The right thing is almost always the hardest of your options. If it was the easiest, more people would do it. The road less-traveled would be the road most-traveled. But it isn't.
Doing the right thing means...
...correcting your top performer because you know inconsistent policy enforcement does far more damage than a correction. Besides, top performers aren't demotivated by corrections.
...not filling a position your team desperately needs filled because none of your candidates would be a good fit, and you know hiring the wrong person is worse than hiring no one.
...rejecting a sample from a difficult patient because you know there's nothing compassionate about cheating him out of an accurate result.
...denying a vacation request from the one person who will object the loudest because her tantrum will have a lesser effect on the team than forcing them to work short.
...taking a stand against an administrative decision you know is misguided and threatens a core value---yours or the company's---because you know the road to mediocrity is paved with the acquiescence of invertebrates.
...giving one of your employees a task you know she'll fail at because you know the lesson she'll learn from the failure will be far better for her than succeeding at a lesser task.
The easy way is the highway to short-term gains and long-term mediocrity. The hard way is disruptive in the short-term, but pays long-term dividends that far exceed an instant payout.
If the right way was the easy way we'd all be exceptional, and, therefore, ordinary.