Formidable Expectations?

What is the rule of formidable expectations? According to an article about Bill Gates (I will come back to him), Steve Jobs, and Vince Lombardi, the rule is: the more you demand from others, the more gratitude you must show for their dedication, loyalty and efforts.

I did google this “rule” and safe to say just the creation of the author. I thought maybe if a “real” rule someone had done some research around the correlation.  

Still a great framework to work from.  

What Do We Mean by Formidable? Does it Work?

Definition. Inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense and capable; causing fear, dread or apprehension; of discouraging strength, size, difficulty, etc. intimidating; difficult to undertake, surmount, defeat.

I gave you a few because “formidable” with respect to expectations may make the most sense as highlighted, but the others speak to the type of leadership and motivators behind these expectations.

Many leaders do focus on the demand side as it is widely believed that with higher expectations comes better performance. The Pygmalion Effect. (leaving aside for another time the negative impact of unrealistic expectations and how to set the right expectations)

There are many studies to support that conclusion, but I think we have to have the full picture.

Demanding Leadership

What do we mean by a demanding leader?

Demanding – has high, maybe uncompromising standards. Pushing you to do what it takes to achieve business goals. 

One study found that likable leaders are effective leaders and …. to the surprise of many… likability and demanding leadership are correlated. (let’s not get into how that conclusions applies to women). Their demanding index factors provide a good definition: (1) high standards of excellence, (2) skillful getting people to stretch for goals, (3) keep people focused highest priority, (4) does everything possible to achieve goal (caution: none of what I have said = the ends justify the means!), (5) creates atmosphere of continual improvement in which self and others push to exceed expected results.

Demanding isn’t demeaning, belittling, bullying, or intimidating. A demanding leader should extend respect and dignity.

Now back to our rule: formidable expectations must be accompanied by gratitude.

Value of Gratitude

Showing gratitude is a big motivator. More than money. A survey by Glassdoor found that 81% of people stay motivated to work harder when their boss shows appreciation. Another study found that 83% of employees polled value recognition more than money.

More than money, more than “thank you”. Gratitude could be opportunities for professional development, to acquire new skills, to voice and get access to projects that want to work on, real time off with no strings attached, connections to people, a promotion.

A 2018 Globoforce study found that employee recognition positively impacted employee experience, employee relationships, organizational culture, employee engagement, humanity in the workplace, organizational values and employee happiness.

All of these studies, support the article’s finding that these same employees that had nasty things to say about Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Vince Lombardi, also had positives to say – taught them to prepare, to think critically, to work harder, work smarter, and put their teams ahead of themselves.

Were these guys demanding, yes. Did they also have elements of bullying, intimidation, demeaning…open for debate it seems. I think you could say they were formidable - remember - “inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense and capable”.

Now back to Bill Gates.

Negative Praise

Right around the time I read the article about formidable expectations, I read that Bill Gates describes his leadership style as giving negative praise to his team members.

Taken from some quotes on Dax Shepard’s podcast, his approach is to combine at one time both the negative – you aren’t keeping up, with the positive – you are amazing.

When I considered these two articles together, the negative praise model is in line with the formidable expectation rule. He is setting the bar high and telling them they aren’t hitting it but, at the same time, he is praising them for their exceptional talent. 

Food for thought – studies find that recognition and appreciation builds trust. I think that holds true if the praise and gratitude is genuine. How many of these guys, or leaders like them, just know how to manipulate and get what they want out of someone.

I am not advocating for this model, per se. It may only work in certain environments, with certain teams and certain leaders. For example, he had exceptional talent and Bill Gates was notorious for working just as hard that keeping pace with him was motivation.

The speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack – Ralph Waldo Emerson