Knowledge Marketplace
My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

Back to Mental Models

Standard Setting Through Allowance

The quality standard of any business becomes whatever level of work the leadership allows to pass without correction or feedback

Decision Rule

If you allow suboptimal work without pushback, you have implicitly set that as your new quality standard

How It Works

Teams interpret lack of feedback as acceptance, creating downward drift in quality unless actively managed

Failure Modes

Avoiding difficult conversations about quality

Assuming people know standards without explicit communication

Allowing 'good enough' to become the standard

Example Decision

Crossing out half the words in newsletter drafts and comparing to competitor examples to maintain writing standards even when it creates tension