10 The Manager Who Treats Employees as Subordinates Employees are people first and employees second. Each person is the center of his or her own universe. Gather a group of employees in a room and ask them who in the room is the most important per- son. They will likely each be thinking, "I am." And rightly so. The manager who looks down on or treats employees as inferiors, intentionally or not, threatens their very sense of self-esteem. This attitude can lead to resentment by the employees and foster bicker- ing, gossip, and an unmotivated staff. Employees will likely stay at their job out of necessity, but not give it their all ­ their potential, their energy, or their loyalty. Rather, they will simply show up to do the work at hand, without being invested in the organization (Fig. 1-7). FIGURE 1-7 The Snob.