In my opinion, real creativity comes from inside. But sometimes, in order to get a boost in creativity using outside stimulation, I go to a shopping mall or a cafe and simply sit there. I’ll listen to people and try to absorb the general atmosphere about the place.

Today, I was in a big shopping mall and rather than the shops, I am going to talk about the toilets there. When you go to a toilet anywhere in the world, they are sometimes clean, and sometimes they are not clean. The question is, whose responsibility is it, that you find a nice restroom or you don’t?

When I went to the mall today, I had a great coffee and I was drinking quite a lot of water with it, so I had to visit the same toilet, not once but three times and every time I was surprised how clean this restroom was. The explanation for this became evident when on the third visit I met the person who was cleaning these toilets.

It became immediately obvious that there was a difference about that particular person. When I met him, I could see the commitment that he took upon himself – so that as long as he was “taking charge” of these toilets – then they were clean. In fact it appeared to me that he had certain principles for himself: as long as he took on that job of looking after these restrooms, they would be perfectly clean to whomever comes to visit them.

I wish that everybody that I worked with and that everybody, being in a position where they have accepted the terms of their work and accepted the assignment given to them, would actually think like that.

I’m not saying that the position that you’re in is different, or more or less important, or that there is a higher or a lower type of work but just imagine if everybody felt like the person who was cleaning the toilets today, we would have a much better place of work, a much higher productivity and most importantly people would actually care. And if they don’t like what they do, they’d try to find something else to better leave their mark.

I think many people have forgotten what it means to make a commitment and that this is always (knowingly or unknowingly) related to principles. Making commitments without having principles behind them, makes me wonder “what is that commitment worth?”

So whenever you make a commitment or get a commitment from somebody it is probably a good idea to look at the principles behind it.

With the cleaner today – you could see from the light in his eyes, that he was not only committed but that he really believed that nobody could clean those toilets at that particular point of time, in that place, better than he could. It was his principles and commitment that made a most welcoming day for me, not only in the shopping mall but also in the restrooms.