It doesn't matter where you work, or who you work for. It doesn't matter what your company does, or what you yourself do. There are five general rules that every employee, regardless of their position, should enforce while at work.

1- The common sense clause. Any order you intend to execute, or any order you delegate out to others, needs to pass the common sense clause. If the order defies common sense, disregard the order.

2- Don't waste my time. Orders and directives given must have a clear and definable goal, even if that goal is hard or impossible to measure directly or indirectly. Said goals must relate to improving the business in some fashion (even if indirectly, like, say, improving morale). If the order has no goal and/or does nothing to improve the business, then disregard the order.

3- It gets done right the first time. Mistakes are one thing, but don't half-ass something. If it isn't done right, then it simply isn't done.

4- Everybody is accountable. I hold myself to the highest standards. Likewise, I hold my subordinates, my peers, my superiors, and their superiors to the same standards.

5- Respect. First and foremost, you respect your peers, subordinates, and superiors. Demand the same in return. Don't settle for anything less. Anybody who defies this gets shown the door.


I manage by these rules. I live by these rules.

I was at work thinking about how I work and how I make others work. I never really formalized it before, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if you're going to seriously be in a position of any authority, there are some rules that really have to be followed.

I may tweak the wording here over time, but I thought I'd throw this out there as food for thought.