It occurred to me this week that so much of negotiation and persuasion is simply managing expectations.
“You’ll probably hate this,” I say, knowing that you probably will but you also want a good working relationship with me and will therefore try to like it.
“Faculty tend to react in a certain way to this type of invitation,” I say, so I use my estimate of that way to calculate likely attendees.
When those predictions play out, you’ve built up even more positive-leaning expectations.
It’s a good cycle to have. Carve out some positive (or negative, depending) space for yourself theoretically, then over deliver.
Boom, instant reputation.
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