"Judgment improves when leaders treat authority as a responsibility, not a right.
A standard is not a moral statement. In a policy exception that will become precedent if granted, it is an agreement about what the system will do under pressure. Without that agreement, you get exceptions by persuasion instead of principle.
In a policy exception that will become precedent if granted, the fastest path is to skip the uncomfortable conversation. That buys speed today and inconsistency tomorrow. Be honest about what would change your mind, because without a revisit signal every decision becomes permanent by default. If the exception path is informal, it becomes politics; write the signal that makes an exception legitimate and who can approve it.
Hyman G. Rickover is useful here because it forces precision. State the standard plainly, then make the exception path narrow enough to matter. Make the exception rare so the standard stays real.