#18 - You become what you tolerate

Mediocrity rarely enters teams or organisations through malice. It walks in quietly, through what we let slide. It's the basis of a well-known leadership axiom: you become what you tolerate. The statement is usually invoked as a call to action: a reminder to stop accepting poor performance, unprofessional behaviour, or unrealistic demands. Because what we allow, we encourage.

While this is true (and often hard enough in corporate cultures), it only tells half the story. The more powerful move isn’t in what you say ‘no’ to. It’s in how high you set the bar for a ‘yes’.

A mediocre team tolerates missed deadlines. A great team doesn’t tolerate murky goals or work that is 'good enough'. Their deep-seated intolerance for not setting clear and ambitious goals is precisely what drives them to achieve them. Their standards for what's accepted live upstream, where high expectations form and impact compounds.

This is the real engine of growth: a conscious, continuous effort to raise the bar. What was a celebrated milestone last year becomes this year’s baseline. That's not about pruning the negative, or coasting on the basics. It’s about designing a high-expectation culture. It’s about a shared commitment to an ever higher standard. It’s the refusal to settle that separates great teams from good ones.

Ultimately, tolerance isn’t passive. It’s the silent architect of your identity. And every standard you hold, or let slip, lays another brick in who you become. It defines your floor, but more importantly, it sets your ceiling.

If we become what we tolerate, the real question isn't what we need to reject, but what standard we're willing to make non-negotiable.