In the past few weeks, two leaders I deeply respect shared situations with me that deeply troubled them—and me as well—because they highlight a growing trend in leadership.
First, one described a school with a long tradition of requiring incoming students to write out their testimony or faith journey. That standard was recently dropped with the reasoning: “It’s too hard for today’s students. They’re not used to it, so let’s not ask it of them.”
Second, another told me about serving on a scholarship board where the candidates—military recipients, no less—showed shockingly little effort. Instead of rising to the honor, they coasted, as if effort was optional.
The common refrain in both cases was: “Meet people where they’re at. Lower the bar.” But is that really leadership?
Moses Didn’t Lower the Bar
These two situations immediately brought me back to a board training retreat I recently led, where I used Moses as a model of resilient leadership. Moses led a grumbling, exhausted people through the wilderness. No one would have blamed him for easing the standards. Yet he did the opposite—laying down more law, not less.
Moses understood a timeless truth: lowering expectations does not produce transformation. Leaders who soften standards create wanderers, not warriors.
Harry’s Rule: Why Top Leadership Matters
Steven B. Sample echoes this reality in The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership with what he calls Harry’s Rule:
“Harry’s Rule allows us to understand why it is so important to recruit the very best leaders to top-level positions in any organization, and why, as a general rule, the competence of the staff declines so rapidly as we descend the ranks of an organization whose top leader is only mediocre.”
Or as he paraphrased it: A’s hire A-minuses, B’s hire C’s. When mediocrity sits at the top, the whole organization inevitably declines.
Machiavelli: The Weakness of Weak Lieutenants
Centuries earlier, Niccolò Machiavelli made the same observation in The Prince:
“A prince (principe) with weak advisers is a weak prince.”
A good leader has no excuse for incompetent lieutenants or staff. To be strong, you must surround yourself with the strongest possible second-in-command—your Joshuas. Because if your inner circle is weak, you will be weak.
The Sun Rises and Sets on Leadership
I have always said: the sun rises and sets on leadership. It is the leader who sets the tone. Lower the bar, and the organization will sink with you. Raise the bar, and those who follow you will rise.
And let’s be clear: the surest tell-tale sign of a mediocre leader is one who allows standards to drop and then blames it on culture, the incoming generation, declining enrollment, or any other excuse. Great leaders own the standards, protect them, and elevate them—no matter what the world around them says.
That’s why tremendous leaders must:
- Refuse to dilute standards when culture pressures them to.
- Recruit the best leaders at every level to ensure a strong talent pipeline.
- Surround themselves with competent lieutenants who sharpen, not soften, their leadership.
Raising the Bar Is the Only Way Forward
Outstanding leadership isn’t about easing standards for comfort. It’s about calling people to more than they thought possible. It’s about standing firm when the easy way says, “Let it slide.”
Moses knew it. Machiavelli knew it. Steven Sample knew it. And deep down, we know it too. So let us never forget: when leaders soften the standard, organizations decay. But when leaders raise the bar, they ignite transformation.
✨ Tremendous leaders don’t bow to mediocrity—they build legacies by lifting others higher.
