Most employee handbooks are filled with pages of rules about what people shouldn’t do. They try to anticipate every possible misstep, as if employees can’t be trusted to use judgment or common sense. But leadership works better when expectations are framed the way Adams framed them: simple, direct, and focused on what people should do.
To be good means embracing qualities that elevate the workplace and everyone in it — compassion, integrity, empathy, kindness. It means understanding that your actions affect not just your own success, but the well‑being of the company, its owners, its employees, its customers, and the community it serves.
To do good means acting with purpose and responsibility. It means following the rules, supporting the team, contributing to the common good, and being a force for positive outcomes. It’s not complicated — it’s character in action.
Is all we have to do doesn’t mean “only this.” It means “at minimum this.” It’s the baseline for being part of a healthy, functioning workplace.
Employees working alone should do their best. Employees working in teams should help others do their best as well. That’s the essence of accountability — not just for your own work, but for the success of the people around you.
Companies often overcomplicate this. They create long lists of rules to cover every scenario, as though employees can’t connect simple principles to daily behavior. I believe the opposite: keep it simple, and trust people to rise to the standard.
In addition to Adam’s statement, consider adding the Golden Rule to your handbook: treat others — and their things — the way you want to be treated. Everyone learned it growing up. Everyone knows exactly what it means.
Work, like life, depends on people knowing right from wrong. Treat employees like adults. Expect them to act like adults. And hold them to that standard today.
John Adams (1735 – 1826): Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.
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