"The gatekeepers for our culture are not the heroes or the supermen, but the common person. The individuals who represent the ideal inspire masses to pursue the values and virtues of their people; but it is the common person within each society who establishes the boundaries that are required to remain a part of the clan. It is not the extraordinary standard but the minimum standard that is the critical boundary in shaping a culture...It's easy to confuse the minimum with the extraordinary. We do it all the time. In fact, organizations continuously face that crisis. Whenever someone fails to live up to an understood expectation, we are forced to make some kind of reevaluation. Either our standard should change or our actions have to change. When we live below a standard, it is simply human nature to redefine the standard as unreasonable and establish standards that our patterns are already accomplishing. We keep lowering the bar until we clear it."
Erwin McManus, from An Unstoppable Force
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