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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajieving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

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<v Speaker 1>Fello Aledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode six oh five. Today's episode is called the

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<v Speaker 2>grocery cart theory. I want you to picture something simple.

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<v Speaker 2>You pull into a grocery store parking lot, you grab

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<v Speaker 2>a cart, you shop, you come out to your vehicle,

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<v Speaker 2>you load your groceries. You're tired, distracted, maybe running late.

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<v Speaker 2>And now there's that moment at the end. The cart

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<v Speaker 2>is empty, your car is full, and the cart is

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<v Speaker 2>ten maybe twenty stalls away. No one is watching. There

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<v Speaker 2>is no reward for doing the right thing. There is

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<v Speaker 2>no punishment for just leaving it there and walking away.

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<v Speaker 2>Experts call this the grocery cart theory. The idea is

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<v Speaker 2>simple and uncomfortable at the same time. Returning the cart

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<v Speaker 2>is one of the purest measures of character because it

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<v Speaker 2>exists outside of incentives, no praise, no gold star, and

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<v Speaker 2>no consequences either. And leadership lives in that exact space.

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<v Speaker 2>Here's why this matters. Most people behave well when rules

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<v Speaker 2>are clear and consequences are loud. People show up on

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<v Speaker 2>time when there's a time clock. They follow policies. When

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<v Speaker 2>HR is watching, they act professional when the boss is

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<v Speaker 2>in the room. That's not leadership. That's compliance. Leadership shows

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<v Speaker 2>up when there's no scoreboard. Leadership shows up when the

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<v Speaker 2>cart return is optional. The person who puts the cart

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<v Speaker 2>back isn't doing it for applause. They're doing it because

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<v Speaker 2>they understand impact. They know that a loose cart can

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<v Speaker 2>roll into someone else's car. They know the employee collecting

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<v Speaker 2>carts didn't create the mess. They know order matters even

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<v Speaker 2>when it's invisible. That's responsibility without supervision. That's empathy without

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<v Speaker 2>recognition in those are all leadership muscles. I've spent my

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<v Speaker 2>career watching people in high pressure environments, in ambulance based

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<v Speaker 2>emergency scenes, command posts, conference rooms, and the pattern is

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<v Speaker 2>always the same. The best leaders do the small things

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<v Speaker 2>right when no one is tracking them. They wipe the

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<v Speaker 2>table after a meeting, they reset the room before they leave.

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<v Speaker 2>They return the cart. Here's the uncomfortable part. People who

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<v Speaker 2>don't return the cart usually have a reason ready it's raining, busy,

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<v Speaker 2>someone else will get it. The stores hire people for

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<v Speaker 2>that it's not their job, and that language should sound familiar.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not my role, it's not my problem, that's above

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<v Speaker 2>my pay grade. That mindset doesn't stay in parking lots,

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<v Speaker 2>It walks straight into your workplace. Those same people skip handoffs,

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<v Speaker 2>they leave messes for the next shift. They avoid accountability

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<v Speaker 2>because technically no rule was broken. They operate in the

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<v Speaker 2>gray and call it efficiency. But leadership isn't about doing

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<v Speaker 2>what you can get away with. Leadership is about doing

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<v Speaker 2>what holds the line. The grocery cart theory exposes something deeper.

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<v Speaker 2>It shows who self governs, who doesn't need pressure to

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<v Speaker 2>do the right things, who understands that shared space is

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<v Speaker 2>only work when people care beyond them sels. And this

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<v Speaker 2>is where leaders miss the lesson. You can't mandate cart behavior,

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<v Speaker 2>You can't policy your way into character. You can't KPI empathy.

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<v Speaker 2>What you can do is model it. Your team watches

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<v Speaker 2>how you handle the little things, how you leave a room,

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<v Speaker 2>how you talk about people who aren't present, how you

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<v Speaker 2>respond when mistakes don't trace back to a name. They

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<v Speaker 2>watch whether you return the cart. If you want a

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<v Speaker 2>culture of ownership, stop rewarding flash and start noticing follow

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<v Speaker 2>through pay attention to who fixes problems they didn't create,

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<v Speaker 2>Who cleans up without being asked, Who thinks two steps

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<v Speaker 2>ahead for the next person. Those are your real leaders.

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<v Speaker 2>Titles optional. Here's a question worth sitting with. If someone

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<v Speaker 2>followed you around for a week and only judged your

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<v Speaker 2>leadership by what you did when no one asked you

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<v Speaker 2>to do it, what would they see? That question cuts

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<v Speaker 2>deep because it bypasses performance reviews and LinkedIn posts. It

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<v Speaker 2>gets straight to habits. Leadership is built in these quiet choices,

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<v Speaker 2>the unnoticed decisions, the extra step taken without a witness.

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<v Speaker 2>Returning the grocery cart doesn't make someone a saint, but

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<v Speaker 2>it signals something important. It signals discipline, awareness, respect for

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<v Speaker 2>the system and the people inside of it, and over time,

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<v Speaker 2>those signals stack. High performing teams aren't built by dramatic speeches.

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<v Speaker 2>They're built by leaders who return the cart every single

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<v Speaker 2>time and never talk about it. So here's your takeaway.

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<v Speaker 2>If you want to know who you can trust with

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<v Speaker 2>more of responsibility, stop listening to what people say and

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<v Speaker 2>start watching what they do when there's no upside. If

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<v Speaker 2>you want to become a better leader yourself, start there

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<v Speaker 2>in the parking lot in the margins, in the moments

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<v Speaker 2>that feel too small to matter, because those moments are

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<v Speaker 2>the job. Leadership isn't proven when the lights are on,

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<v Speaker 2>it's proven when no one's keeping score. Return the cart,

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<v Speaker 2>hold the standard and understand that integrity doesn't need an

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<v Speaker 2>audience to exist. And if you want more free leadership resources,

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<v Speaker 2>head over to Paul Falavalido dot com click on free Stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>I have over twenty five free leadership documents that you

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<v Speaker 2>can download today. This has been the seven minute Leadership

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<v Speaker 2>podcast and I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot

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<v Speaker 1>com