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What Toilet Paper Taught Me About Leadership
One of the most important leadership lessons I’ve ever received had nothing to do with budgets, strategy decks, or IT infrastructure.
It came during a five-minute conversation in a business owner’s office—and it started with a line I’ll never forget:
“Eric, never go cheap on toilet paper for your employees.”
I thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
His point? The way you treat the small things—especially the things people think you’re not watching—says everything about the kind of leader you are. He leaned in and said, “That’s where your values meet reality.”
That lesson has stuck with me for 20+ years. And in a world filled with tech buzzwords and strategic planning workshops, this simple truth keeps proving itself over and over again.
What Your Bathroom Says About Your Leadership
In one of my early leadership roles, I walked into a department that was broken—three directors in two years, morale on the floor, zero trust between staff and leadership.
On my first day, I noticed something most people would’ve ignored: the bathrooms were stocked with the cheapest, thinnest, industrial-grade toilet paper you could find. Meanwhile, the executive restroom had the plush stuff—the good stuff.
That’s all I needed to know. There was a gap between what leadership said (“Our people matter”) and what they showed. One group got comfort. The rest got scraps.
By the end of my first week, I had every restroom upgraded to the same standard as the executive floor. Cost? About $400 a year. Impact? Immediate.
Week two, a staff member stopped me in the hallway:
“Hey… are you the one who changed the toilet paper?”
I nodded.
“This place has been talking about valuing employees for years. That’s the first time I’ve actually seen it.”
That’s when it hit me—leadership isn’t declared. It’s demonstrated. Not with statements, but with action. Especially the small ones.
The False Economy of Cutting Corners
I’ve seen it time and again: companies that obsess over cutting small costs while hemorrhaging in areas that actually matter.
One organization I consulted for shot down a $200/month increase to improve bathroom and breakroom supplies. Two weeks later, they greenlit a $50,000 executive retreat without blinking.
When I called it out, the CFO said:
“The retreat is an investment. The rest is just overhead.”
That same thinking infected their approach to IT:
- They bought bottom-tier hardware.
- Skipped software updates to “save time.”
- Underfunded cybersecurity.
- Pushed off cloud migrations for years.
Guess what happened?
- Productivity tanked.
- User complaints piled up.
- They got hit with a ransomware attack that cost them six figures.
Penny wise, pound foolish.
That retreat was a line item. But ignoring user experience, security, and employee tools? That was the real expense.
From Toilet Paper to Technology: The Same Mindset Applies
Fast-forward a few years. I took over IT operations for a mid-sized manufacturing company. On paper, they were “fine.” In reality? Their people were operating in a digital stone age.
Sales reps had five-year-old laptops that took 10 minutes to boot. Developers shared machines. Employees worked around outdated systems instead of with them. And yes—bathrooms were stocked with that same sandpaper TP.
The CFO told me flat-out:
“IT is overhead. We don’t need the best—we need cheap and reliable.”
I asked him a simple question:
“Would you put bargain-bin materials in your products and still expect to sell them at a premium?”
He got it.
We rolled out a staged refresh—right tools for the right roles. Modern collaboration tools, upgraded infrastructure, and a plan to support adoption. At the same time, we fixed the bathrooms.
The result?
- Sales teams closed deals faster with better presentation tech.
- Dev cycles shortened.
- Employee satisfaction jumped.
- Turnover dropped.
Why? Because people finally believed leadership had their backs.
The Football Coach’s Perspective: Details Define Culture
As a coach, I learned that the game is won in the details—stance, footwork, hydration, sideline organization. Not the highlight reel. Not the Hail Marys.
I once watched a championship coach stop practice to fix how water bottles were arranged. When someone asked why, he said:
“How we do anything is how we do everything.”
That’s the mindset great teams have. And it’s the same mindset great companies need.
The Toilet Paper Principle isn’t about paper—it’s about culture. It’s about consistency. It’s about making sure that the message you’re preaching in the boardroom shows up in the breakroom.
Key Takeaway:
You want to lead a high-performance team? Start by sweating the small stuff. The tone you set in the margins—how you treat the “unseen” details—sets the standard for everything else.
Want buy-in on a strategic initiative? Start by upgrading the bathrooms.
Want your teams to adopt new tech? Start by listening to their frustrations.
Want people to follow you? Show them you care—not with words, but with action.
Because here’s the truth: People don’t remember what you promise. They remember what you prioritize.
So ask yourself:
- What are the “toilet paper” decisions in your organization right now?
- Where are you signaling that people don’t matter—even if unintentionally?
- Are you leading in the details… or only when the spotlight’s on?
