The Question – How Can I Get Better Today?
The answer – Practice Living the Pygmalion Effect.
It originally was a Greek myth involving a sculpture named Pygmalion, who fell in love with an
ivory statue of his ideal woman and effectively willed her to life.
Otherwise it is known as the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, the psychology of high expectations.
“Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a person as if he were where he
could be and should be, and he will become what he could be and should be.” – Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Words shape our thoughts and leaders control words. So what type of language will you use
with your people? IT MATTERS. Establish high expectations and never forecast failure. Tell
them they can and they will. If you think they can, they will.
The Wizard of Oz is a great example. The Scarecrow didn’t have a brain and the Lion did not
have a heart until they were told they did. They changed how they acted. As a leader, you play
the role of the Wizard.
Bobby Hall, Hall of Fame Mississippi High School Football Coach, winner of 310 games lived
the Pygmalion Effect. His teams thought they were the 85 Bears because he told them they
were. At Wayne County in 2000, we won 10 games, 6 more than they had won the year before,
in large part due to this effect. We played in a tough 5A league and had a Left Tackle that might
have weighed 165. But that Left Tackle thought he was the best left tackle in the state of
Mississippi because that’s what his coach preached into him.
Coach people up not down.
John Perry
Source: Swagger by Jimmy Johnson