirty area.

The same can be said for employees who do not take the time to clean up their work area, common areas, and themselves.  Their outward appearance is that they are not observant, do not have pride about their work appearance, and potentially are lazy.

Leaders need to be neat, buttoned up, aware of their surroundings, and selfless.  It is really hard for a person to be a leader of others if they cannot manage their own stuff, humble themselves to think of others first and sweat the small stuff that affect their team.

The person who lacks self-awareness goes through life not worrying about what comes next.  That disregard often leads to shortsighted decision making- affecting the results of their team and company.  It affects their reputation with the coworkers and management as they are seen as self-absorbed and spoiled.  Make sure you take pride in your appearance and your surroundings, you never know who is watching.