The best CEOs know that sustained success depends on pushing past what is currently thought to be possible. This translates to setting ambitious goals, encouraging ongoing learning, and never settling for a merely "good enough" status quo. It's a core part of the company's DNA, ensuring it consistently excels – yet high standards without support create toxicity.

Here's why it matters:

Drives Innovation: Complacency stalls progress. When teams expect more of themselves, they find creative breakthroughs.
Contagious Energy Excellence becomes the norm, attracting and retaining high-performing team members motivated by challenge.
Customer Confidence: Clients sense when working with those who hold themselves to a high bar; it translates into lasting loyalty and respect.
Competitive Edge: In a rapidly changing market, organizations with higher standards are more likely to adapt and outmaneuver rivals.
Resilience Builders: Achieving extraordinary things under ambitious standards builds confidence in weathering future challenges.

Typical Indicators Standards are Lacking

Ambiguity Abounds: Clear goals, success metrics, and what excellent vs. average work looks like is not fully defined or articulated.
"That'll Do" Syndrome Tolerance for output of mediocre quality or late deadlines with few consequences signals low expectations.
No Celebration of Excellence: Exceptional contributions get no more recognition than basic deliverables, harming morale of top performers.
No Stretch Projects: Work remains in the 'safe' zone, little innovation. No one tries to reach beyond capabilities to grow.
Feedback Aversion: Leaders (and team members) avoid challenging one another or pointing out opportunities for improvement.

Five Practices to Elevate Expectations

Role Model the Messy Leaders share not just wins, but works in progress, admitting flaws. Exposes how revision leads to excellence.
- Immediate Action: Start meetings with personal "struggling with…" not just triumphs. Show leadership is ongoing process.
Transparency Toolset: Create clear rubrics, client success criteria, etc. This way, "exceeds expectations" isn't left to subjectivity.
- Immediate Action: On ONE upcoming, critical task, have your team generate the 'good/better/best' result definitions in advance.
Growth Path Focus: Reviews aren't focused on past wins, but on how to develop skill set for even GREATER wins. Less judgment, more ambition.
- Immediate Action: Require all staff to bring ONE skill growth idea to reviews; manager's job is to help make it actionable, not shoot it down.
Ambitious Micro-Goals: Chunking down large goals into short, demanding sprints gets teams used to delivering consistently on targets.
- Immediate Action: Instead of yearly sales goals, have contests over much smaller time, publicly track. Raises energy around any target.
Peer Driven Performance: Team members become part of quality review. Not punitive, but normalizes striving to impress with excellence.
- Immediate Action: Build into process some sort of team QA feedback stage on project final drafts before manager sees. Creates shared standard.

Habit #25: The Power of Listening for CEOs

In the fast-paced and often ego-driven world of business leadership, the ability to truly listen becomes a superpower. Great CEOs excel at active listening, demonstrating they seek to understand diverse viewpoints before formulating opinions and making decisions. Here's why it matters:

Empathy and Relationship Building: Listening fosters connection with employees, clients, and stakeholders. People feel heard and valued, promoting trust and loyalty.
Informing Better Decisions: Active listening lets CEOs grasp the nuances of a situation, uncover valuable insights, and identify potential pitfalls. Decisions are often improved when fueled by comprehensive information.
Increased Innovation: Frontline employees or creative thinkers frequently have brilliant ideas and perspectives. Leaders who create space for and consider those voices will boost innovation and problem-solving.
Conflict Mitigation: Through seeking to understand differing opinions and motivations, CEOs can more effectively reduce misunderstandings, find common ground, and mediate conflicts constructively.

Typical Examples of When Listening Skills Are Lacking

The Interrupter: This CEO cuts people off mid-sentence, interjecting their thoughts before others finish. This shows disregard for their conversation partner and inhibits the complete exchange of information.
The Solution-Focused CEO: When someone begins explaining a problem, this type of CEO immediately begins searching for a solution, rather than ensuring they fully comprehend the issue, its intricacies, and the speaker's perspective.
Multi-tasking While Listening: CEOs face immense pressure, but attempting to engage in a conversation while checking emails or scanning reports signals disinterest, creating the impression that the issue at hand is unimportant.
The Selective Listener: This CEO is only receptive to information that reinforces their existing beliefs and dismisses anything contrary, showing a lack of openness to different perspectives and valuable feedback.
Passive but Disengaged: While seemingly present, this CEO may maintain eye contact, however, their mind is elsewhere. They might offer generic responses like "Uh-huh" or "I see," without true comprehension or engagement with the speaker.

Five Examples of How to Implement Effective Listening

Be Fully Present: Leave distractions at the door. Turn off notifications, maintain eye contact, and be mindful of non-verbal cues (both yours and the speaker's). A simple, "Let's find a quiet place to talk, I want to be sure I give this my full attention," goes a long way.
Clarifying Questions: Seek to understand by asking "Could you tell me more about...?" or "Can you help me grasp the implications of...?" Active listening involves getting deeper insights.
Reflecting Back: Briefly paraphrase what you've heard in your own words prefaced with, "So what I'm understanding is..." This helps prevent misunderstandings and shows you're engaged.
Embrace Silence: Allow pauses after someone speaks. Give them time to truly formulate their thoughts or possibly add more. Don't be afraid of a few moments of silence.
Seek Out Diverse Perspectives: Actively cultivate feedback from employees across every level of the organization and foster a culture where respectful disagreement is encouraged, even with your ideas. Regular listening sessions or anonymous feedback systems can help amplify these important voices.

Let's Get Practical: Immediate Actions for Managers

"Two-Minute Check-In": Block just two minutes on your calendar before diving into any meeting to listen intently to team member thoughts or concerns, without agenda.
Summarize the Conversation: At the end of significant meetings, take a moment to recap key points or decisions to ensure all are on the same page.
"Walk and Talk": Informal walks outside provide a less intimidating atmosphere; open-ended questions ("What challenges are you seeing?") can be more approachable.
"Unplugged Coffee Chats": Set aside dedicated time to meet with staff in a casual setting without tech and discuss ideas, not just task lists.
Active Listening Challenge: Host a workshop on active listening and give everyone a chance to practice; a safe space and focus build this skill for lasting effect.

CEO Habit #24: Raising the Bar for All