Setting targets, for oneself or for those working with you,
is a tricky business. As the maxim goes ‘Promise less, Deliver more’ has its
advantages. You can always meet the target and awe your bosses. There will be lesser
chance of missing the target. The surprise element of passing the target does
the trick. As the market gurus say achievement of expectations is norm, one has
to go that extra mile to delight the customers. So going that extra mile each
time again and again leads to star performance. But when your sub-ordinates
start following the same premises you are heading for trouble. As your own
target are totally linked to their achievement.

Other side of spectrum is aggressive target setting, to the
extent of over optimism. This has its own advantages. With substantial increase
over the last period actuals, one can project self-efficiency, command over the
underlying systems and can do aggressive marketing for oneself too. Applause and
recognition from the upper echelons of hierarchy follows immediately. On the
flip side, risk of target-missed increases and in medium term the strategy may
backfire too. Ambition in disguise, did you say.

Ponder.