In his book titled: Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said this:
“Every step of the way, I made a point to under promise and over deliver. In the long run, that’s the only way to ensure security in any job.”
This mantra of under promising and over delivering isn’t limited to Howard Schultz. Even top management consultants like Tom Peters subscribe to it.
While Schultz and Peters are probably right concerning job security, should you be taking this approach?
I say it’s time to reconsider
Why the “Under Promise” Mindset is Flawed
Early in my career, a senior executive gave me great advice: “If you’re afraid of exposing yourself and subsequently failing, then don’t expect to make your presence felt.” Or to put it more succinctly, good luck getting noticed.
Strong leaders are perceptive. They recognize when employees set artificially low goals. It’s called sandbagging, and no one likes a sandbagger.
Sandbaggers are more common than most people want to admit. It starts with confusing goals with promises. From there, employees under promise to managers, managers under promise to senior leadership, and senior leadership under promises to shareholders.
Everyone’s tempered everyone else’s expectations. Hitting these vanity goals results in patted backs and perceived success. The firm looks great.
But at what cost? Do companies want people with this mindset? Do you want your team members approaching your growth in this manner?
For me, as a leader and hiring manager, I want to see people who aren’t afraid to set the bar high and are willing to grind it out trying to hit it. I’ll take the person who isn’t afraid to fail every single time.
Let’s Take a Look at An Example
I want to challenge you to rethink the business advice from Schultz and Peters. More specifically, I am advocating a shift in your mindset — separating the notions of promises and goals.
Setting high goals and giving a tireless effort to achieve those goals is the desired mentality you should chase. And despite the possibility that you won’t achieve your goals, your net output may be higher!
Let’s take a look at a simple example:
Person A: sets a goal of delivering 5 new product features in 5 weeks; delivers 7 features
Person B: sets a goal of delivering 10 new product features in 5 weeks; delivers 8 features
Results:
Person A: “over delivered” by 2 based on a moderate goal that they likely knew they would hit
Person B: “under delivered” by 2 on stated goal, but their net result produced more output
Aiming high is a mental attitude. If you fail, you’ll probably achieve more than if you set your sights lower.
A Promise Made is a Promise Kept, But….
Let me be clear. If you make a promise to a person, you need to keep it.
But differentiate between a goal and a promise.
People often set goals as if they were promises, so they set them low and then aim to overachieve.
Goals are not promises. They are aspirational. So don’t approach goals in the same way you would promises!
And for that matter, even if you do over deliver on your promises, is it worth it?
A study from UC San Diego behavioral scientist Ayelet Gneezy and University of Chicago business professor Nicholas Epley suggests that exceeding a promise may not be worth the effort you put in. “Invest efforts into keeping promises, not in exceeding them,” says Epley.
Epley goes on to say “I was surprised that exceeding a promise produced so little meaningful increase in gratitude or appreciation. I had anticipated a modest positive effect,” but “what we actually found was almost no gain from exceeding a promise whatsoever.”
The data suggests that the reason for these effects lies in how we value promises as a society. “Keeping a promise is valued so highly, above and beyond its ‘objective’ value,” Epley says. “When you keep a promise, not only have you done something nice for someone but you’ve also fulfilled a social contract and shown that you’re a reliable and trustworthy person.”
So the next time you over deliver on your promise, you just may get a year-end bonus as good as this one (see video)!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michael Iacona has 20+ years’ cross-industry experience within large multinational companies, works with start-ups and earned dual Masters degrees – an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MS in Information Systems from Pace University. Having built, led and managed small and large teams, Michael continual evolves his management style. He leads by example and fosters open communication and enjoys coaching team members, capitalizing on their unique talents.
