The 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders

27. Use Fact-Based Thinking

Master leaders rely on factual information as one important method to set meaningful expectations. They know that expectations float around in people's minds as the integration of assumptions, inferences, values, beliefs, and factual information. That means "soft data" often dominates expectations. Effective leaders rely on fact-based thinking to firm up and clarify expectations.

Gather your facts and direct others to bring facts to the table when you conduct expectation-setting sessions. Verify the extent to which others believe the facts. Use data that people understand and can translate into meaningful expectations. Accept that people can lie with statistics. Reinforce your rapport skills to let people know your ...