Don't Drink the Employee Kool-Aid

By Mike Johnson

Company Man of the Year! Are you one of those hyper-dedicated employees who not only do everything the company asks but then take it to a ridiculous level?

I was. I'd have taken that plane crash for the team.

I'd have not only embraced being marooned on that island, I'd have hand-constructed the first bamboo 7-Eleven in the south pacific.

I remember riding stores with a mayor, convincing her not to pass the security camera mandate they were considering. The company asked me to do it. I showed her all the great security efforts our stores followed. Our well-lit parking lots. No window signs hiding the cashier. The drop safe that allowed us to keep less than $30 in the register.

Years later, I realized the company (and I) were wrong. Security cameras were a blessing for employee safety, internal & external theft control, customer service training, and slip & falls.

Decades later, with perspective, I look back at how zealously I enforced stupid corporate polices. I'm not proud of how I treated some employees when I steamrolled them with policy.

Policy is just a nebulous thing. People are real. It's up to you to determine which are more important.

You won't work there forever. But you'll remember your actions. Do the right thing.

Get a laugh with this short, funny, hyper-dedicated spoof: The Cast Away FedEx Commercial

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