A lot of books and press releases cross my desk telling how to succeed in business or be a better employee. They have catchy titles and lots of Top 10 lists.

One “10 Things for Job Success” list I saw tells employees not to pilfer office supplies such as pencils, Scotch tape and copy paper.

I couldn’t agree more. You hardly get anything when you try to resell them.

That’s why you should focus on bigger things, like the fax machine or the laptop hardly anyone uses anyway.

You can get something for those on ebay.

Which leads me to multi-tasking, something companies have been pushing on their employees for years. “Work smarter, not harder.” Which you should take to heart. If you manage your ebay account while at work, selling office equipment and supplies, you accomplish several tasks at once. Now that’s working smarter.

Most every business-success book written in the past couple decades has a chapter on “Thinking Outside the Box.”

The catch-phrase surfaced about the time Japanese business leaders began showing up at American corporate headquarters and started measuring corner offices for drapes, seriously alarming the American executives having cocktails in those corner offices.

It has become mandatory for all managers to use the term “Think Outside the Box” at least twice at every business meeting.

Manager: “OK, any concerns by anyone?”

Employee: “Could we get toilet paper in the restrooms? We haven’t had any since last quarter’s sales results came in. It seems like something the company should provide.”

Manager: “I bet Japanese companies don’t buy toilet paper for their workers. You need to Think Outside the Box people.”

I’m not sure outside-the-box thinking has helped that much. Toyota just overtook GM as the world’s No. 1 car maker and the public has less trust than ever in American corporations.

It might be time we go back to Thinking Inside the Box — returning to the business basics that worked the first couple of centuries in America.

Businesses could have a person answer the phone when a customer calls. Companies could have Americans build toys and make dog food and they could promise customers they won’t contain lead paint or rat poison. They could make quality products, provide good customer service and take a long-range view of their industry.