EMBA的小眼睛

The paradox of rising expectations

Perhaps this is what your organization desires: To be more trusted, to have people willing to pay more, choose you more often, expect more...

Of course, over time, good work will lead to higher expectations. And the paradox is that this will sooner or later lead to disappointment. Raised expectations tend to be exponential... they grow faster and faster.

Raise expectations forever and even Superman is going to let us down.

One possible path is to do what Bob Dylan has done several times—destroy them. Veer left when everyone expects you to veer right. Launch something that makes no sense. Reset expectations instead of raising them.

Hard to do if you're a public company, but probably worth considering if you're a human intent on making your art.