I worry about AI becoming the defacto leader in our organizations.
All under the premise of efficiency.
It’s about command and control – no matter how you frame it.
Embedded in AI are rules.
Think- if this, then that kind of rules.
Rules provoke rebellion.
One of my aims is to use AI to assist in standard creation, implementation, and maintenance over time.
Standards inspire ownership.
When you write a rule, you invite people to skirt it.
It’s just what we humans do.
We’ve done it from the dawn of time.
Interpret it.
Ignore it when no one’s watching.
Rules are declarations of mistrust, drawn in ink with an implicit assumption: someone is trying to get away with something.
Standards, on the other hand, are ike mirrors.
They show you and your team the version of themselves they want to become.
Standards elevate.
They say, “This is who we are. This is how we show up.”
Rules impose.
Standards invite.
Rules say, “Don’t be late.”
Standards say, “We respect each other’s time.”
One demands compliance.
The other commands commitment.
It’s why the best leaders write standards in pencil and let their team help fill in the rest.
When people co-create expectations, they take ownership of them.
And ownership is the ultimate performance drug.
If someone breaks a rule, they justify.
If someone falls short of a standard they believe in, they reflect.
The shift is subtle.
The impact is huge!
Standards travel through culture like wildfire.
They get whispered in hallways, repeated in team huddles, printed in actions—not handbooks.
They don’t require enforcement.
They require belief.
The moment you trade rules for standards is when you stop managing behavior and start cultivating identity.
The best cultures don’t tell people what to do.
They remind them who they are.
“People break rules they don’t believe in. But they live up to standards they help create.” — Mike Brewer