I go to see a lot of live music, bands big and small, one that stands out in recent memory was the show by 80’s icons Tears For Fears. It was a masterclass in managing expectations.

They had just released a new album, material that probably 95% of the crowd had no familiarity with. For most bands, that would be a big energy suck for the crowd, but singer Roland Orzabal did something brilliant.

He managed our expectations and created an atmosphere of openness.

I’m paraphrasing here, but he said something close to:

“Hey everyone, we know you are fans of the band’s 80’s material, and we promise you we’re going to play all the hits… but we’d also like to make a request. We’ve got a new album that we think is great, and we believe if you will be patient with us while we perform it, you will be pleasantly surprised.”

I have never heard a band say anything close to that to an audience, I was blown away. That simple clarity and alignment set the tone for an amazing evening of music. They built an immediate rapport with us just by showing us the respect of managing expectations and making an entirely reasonable request to give their new product offering a chance.

You could almost see the difference on people’s faces when they played the new stuff, a willingness to be a participant.

We MISS very easy opportunities to manage other’s expectations. Some people are wired to struggle with this. The speed of business makes it hard. Assuming that everyone “already knows” is another misalignment train wreck waiting to happen.

When we manage other’s expectations, there are fewer surprises…which means fewer “shocks” to their minds and less human “stuff” to clean up.

You know what? The new stuff was AWESOME, and when they played the hits like, Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and Head Over Heels, it was all the better.

Rock on!

-Alan