Nothing irritates me more than seeing a lone shopping cart in the parking lot, left behind by someone who wasn’t willing to rack it in the nearby stalls.
Same goes in the gym when people leave their weights lying around instead putting them back on the rack.
It’s a sign that the person who left it behind is lazy, entitled, or just lacks the respect for others to return that which you went to the trouble to take out.
Almost like a kid who makes a mess of his toys and then expects his mom or dad to pick them up.
It’s the same attitude a former boss of mine had when he was “too high” on the organizational chart to pick up the sugar packets, spilled tea, and mess he made on the conference room table during every meeting.
It’s no wonder his culture collapsed and company soon followed.
No one wants to follow the “do as I say, not as I do” leader – but they’ll jump over themselves to follow the person who has rolled up their sleeves and done the work themselves.
A great leader always knows where the rack is because they either a) took the weights out to begin with or b) asked someone, because they understood one thing we should strive for every time:
To leave every place/experience/interaction better than when we started.
If we make a mess, we own it by picking up after ourselves.
If we want others to live up to a high standard, we first must be modeling that high standard.
Leaders always rack their carts/weights.