Charles Dickens’ novel of the mid-19th century in rural England and London tells the story of an impoverished orphan, Pip, as he navigates social class, love, and identity, inheriting an anonymous fortune that provides the funds to move to London to pursue his ‘great expectations’ of wealth and social standing. In the end, Pip learns that loyalty and compassion are more important than wealth alone.
Has much changed since that time? In life and in business, we set expectations to accomplish goals for ourselves, for our teams, for those with whom we work, either as a client or as a vendor. These expectations can be inspirational or, conversely, they can be challenging due to changing conditions.
When I was younger, ok – a lot younger, I had expectations and dreams that did not align to those of my parents, teachers, and possibly my minister, but I was too hesitant to share with them. I wanted to make people happy with humor, swim the English Channel, ride a horse across Mongolia, be a successful jazz pianist, scale mountains, be in radio, use communication to improve life, and yes, stop war. As life moved forward, completing these expectations often bumped into reality – the English Channel was very cold and dirty, my piano is in the closet and I released my humor expectations to those who were masters of this arena – Robin Williams, Monty Python, and Carol Burnett, to name a few. However, through time, and planning and persistence, my other original expectations are coming to fruition.
We are proud to say that my expectations to develop and implement communication methodologies based in human understanding are being accomplished daily here at Christie & Co. Our radio show will soon be in broadcast and our efforts to stop war are launching soon through our Making Peace Profitable LLC. From over 30 years of helping others fulfill their dreams and expectations, these are a few lessons I’ve learned:
- Dream big. There are no taxes on dreams and the sky’s the limit…or not.
- Compare the dream or expectations to reality relevant to the dream. One may not sell 50,000 units of one’s product after only being in the market for a few months. This takes understanding the lines of distribution, the people, the competition, and all the costs.
- Build your team – lean and loyal- educate, encourage and ensure results that are rewarded when accomplished.
- Build your community by listening to their needs and challenges and fulfilling these efficiently, viably, and with care.
- Develop a CEO – Chief Expectation Oversight – one who can monitor progression of the attainment of expectations and deter any counter efforts and encourage further accomplishment.
- Reward yourself and those who supported your attainments– a thank you goes a long way.
- And yes.. Rome was not built in a day- it takes time and that time is your life – live it well.
- You are capable of great expectations. We are here to help.
Gillian