Acting like you own the place can be rude, like when you raid someone’s fridge or put your dirty shoes up on their couch. But when done in the right scenarios, it can be one of the surest ways to get ahead.
While shopping at Trader Joe's today, I shared the elevator from the parking lot with one of their employees who was returning a long chain of shopping carts to the store. As the elevator doors closed, he noticed that one of their promotional signs inside was askew. It wasn’t easy to get to with the shopping carts in front of him, but he took the time to right the sign, then stepped back to make sure it was straight. Before we exited, he took a rag out of his back pocket and wiped his fingerprints off the plastic coating.
I doubt that “Make sure the signs are always straight” is written in his or anybody else’s job description. It would have been easy for him to ignore it and let it be someone else’s problem. But he’s not waiting for his boss to ask him to do it. Instead, he’s acting like he owns the place. And I'm sure the boss is just fine with that.
People who do good things without being asked always seem to get ahead at work, in school and in life. The next time you’re at your part-time job, or at your club meeting, or at tennis practice, ask yourself what you would do if you owned the place. Then do it.
Sometimes the surest path to actually owning the place is to just act that way over and over.