We could not believe what we were seeing. You have got to be kidding me! Was this a reality TV show of some kind?

Where was the hidden camera? Somewhere there is a TV audience watching our reactions – right?

How could someone actually think that is appropriate? Common sense would tell you… Ahh, and therein lies the quandary: common sense is often uncommon.

Well, there were no hidden cameras. There was no TV audience. This was not a reality show. This was simply a worker who by all appearances was clueless. He had no idea how his conduct was impacting the perception of the company for which he worked.

Let me explain what we were seeing…

My wife and I had walked to our neighborhood coffee shop to get our Saturday morning exercise and then reward ourselves with a coffee – or should I say a caramel macchiato for me and a soy chai latte with no water for my wife. We sit on their tiny patio facing the parking lot of the small shopping mall complex, chat, read the paper, people watch and talk to any familiar faces who happen past.

So there we were in the midst of our delicious weekend routine when into the parking lot pulled a branded work van for a well-known local HVAC company. If I mentioned the name you may very well have heard of them. They shall remain nameless though, to protect the guilty.

Out of the van stepped two workers. Neither wore any uniform or branded clothing for the company. However, what the driver of the van wore was utterly inappropriate for any worker to be wearing. His attitude toward life, his work, and one would justifiably extrapolate his attitude toward the client’s needs, was loudly declared in big bold letters on the front of his shirt,

“I could care f#cking less!” was all it said.

Just let that sink in for a minute. I know I had to.

He got out of his truck, went into the grocery store, bought something, moved the van across the parking lot and parked again. He did something in the van and then drove off.

I was nanoseconds away from going up to the van to have a chat with him, but I couldn’t quite figure out what I would say.

“Ah, hi there. I couldn’t help but notice your shirt. How on earth did you think that is an appropriate thing to wear to work?”, but it didn’t seem to work for me.

I lost my chance at an interesting encounter when they drove off. I actually phoned the company, whose phone number was very clearly emblazoned on the side of the van, to let them know how one of their workers was representing the company. I thought I would want to know if I was the owner of that company. No one answered and they had no voice mail.

I wondered if that was perhaps the culture of the company? Maybe nobody could care less?

There were so many thoughts about leadership that flooded my mind during this encounter. One of the simplest of lessons a leader could take out of this incident is about common sense.

We can often take for granted that our people have what we would assume is common sense. How many times have you thought, “Isn’t that just common sense?!”, after an employee did something foolish. Hey, everyone makes mistakes from time to time. But there are some things people do that we look at quizzically and say,

“Really?! Did you really think that was acceptable?”

Good leaders don’t treat their people as fools, but nor do they leave them undirected. Clearly outlined processes, procedures, standards, values and expectations are all part of a healthy corporate culture where there are consistent quality standards.

Good leaders are in touch with their people and are aware of how they are representing the company internally and externally. Good leaders clearly reinforce and remind the team of the agreed upon corporate standards of conduct in regard to communication, attitudes, work habits and even attire.

Don’t take anything for granted.  Because, common sense is often uncommon.