OWS/Zuccotti Park, Oct 2011 - 27 (Photo credit: Ed Yourdon)

You are about to make a change in your two-year old’s routine. A few days before the change, you begin a conversation intended to prepare your daughter for the twist. You are managing her expectations.  Good parenting, right?

At work, a change is required that involves someone who does not readily embrace alteration. Just as you would with your two-year old, you begin foreshadowing the event. If you know the reluctant colleague well, perhaps you will package the announcement so that it is palatable. You are managing expectations. Good management, right? Not always.

Managing expectations can sabotage a business, because a synonym for managing expectations is sin of omission. Inevitably a vital fact is left out, compounding as the management of expectations moves up the corporate ladder. The C-Suite cannot manage a business effectively if the data on which they make decisions are flawed.

I posit that establishing expectations [i.e. full disclosure] will be more beneficial to the bottom line because the data will be richer and reliable.

The same principle applies to travel recommendations. Managing expectations leads to disappointing hotels and higher costs. Establishing expectations that match reality will deliver great word of mouth and a profit.