I once heard a leader say:
"If you're asked to stand, you don't need to stand straight."
I could not relate to it. I had spent my whole life standing straight when asked to stand, through health challenges, difficult seasons, and times when "just enough" would have been the easier choice. For me, it was a simple expression of respect: for the moment, for others, and for the responsibility entrusted to me.
At first, I saw it as a difference in style. Over time, I saw the pattern. The phrase was not isolated. It appeared in how work was approached, how priorities were set, and what was reinforced. Compliance was no longer the floor from which excellence could grow. It had become the ceiling.
The difficult part was leading a team while receiving a different message from above. Whenever I encouraged my team to do their best work, to go beyond the minimum and take pride in what they produced, they would soon hear a different message: do enough to comply. It did not take long to see which one carried more weight.
I stayed for eight years because I believed excellence was worth defending. Eventually, I accepted that one person can uphold a standard, but a culture depends on leaders who consistently defend it. Leaving was not a rejection of the work. It was recognition that excellence requires more than individual commitment. It requires alignment.
So I left, standing the way I always had.
I would rather stand straight in a room where it still means something.
