CEO Coaching: Minimum Standards

I had lunch with a retired Marine the other day. We got to talking about minimum standards. He said during his service he never really knew what the minimum was—he only knew the top numbers and shot for those. An interesting perspective on life and work, isn’t it?

I’ve never coached a senior executive who set their sights on “just good enough.” But I’ve met plenty of folks who did. Spoiler alert: they don’t make it to senior ranks. They usually wind up bitter, grumbling that the world owes them a lifestyle well above the value they create. Hard to sympathize.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Minimum standards do have their place. If the speed limit is 50, I’m not driving 40. If a recipe calls for two teaspoons of salt, I’m not showing off by using one. Sometimes “good enough” is more than good enough—it’s the wise choice.

But when I reflect on the most talented leaders that I’ve worked with, there are a few areas where “minimum standards” never cut it:

·       Ethics. “Legal” is the floor, not the ceiling. Great leaders set the bar higher.

·       Customers. Even cost-cutters obsessed over delighting the right customers. Not all customers—the right ones.

·       Personal development. CEOs who stop learning once they get the corner office don’t stay long.

·       Team expectations. Meritocracy rules, but so do honesty and kindness. Even underperformers are treated with dignity—then told to improve or move on.

·       Company first. Compensation is nice, but looting the company isn’t. Long-term success is the main game.

So, what’s your default position? Like everyone else, I’ve got areas in my life where I coast. (Okay, sometimes worse than coasting.) And yes, some things don’t matter much. But I’m working on a list of places where I need to flip the switch from “good enough” to “how good can I be?”

I’ll never be perfect. But the pursuit itself is the reward—and a hell of a lot better than aiming for “average.”