Managing Expectations: Working with People Who Want More, Better, Faster, Sooner, NOW!

Preface

I’m a student of human behavior and a dabbler in the art of managing expectations. It was not part of my master plan to become either the student or the dabbler. In fact, I was destined for greatness in the field of mathematics, and would, I’m sure, have achieved that greatness, were it not for day one of my class in linear algebra as a college freshman.

There, perched on a platform where she towered over a sea of mathematician wannabes, stood the most terrifying woman I had ever seen. She looked tough, and sounded even tougher. She was wearing high-heeled boots, and I, a member of the sneaker set, found this image frightening. In one of those memorable moments that shapes lives, I listened to this woman bellow at us, “If you don’t learn ...