On standards, and why a room notices them

A standard is not a rule posted on a wall. It is the thing a person does when nobody has asked him to.
I have sat in a great many rooms. The ones that improve are not the ones with the most opinions. They are the ones where someone decides, early, what would impress a room that had every reason not to be impressed, and then holds the work to that question without exception. That is most of leadership, in my experience. The rest is arranging chairs.
Direction, I would add, is not the same as volume. A leader who speaks often and decides rarely has mistaken the noise for the work. Decide. Then say it once, clearly, and let the result carry it.
I have been asked, in the past, whether this is a matter of temperament or training. I believe it is a matter of discipline, and discipline can be learned. Mostly it is learned by being embarrassed a few times and refusing to be embarrassed the same way twice.
Thoughts welcome. I will read them. I may take a day to answer, which is the Office's custom.