The following post is from the blog archives from a year ago (originally posted on December 3, 2013 http://www.5oclockreflections.com/over-promise-over-deliver/).
I have always taught my students to under promise and over deliver. It’s the surest way of ensuring the customer is happy and expectations are managed. One of my graduate students cited the Steve Jobs movie and challenged me — “We should over promise and over deliver,” he proclaimed. I love the paradigm shift, and this new way of thinking.
I inherently like the idea of setting the bar high and delivering on the promise. The challenge is to match resources with higher expectation levels. The problem arises when the promise is broken.
Whether it is a five year old child, a couple in love, or a manager in a business — when we break a promise, bad things happen. The goal should then be to set realistic expectations. If realism involves lofty ideals, and you have the ability to deliver on them — more power to you.
About Hemant Rustogi