Steve LowiszFounder of Guide, Don’t Drive™ Leadership | Keynote Speaker |

If the Standard Lives in Your Head, It Isn’t a Standard Yet

11 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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This content was created by Steve Lowisz. This content was uploaded by Steve Lowisz. This is a YouTube video titled "If the Standard Lives in Your Head, It Isn’t a Standard Yet" (uploaded 2026-08-11). The excerpt is a short leadership/coach-style monologue in which a single speaker addresses small business owners and leaders, advising them to define, document, and share standards rather than assuming others see what they see. The speaker references the "Guide, Don't Drive" approach and emphasizes making expectations explicit so teams can work from the same definition of success.

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I had a conversation with a small business owner a few weeks ago who was frustrated because people weren't doing something the way she expected them to. And as we talked about it, it became pretty clear that the standard was just in her head. She knew what good looked like to her. She knew how she wanted it handled, but the people around her didn't. It had never been clearly defined, written down, or shared clearly for others to follow it. So at that point, It wasn't really a standard. It was in her head. It was an opinion. So I told her she needed to define it, write down what winning looked like, share it with the people responsible for it, and make sure everyone was working from the same expectation. See, this is one of the ways that Guide, Don't Drive has helped me as a leader. I used to think that if something seemed obvious to me, it was obvious to everyone else. Now I know those are 2 completely different things. You can't hold someone to a standard if they can't see it. And you can't really be surprised when people fill in the blanks differently than you would. A standard can't just live in your head. So if it matters, define it. Otherwise, it's still just your preference.