Most of us find out the hard way what happens when you over-promise and under-deliver. And so we swathe ourselves in the warm comfort of under promising, and then (hopefully) over delivering. But that dogma needs busting as under promising is merely setting a lower bar which could not be less inspiring to clients and customers.
Elite performers over promiseandover deliver.
Over promising: I’m not talking about defying gravity here, but the risk/reward of over promising pays dividends right out of the gate. As a CMO negotiating contracts, by over-promising I was setting an aspiration which is still a service providers most powerful weapon. The over promise was and remains the surest way to negotiate higher fee, or assure your existing client or customer over time that you are exclusively built to exceed expectations.
Of course there are some hoops you simply cannot jump through, asks you cannot lay on your team as not every element is malleable. But this is not about recklessness: It’s about will, belief, leadership, harnessing resources and fearlessly showing up with an energy that those who pray to the hedge gods will never match.
So when you know the engine room has another gear, or what buttons to push to get your own vendors on board, or when it’s time to call in a favor, or when a designer has to stay late, the benefits of finding a way to make it happen are significant.
Over promiseandover deliver: Pressure makes diamonds and clearly a high bar is always more inspiring than setting a low one.
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