Remember Strickland, the stern, disciplinarian school principal in the “Back to the Future” movie? “Discipline!” was his litany. And to be sure, discipline is important.

An undisciplined work environment has little chance of operating smoothly or being productive. Being at work on time, adhering to work and break schedules, meeting quotas, all these and more can result in jobs being delivered on time and in a state that meets the customer’s expectations.

As employers, it is important to understand that we cannot ask for discipline from our employees if we are undisciplined ourselves. It’s incumbent on us to set the example. Discipline is like respect. One can demand or command respect. The difference can be measured in orders of magnitude.

Strickland demanded respect but he got laughed at behind his back. Not good.