Raise the Bar

Here's an entry from James Clear's weekly 3-2-1 newsletter (lightly edited): 

Economics professor Tyler Cowen on raising the aspirations of others:

"Yesterday I had lunch with a former Ph.D. student of mine, who is now highly successful and tenured at a very good school. One of my favorite strategies was to take strong candidates who applied for Masters and also offer them Ph.D admissions, suggesting they might to do the latter. 

At least two of our very best students went down this route... neither realized that it was common simply to apply straight to a Ph.D. program, skipping over the Masters. 

At critical moments in time, you can raise the aspirations of other people significantly, especially when they are relatively young, simply by suggesting they do something better or more ambitious than what they might have in mind. It costs you relatively little to do this, but the benefit to them, and to the broader world, may be enormous. This is in fact one of the most valuable things you can do with your time and with your life."

Source: The high-return activity of raising others’ aspirations 

How does this impact MVB? 

Top players should raise the bar. Strive for the highest performance and the maximum role and recognition. 

Good players should seek to be excellent players as major contributors to program success.

Young players, ask "how can I help" and "what do you think I can become" for MVB through hard work and commitment. 

All players should maximize their academic achievement, adding tools to their intellectual skill-set/toolbox.