Paul Mall 1 PIck up that trash this is your mall

My first full-time job was as marketing director for a regional shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. One afternoon, early in my mall career, my regional manager and I were strolling around the outside of the mall, observing the traffic and getting to know each other. About halfway around the shopping center, he stopped abruptly. “I’m wondering,” he started, “why didn’t you pick up those empty soda cans that were sitting on the sidewalk?” I was confused. I think I remembered seeing them, about five minutes earlier in our walk. He continued. “I saw them and you must have seen them too. Isn’t this your mall?”
I replied. “We have a maintenance crew…”
He cut me off. “Your job is to make their job easier, so they can make your job easier. I’ll wait.”
So I walked back, picking up the pop cans and any other trash I saw along the way. About ten minutes later, we continued our walk around the mall, and you know I was on the lookout for any stray cans, receipts, cigarette butts and my regional manager’s real pet peeve, gum on the sidewalk. For that, it was okay to call the maintenance crew with their scrapers.
A few lessons here:
• Own your job and the full breadth and depth of your responsibilities
• Accept accountability if you fall short, and correct any shortcomings thoroughly
• Make your colleagues job easier, help them to do better work so they can do the same for you
• And seriously, don’t create extra work for somebody just to make a point