It's not about you.

A few years ago I was promoted to my first management position. Among the multitude of perks that come with a management position is an actual office with a door. Though I quickly found out this wasn't as cool as I thought because I was instantly removed from all my other co-workers.

Anyway, the office itself is irrelevant to the topic here, except to say I've always wanted to put a sign on the inside wall above the door. If you can imagine this spot, it is where only I would see it when I looked out into the hall. In this space I would like to put a sign:

"It's not about you."

All too often in our day to day lives we feel like we are the center of the universe. We adopt the attitude of "my way is the best way and everyone else needs to get with the show". While we all know this paradigm is wrong, it can also be toxic to a company culture.

Take a moment and watch this clip of David Foster Wallace's commencement speech to Kenyon College. , Yes, it is 10 minutes long - but this is time invested, not wasted.

While Foster's comments apply to life in general, consider the business application. Positive work environments do not happen by accident. Companies adopt good values because they choose to; and it is a choice that needs to be made every day.

So the next time you field a call from an angry client with problem that was not your fault, or get frustrated because your team member was late (again), think about how you can be a solution to someone else's problem. You might just find that a concentrated effort on serving others will lead you to achieving your goals.