Overpromising might be one of the most underrated career skills in management
I’m starting to suspect that being realistic about what your team can deliver is sometimes a competitive disadvantage
Think about it
One manager promises a 10x productivity improvement. Another says 20–30% is achievable, explains the trade-offs, and builds a plan around it
A year later, both deliver 20%
Who gets more recognition?
You’d expect the second manager. They understood the problem, made a reasonable prediction, and delivered what they promised.
But I’ve seen enough to question that assumption
The first manager can still celebrate a 20% improvement, blame the remaining gap on execution, and introduce an even more ambitious plan for next quarter
And somehow, the original 10x promise disappears from the conversation
I’ve been on the engineering side of this. Turning ambitious ideas into estimates, dependencies, and executable plans, only to repeat the exercise a week later when another brilliant priority appeared
What bothers me isn’t ambition or even unrealistic predictions. Both are inevitable when building something new
It’s how easily we let people replace accountability for yesterday’s promises with excitement about tomorrow’s
At some point, I have to wonder: Are we promoting people who are good at delivering results, or people who are good at managing the perception of results?