Have you ever met your hero? Someone, that as a child you idolized?

What was it like? Did you get star-struck or take it in stride? More importantly, did they live up to your expectations?

Expectations are a tricky thing. They are not tangible; are purely subjective and can sometimes bite you in the ass.

Think about your most recent PR campaign. Did you plan out what you were going to do with an end goal in mind? That’s an expectation. I will do this and expect that this will be the result. Sometimes that just doesn’t happen and you are left scratching your head wondering what the heck just happened.

I can tell you what happened. People. People are the wild card in every campaign. We can use research and our best tried and true methods, but people are a sometimes predictable and sometimes not.

So what’s a communicator to do? We need to manage expectations. Others, as well as our own. Under promise and over deliver. Then you’ll be the hero.